The Feast of Corpus Christi
At the Last Supper, knowing that his passion and death were near, Jesus gave the Church the gift of his Body and Blood. This gift is made present at each Mass through the words of consecration, and when we receive the Eucharist we don’t merely receive a symbol of his love, we don’t simply remember his sacrifice for us as something that happened long ago: He is really, truly, and substantially present.
The Feast of Corpus Christi (The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ) was instituted as a universal feast of the Church in 1264 by Pope Urban IV as a special reminder of the gift Jesus made of himself to us. Before he returned to his Father, he told his followers, “I will be with you always, even to the end of the world.” He fulfilled this promise by giving us his own presence in the Eucharist. He became our nourishment. Just as humanity first fell through eating from the tree that brought death, now we’re restored by eating from the tree of life. Eating led to our downfall, and now eating brings us healing and salvation. Jesus says, “My flesh is real food.” This bread isn’t just consumed like ordinary food — if we receive it worthily, we are transformed by it.
Saint Thomas Aquinas composed several hymns and prayers for the Feast at the request of Pope Urban IV, many of which are still in use today such as Pange Lingua, Tantum Ergo and O Salutaris. He was also instrumental in our understanding of how Christ is present in the Eucharist, noting that, whilst the power (virtus) of Christ operates through the other Sacraments, the Eucharist is unique because Christ himself (ipse Christus) is present.
We recall in a particular way today that Christ’s gift of himself, foreshadowed in the Old Testament, fulfilled in the New Testament, and attested to throughout the entire history of the Church, is available to us still. It is our duty, and it should be our deepest desire, to receive this gift worthily, following Christ’s instruction to “Do this in memory of me,” and go into the world to proclaim the Good News of Salvation, nourished and renewed by his Body and Blood.
“I desire the bread of God, the heavenly bread, the bread of life, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, the Son of God...and I desire the drink of God, namely his blood, which is incorruptible love and eternal life.”
St. Ignatius of Antioch, c. 108 A.D.