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Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ - Corpus Christi Sunday (Year A)

This Sunday is known as “Corpus Christi Sunday” because it is the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. Corpus is Latin for “Body,” and Christi is Latin for Christ. So, Corpus Christi is Body of Christ.

The focus today is on the invisible miracle that occurs at each and every Mass celebrated in every age in any corner of the world. During the Eucharistic Prayer, the gifts of bread and wine upon the altar are changed into the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ!

Ordinary bread that nourishes our natural life becomes the Eternal Bread of Life that nourishes the soul unto eternal life. As we need carbohydrates to survive this wilderness of ordinary life, so devout reception of the Eucharist forgives us of our sins, gives us growth in the supernatural life of grace, and enables us to overcome the spiritual battles we face as children of God.

A major event in the Old Testament that prefigured this heavenly gift of the Eucharist is recounted in the first reading from Deuteronomy 8:2-3,14-16. While in the desert wilderness, Israel was fed by a miraculous food known as manna (Hebrew for “What is it?”).

Today’s Gospel is taken from John 6:51-58, which comes from after 6:49-50, where Jesus said: “Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die.” Then, today, we listen to Jesus say, “The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world” (v. 51).

The Jews in Jesus’ audience knew full well what Jesus meant. They took him at his word, literally, and replied, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

At this juncture, Jesus made a huge political blunder. Right when he could have clarified how his words were to be taken as metaphor – and saved face – Jesus further reiterated the literal meaning of his promise. What’s even more fascinating is that Jesus switches Greek words for “eat” from phago to trogo. He replied:

Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat [phago] the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats [trogo] my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Whatever eats [trogo] my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. (John 6:53-56)

The significance of this verb switch is this: While both verbs mean “to eat,” phago was used in the ordinary sense of people eating a meal, and it could be used in a metaphorical sense. However, trogo was a much more literal verb with the connotation of “to gnaw” or “to munch,” and was not used metaphorically. Jesus promised the gift of his very own body and blood and he makes good on that promise in the Holy Eucharist.