The Solemnity of Corpus Christi originated in the diocese of Liege (1246) on the basis of revelations of Juliana of Cornillon. It was accepted with such enthusiasm throughout Europe that in 1264 it was promulgated for the entire Latin Church. From the beginning the feast commemorated both the body and the blood of the Lord. This original unity has been restored in the post-Vatican II celebration.
Human beings are so essentially physical that even our language of the spirit derives from our bodies. To be a member of an organization requires that we be incorporated into that organization. Publications of societies are said to be organs of these groups.
Jesus and his Church have a keen grasp of this reality in the celebrations we call sacraments. Sacraments address themselves to the Church which is Christ’s Body and to individual members of that Body. The source and summit of all the Church’s life isprofessed to be the celebration of the Eucharist where the Body of Christ partakes of what it is.
On this Sunday we celebrate our identity as Christ’s Body. On this Sunday we profess our belief that the life-giving and life-supporting blood which flows among us is Christ’s very life. On this Sunday we direct our attention to the symbol which makes all other symbols possible.
The earthly language of bodies and blood fills the scriptures. But those same scriptures proclaim that the pouring forth of blood is unto the nourishment of God’s people. Flesh, blood, bread and wine are the products of destructive processes which bring them to human tables as food to sustain a family. Christ immersed himself in those processes which brought him to the table of the human family as the one food and drink which changes the eater into the eaten. In him we truly become what we eat and drink.