Fr. Martin ALI KEKE NDEMSOU sx
Corpus Christi
Last Sunday, we meditated on the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity from which we should learn the value of the Unity that exists between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Today we celebrate the mystery of the Body and Blood of Christ. This celebration, which is the fount and summit of our Christian faith, reminds us again of the value of communion.
In John’s gospel, Jesus clearly tells us that his Body and Blood make us one with him: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I in him” (Jn 6: 56). How blessed are those who have the grace to nourish themselves with Christ! He is “the living bread which has come down from heaven” (v.58). Then, let us every day “draw life” from Christ through fully participating in the celebration of the Holy Mass.
In addition, the Holy Eucharist makes us one as Church, the Body of Christ, and the communion of the believers. The second reading taken from the first letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians should help us to understand this. In this letter, St. Paul says: “The fact that there is only one loaf means that, though there are many of us, we form a single body because we all have a share in this one loaf” (1Co 10: 17). Therefore, the reception of the Holy Eucharist should always lead us to be one in Christ, to be a communion.
Moreover, as partakers of the Body and Blood of Christ, we should cultivate in our lives what Saint John Paul II calls, in his Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte, at the closing of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, “A Spirituality of Communion”. What does A Spirituality of communion mean?
Saint John Paul II gives several meanings to the expression a spirituality of communion. Here they are. According to him, a spirituality of communion indicates above all the heart’s contemplation of the mystery of the Trinity dwelling in us, and whose light we must also be able to see shining on the face of our brothers and sisters around us.
A spirituality of communion also means an ability to think of our brothers and sisters in the faith within the profound unity of the Mystical Body, and therefore as “those who are a part of me”. This makes us share their joys and sufferings, sense their desires and attend to their needs, offer them deep and genuine friendship.
A spirituality of communion implies also the ability to see what is positive in others, to welcome it and prize it as a gift from God: not only as a gift for the brother and sister who has received it directly, but also as a “gift for me”. Finally, a spiritually of communion means to know how to” make room” for our brothers and sisters, “bearing each other’s burdens” (Gal 6: 2) and resisting the selfish temptations which constantly beset and provoke competition, careerism, distrust and jealousy.
Let us thank Jesus for giving us his Most Holy Body and Blood, source of eternal life. Let us foster a spirituality of communion in our daily lives. May Christ, the Living Bread, be always in us. May he help us to see him and respect him in every human being particularly in those who suffer (cf. Mt 25: 31-46)! For “by his incarnation, the Son of God has united himself with every single human being” (Gadium et Spes, N°22). Happy Corpus Christi Day to all!
Corpus Christi
Last Sunday, we meditated on the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity from which we should learn the value of the Unity that exists between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Today we celebrate the mystery of the Body and Blood of Christ. This celebration, which is the fount and summit of our Christian faith, reminds us again of the value of communion.
In John’s gospel, Jesus clearly tells us that his Body and Blood make us one with him: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I in him” (Jn 6: 56). How blessed are those who have the grace to nourish themselves with Christ! He is “the living bread which has come down from heaven” (v.58). Then, let us every day “draw life” from Christ through fully participating in the celebration of the Holy Mass.
In addition, the Holy Eucharist makes us one as Church, the Body of Christ, and the communion of the believers. The second reading taken from the first letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians should help us to understand this. In this letter, St. Paul says: “The fact that there is only one loaf means that, though there are many of us, we form a single body because we all have a share in this one loaf” (1Co 10: 17). Therefore, the reception of the Holy Eucharist should always lead us to be one in Christ, to be a communion.
Moreover, as partakers of the Body and Blood of Christ, we should cultivate in our lives what Saint John Paul II calls, in his Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte, at the closing of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, “A Spirituality of Communion”. What does A Spirituality of communion mean?
Saint John Paul II gives several meanings to the expression a spirituality of communion. Here they are. According to him, a spirituality of communion indicates above all the heart’s contemplation of the mystery of the Trinity dwelling in us, and whose light we must also be able to see shining on the face of our brothers and sisters around us.
A spirituality of communion also means an ability to think of our brothers and sisters in the faith within the profound unity of the Mystical Body, and therefore as “those who are a part of me”. This makes us share their joys and sufferings, sense their desires and attend to their needs, offer them deep and genuine friendship.
A spirituality of communion implies also the ability to see what is positive in others, to welcome it and prize it as a gift from God: not only as a gift for the brother and sister who has received it directly, but also as a “gift for me”. Finally, a spiritually of communion means to know how to” make room” for our brothers and sisters, “bearing each other’s burdens” (Gal 6: 2) and resisting the selfish temptations which constantly beset and provoke competition, careerism, distrust and jealousy.
Let us thank Jesus for giving us his Most Holy Body and Blood, source of eternal life. Let us foster a spirituality of communion in our daily lives. May Christ, the Living Bread, be always in us. May he help us to see him and respect him in every human being particularly in those who suffer (cf. Mt 25: 31-46)! For “by his incarnation, the Son of God has united himself with every single human being” (Gadium et Spes, N°22). Happy Corpus Christi Day to all!