Thinking Anew:TOMORROW THE Catholic Church celebrates the feast of Corpus Christi. It is a feast associated with processions, the day when little children who have just made their first Holy Communion dress up again in their Communion clothes and take part in the public worship of the Eucharist.
But processions can have an element of triumphalism and this can create some form of myth or "falsehood" about what is being commemorated. We humans have a propensity to clap ourselves on the back, even when things are going terribly wrong. And we also have the unfortunate ability to close our eyes to what is going on in front of us, while clearly understanding the mistakes of the past.
With the collapse of communism we had no problems clapping ourselves on the back and proclaiming from the rooftops the wonders of capitalism. We disdain
nations which do not subscribe to our understanding of
democracy, while at the same time being less than transparent when it comes to governance of our own affairs.
How many children in those infamous industrial schools were made to take part in Corpus Christi processions? How many little brutalised children threw petals in front of the priest as he carried the Blessed Sacrament around the streets? While it is important to have public ways of proclaiming our Christian belief, it is far more fitting that we make a real effort to live the values of our faith in our everyday transactions with other people.
The Eucharist is a sign of the body of Christ. It is also a reality that helps bring about communion, fellowship and respect within the Christian community. And as long as there is division and discord within the community, there seems little purpose in showing outward manifestations of something that has no interior substance to it.
In tomorrow's Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples to find a man carrying a pitcher of water and say to him, "The Master says: where is my dining room in which I can eat the Passover with my disciples?" (Mark 14: 14) And then later he blessed the bread and said, "Take it. This is my body." (verse 22) This passage is a foretaste, a hint of the ultimate union there is between man and God. But that union has already begun in the context of the here and now in which we find ourselves.
The Eucharist is a source and a cause of unity and harmony. And in that context there never can be any sort of denial, obfuscation or secrecy that leads to evil and darkness. The Eucharist is about transparency. It is about openness and people living in harmony. It is about love and respect for each other.
The Eucharist from beginning to end has to do with truth. It points to a horizon in communion with God but that challenge has begun for us in our lives. The Mass, which is the centre of our Christian faith, is always a public act, a manifestation of our union, our communion with one another.
As Christians we believe that we are made in the image and likeness of God.
We believe that each one of us has a unique place in God's plan. If we are to live that out in our daily lives then we have to see our own behaviour within the context of the Eucharist.
Of course we fall short of the mark. We are fragile, we sin but we should not attempt to justify our wrongdoing. It is easy to fall into some sort of pious talk and devotion about the Eucharist, but if we ever disconnect our daily lives from the celebration of the Eucharist we lay ourselves open to accusations of humbug.
Corpus Christi tomorrow is all about the universality of the church - the idea that each one of us is special. That is the eternal verity of the Eucharist.
MC