Breathing

The Most Holy Body & Blood Of Christ – Cycle B

Exodus 24: 3-8; Hebrews 9: 11-15;

Mark 14: 12-16, 22-26

For show and tell today, I brought in one of my most beloved possessions. This is the deacon's stole that my wife made for me for my ordination. She cross-stitched my whole history into this little piece of cloth. It took her about a year and a half to complete. It depicts my life both with my family and with the church. It's very special to me, and I will treasure it always.

Unfortunately, a deacon usually wears a dalmatic over the top of his stole. The stole is a vital part of the deacon's wardrobe – some might argue that it is the most important part – and yet few people get to see it.

Today is the feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ – Corpus Christi. The Eucharist is the source and summit of our catholic faith. It is a very visual sacrament. We bring the bread and wine forward and place it on the altar. The priest raises the elements, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, changes them into the body and blood of Christ. Then we all come forward and receive the Eucharist. We understand that, through the grace of the sacrament, we – you and I – are the body and blood of Christ. Anyone who comes to mass can see this.

But there is a second part of Eucharist that isn't emphasized quite as often. It's a vital part of the sacrament, but – like a deacon's stole – people don't see it and so they tend to forget about it.

C.S. Lewis once wrote: “Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.”

Jesus instituted the Eucharist at the last supper, on the night before he died. If you recall, there was another thing that happened during that meal. Jesus gets up from the table and washes the apostles' feet. After his does this, he instructs them to wash each others feet. (See John 13: 1-20) The act of serving each other is the second part of the Eucharist.

Both of these actions – the body and blood and the washing of the feet – go together to make up Eucharist. It's like breathing. When we breathe, there are two distinct actions – the inhale and the exhale. You cannot do one without the other – not for very long! Eucharist is the same. We come forward and we receive the body and blood of Christ – the inhale. Then we, as the body of Christ, take Jesus out into the world – the exhale. The two actions go together – like breathing. One action completes the other. Without both components – the sacrament remains incomplete and unfulfilled.

Jesus became mediator of a new covenant by shedding his own blood. We follow Jesus into this new covenant by offering ourselves up totally for the well-being of our brothers and sisters.

When we labor for human rights, when we shelter the poor, when we dismantle the bombs, when we protect the unborn, when we welcome the traveler, when we reach out to the criminal, we do these things not as political activists or social workers. We do these things as the body and blood of Christ. We are his healing hands. We are his compassionate heart. It is through actions such as these that the Eucharist comes to fruition.

The body and blood of Christ is not only our redemption. It is our task.

Deacon Darryl J. Diemer

The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

June 7, 2015

Painting:  from the Ottheinrich Bible, c 1425-1430, artist unknown.