Scripture Reflection, June 10: Corpus Christi

Scripture Readings:

Genesis 14: 18-20
Psalm 110
1 Corinthians 11: 23-26
Luke 9: 11-17

My niece celebrated her First Communion in early May; the third First Communion in our family in as many years. Witnessing the communicants receive the Eucharist for the first time always engenders memories of my First Communion and my classmates and my singing of “His Banner Over Me Is Love” with hand gestures and all. I also recall the considerable preparation for this big day: the First Reconciliation that happened months before, the practice sips of the wine and tastes of the host, and the military-like filing in and out of the church and pews as we second graders practiced multiple times for this Sacrament of Initiation. I’m not going to lie; the shiny white shoe and communion-dress buying also added to the excitement of receiving Jesus in the Eucharist. But, as I reflect on the readings for Corpus Christi Sunday, I feel challenged: have I entered into communions since my first with the same anticipation, awe and heartfelt commissioning to go forth and be like Christ for others? Not always.

As huge of an event as our first communion is, each communion is significant--and maybe even more so--as it is this experience of God in the Eucharist that sustains us on our journey to be God’s hands and heart and feet for others, as St. Teresa of Avila tells us. I remember escaping to my bedroom during the party following my First Communion to open some cards and gifts. Though I was told that a polite girl would wait, my eagerness got the best of me. One gift I opened was a plaque with a sunrise and the saying “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.” I was confused and frightened and somehow interpreted this as I was going to die soon. Decades later, I can say that a dying is involved; a dying to myself. Spiritual maturity helps me to understand that receiving God in the Eucharist is the penultimate way for Catholics to be in union with God and with one another. This union invites us to be more and to live in a way that is unitive and action-oriented. Luke tells us that in his version of the Feeding of the Five Thousand.

I remain awed by Jesus’ ability to draw throngs of people… and then feed them basically on the fly. What is most compelling though, is Jesus’ mandate to his hungry disciples to feed the crowd themselves. These guys were asked to act. They participated in the blessing and the breaking and now they were invited to share. Some have interpreted this miracle not only as the work of Jesus, but the crowds taking from their substance as the baskets of food were passed, taking only what they needed from the little food they brought for an afternoon of listening to Jesus’ preaching, and then sharing the rest. What a miracle, then and now, as we so often hoard versus share from our substance. But they shared, and there was still a surplus. That is how God is and that is what we experience each time we partake of the Eucharist. Symbolic in Jesus’ outpouring and the same pouring out of ourselves, we are always replenished and then some. God cannot be outdone in generosity. 

By Anne Marie Tirpak

Anne Marie Tirpak is a CTU Bernardin Scholar and works for the Department of Stewardship and
Development, Archdiocese of Chicago.