Corpus Christi Reflection with Fr Robin Gibbons

Corpus Christi June 18th 2017

“For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him”. (Jn 6: 55,56) These words are both a promise and an affirmation by Jesus, when we gather, as Christians have done since the community of Disciples began its mission of proclaiming the Gospel (Good News) it is a promise for the Eucharist, we come believing that the offerings of bread and wine are somehow transformed by the Holy Spirit into the life giving mystery of Christ’s body and blood present in the elements of bread and wine and by receiving them we come into communion with Christ and each other. It is also the affirmation that by eating and drinking the great sacramental gifts we remain in Christ and he in us!

However I have to ask myself, what does all this business about the Eucharist mean? Christians regularly ‘go to communion’ but it doesn’t always make them good people. Historically belief in the Eucharist was also a litmus test of where one fitted in the Christian story, am I Catholic and believe in the ‘real presence’ (scholastically defined as transubstantiation) or Protestant and hold different views? The Orthodox perhaps wisely refused to be drawn into great discussions, instead reminding us all that Holy Communion is the Sacrament of Sacraments and communion itself is entry into the great mystery of Christ’s abiding presence.

But there is a wider context to face, and in a week of terrible tragedy of the Grenfell Tower Fire in Kensington, coming on top of acts of terrorism; people in the UK, especially those directly connected with these dreadful events have become part of what Queen Elizabeth II stated in her birthday message, is a "very sombre national mood". The Queen is trying to gather us up together, be part of the community of Great Britain and the World, she also encourages us: "United in our sadness, we are equally determined, without fear or favour, to support all those rebuilding lives so horribly affected by injury and loss." This is a real challenge for those of us gathering to celebrate Corpus Christi, our props and securities are taken away when we see the needs and suffering of others, the Christ of our communion calls us to be in communion with the voiceless and suffering, to unite with them, how?

All devout and believing Christians somehow understand that coming to communion is something transformative, but it is not magic, it is a constant act of eating and drinking, opening ourselves in faith and trust to Christ’s command to ‘do this in memory of me’, but also his promise that when we do, he truly will dwell in and with us. The deeper challenge is the way we prepare for communion, does it help me reconcile with my brother or sister? Must I share love and care for those in need before I offer my gift and come to communion? Corpus Christi is a feast when we manifest Christ’s body firstly as people who belong to each other in the Lord and who then are able to receive him in faith!

Reflection

“The Purpose of the Eucharist lies not in the change of the bread and wine, but in the partaking of Christ, who has become our food, our life, the manifestation of the Church as the body of Christ.” Alexander Schmemann, The Eucharist: Sacrament of the Kingdom

Fr Robin is an Eastern Rite Catholic Chaplain for Melkites in the UK. He is also an Ecumenical Canon of Christ Church, Oxford