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Body and Blood of Christ

 

Homily by Fr. Firmansyah, SJ
Feast of Corpus Christi at 12 Noon Mass
St. Ignatius Church, Tokyo

Body and blood are often used as symbols of violence. They often appear in the world of violence, the world of gangsters or mobsters, as a sign of control, of holding the power to rule or to scare the enemy. However, I don’t think that when Christianity adopted these symbols, it was the message of violence which was being portrayed; rather, it was and still is the message of God’s love for us. The body and blood of Christ, which we celebrate today, are not symbols of God’s preference toward violence.

 When the Gospel of John we read today mentioned, “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life within you,” the words “flesh” and “blood” here do not refer to the gory facts of flesh and blood.


The Gospel of St. John uses the words “flesh” and “blood” to refer to our own limited physical existence as human. Our own limited flesh and blood, in John’s Gospel today is compared to the existence of Jesus’ own flesh and blood. St. John’s use of the word “flesh” and “blood” reminds us about Jesus’ own situation, a living God who is willing to experience our own limitation. Thus, the word “flesh” and “blood” here refers to the locus of our life, God’s own willingness to share the divine energy which keeps us afloat in this world, regardless of our own physical limitation.


In this manner, body and blood of Christ are symbols of God’s living power beyond the limitation of our own body and blood. Whereas our human body and blood are weak, always yearning to be filled with nutrients, always hungering to be satisfied, the Body and Blood of Christ are just the opposite. Rather than taking, absorbing, or fulfilling itself, the Body and Blood of Christ are to be broken, to be given, and to be shared.


Thus, when we receive Holy Communion during the Eucharist, it is not mainly about receiving the distribution of food from God, as if we want to receive what is ours to take because we earned it. The Body and Blood of Christ we received in the Eucharist are not the result of victimization of Jesus on the Cross. They are not the token for us to remember the fruit of violence that fell upon Jesus. Jesus chose the cross willingly so that we can understand the greatest Love God has for each of us.


When we receive the Body and Blood of Christ, what really happens is we pledge ourselves to God: “Yes God, just like Jesus, I want to be broken and shared, and thus to become the source of your grace for other people.”
 

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