This Is My Body, Broken for You
Photo by Sylvain Brison
I went to a potluck a while back, and every dish that each person contributed was delicious, but what was more was that there was a certain union that came from it. Meals join people together, but even on a scientific level, we became one by having the same foods become part of our bodies, foods that we labored in love to provide for each other. “You are what you eat” is taken to a new level: We are what we eat – together.
Is not the Eucharist this and so much more?
“Hoc est corpus meum quod pro vobis tradetur.”
(“This is my body which is given up for you.”)
He offers us His Body, His Blood, His Heart (“core” in Latin) in love and in sacrifice. He does this so that we may be nourished both physically and spiritually, nourished to our own very cores, and healed in our identities. We are reminded that we belong to each other by the very fact that we are made one through the consumption of the same Heavenly Food.
The core, the heart, is the centermost part of the corpus, the body. We can only become one corpus through a shared core, broken and distributed amongst the many. At Mass recently I was struck by Christ’s words at the consecration: “This is My Body which will be given up for you.” We hear these words so frequently that I think it is easy to forget their radicality. Jesus makes a TOTAL and complete self-gift for you. Just let that sink in for a moment and really sit with it. “This is my body which will be given up for you.” He gives us everything, and He asks of us everything in return.
At the Eucharistic Table, we each come with something to offer, and the biggest thing we have to offer is the gift of ourselves. What Christ most desires from us is to have our hearts, our “yes,” and our willingness to give Him everything. In giving everything to Him, we give ourselves to each other. Each of us comes to the Table with a gift to offer every other member of the Body of the Christ. That gift is everything that makes us who we are, both the natural qualities of our personalities as well as the spiritual charisms God gave us at our Baptisms. Is this not the greatest “potluck” feast? Every gift that is brought to the Table is from the Hands of Divine Providence. Nothing brought before Him at this feast has not already been prepared by His Hands, yet we simply return it to Him, and in so doing, share it with each other. The gifts that we bring are not yet perfect, but the Food that the Father gives us is the foretaste of what we shall become.
Scripture for Reflection:
“While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take and eat; this is my body.” (Matthew 26:26)
“Are not those who eat the sacrifices sharers in the altar?” (1 Corinthians 10:18)
Unity and Variety of Gifts/One Body, Many Parts (1 Corinthians 12: 12-13)
