If I can give you any advice, I beg you to get closer to the Eucharist

“Do not, therefore, regard the bread and wine as simply that, for they are, according to the Master’s declaration, the Body and Blood of Christ. Even though the senses suggest to you the other, let faith make you firm.” – St. Cyril of Jerusalem

The Feast of Corpus Christi

(Gospel Text: Mark 14:12-16, 22-26)

On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread,

when they sacrificed the Passover lamb,

Jesus' disciples said to him,

"Where do you want us to go

and prepare for you to eat the Passover?"

He sent two of his disciples and said to them,

"Go into the city and a man will meet you,

carrying a jar of water.

Follow him.

Wherever he enters, say to the master of the house,

'The Teacher says, "Where is my guest room

where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?"'

Then he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready.

Make the preparations for us there."

The disciples then went off, entered the city,

and found it just as he had told them;

and they prepared the Passover.

While they were eating,

he took bread, said the blessing,

broke it, gave it to them, and said,

"Take it; this is my body."

Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them,

and they all drank from it.

He said to them,

"This is my blood of the covenant,

which will be shed for many.

Amen, I say to you,

I shall not drink again the fruit of the vine

until the day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God."

Then, after singing a hymn,

they went out to the Mount of Olives.

With readings like the Gospel today, I love to wonder about the Disciples’ reactions to Jesus.  Each one would have had an incredibly different reaction every time Jesus did something radical.  Were there a few men that were calm and unexcitable by nature?  Was there one that flipped out and ran around trying to make sense of everything the moment something was strange, unknown, or different?  What did they think when Jesus began the day (a very important feast day, at that) by saying: "Go into the city and a man will meet you, carrying a jar of water. Follow him.”  What did they say when he sat at table and instituted the holiest of sacraments?  Were they puzzled?

What I truly love about the Disciples is that they trusted.  Jesus told them to go find a man carrying a water jar, so of course they went.  They might not have understood the entire picture, but they understood how important and beautiful Jesus is, and they were willing to place everything in his hands.  Today is the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.  Let us celebrate today with trust.  Even when Christ calls us to things we may feel are radical, let us trust.  He has loved us by giving us all of himself; let us love him by giving all of ourselves.