Sunday, February 28, 2016

Eucharist: One Body

Consubstantial with the Father.   We pray that in the Nicene Creed.  It means "of the same stuff", i.e. the same substance as the Father is with the Son and as we are to them both.  Wow

The blood I receive from the chalice bursts along my tongue early in the morning during 6:30 Mass.  When I swallow it Jesus' blood burns thru a straight line into my stomach.  I can feel it so clearly and so LOUDLY inside me. I swallowed it willingly hoping to become one with Jesus who shed that Blood for me.  And I DO become one.  The precious blood vibrantly travels into my stomach and I am deeply aware of each drop.  These moments after Communion are precious and sacred.  Jesus and I are physically one.  He rests in my stomach and I cherish the reaction I feel.  The wine burns

The Body of Christ.  Its not a memento or a memorial but the ACTUAL BODY.   It is that Body which prayed not to have to go thru the suffering he knew was coming.   The one that was handcuffed and dragged into jail.   The same Body I just consumed was beaten with whips, spat on and had thorns pushed into his forehead.  That hurting, bleeding Body is in mine.  Did the skin that was torn from his flesh by the scourging stay on the whip or fall to the ground with his Blood? He fell three times.  He scraped his hands and knees.  Did he cry when he met his mother because he saw her pain?  Was his blood and skin left on Veronica's veil?  on the garments they stripped from him?  The nails, the sword, the cross, his shroud....

The REAL Body of Christ is who I receive at Mass.  The same body Mary bore and gave birth to.   It's the body that stood before John the Baptist and asked to be baptized.  In Communion I receive the Body that felt scourges, spitting and the sword in his side.  It's the Body that was taken down from the Cross and held by his Mother.  I receive...HIM ?  The God who created the universe.  The One whom Mary carried in her womb.  The One I want to be with in heaven.  I carry Him within me now! His Blood burns as I consume it.  His body incorporates into mine.  We are One.  When I leave church I carry that Body with me.