In this Sunday’s passage from 1 Corinthians, St. Paul writes, “We are one body.” On this Feast of Corpus Christi, we are reminded that we are made one body by sharing in the Body and Blood of Christ with each other.
Receiving Holy Communion is not only a personal experience; it also unites us with one another. We all share in the one bread and the one cup—the Body and Blood of our Lord. As many grains form one loaf, so the “many” of us become one with each other. Sharing in the one cup is a ritual expression of how we are made one through Christ.
Part of the role of the Sign of Peace at Mass is to remind us that the same hand that reaches out to receive Christ in the Eucharist must also reach out to receive Christ in one another. That is the reason we do this act just before receiving the Eucharist; it is a strong expression of how the Eucharist we are about to receive connects us all.
Ministering Holy Communion to the homebound and those in hospitals and nursing homes is an important part of our Church’s ministry. It reminds those with whom we share the Eucharist that they are not alone. Through receiving the Eucharist, they are connected with our parish community. That connection is why, for those able to do so, participating in Mass is so much more powerful than simply watching it on TV, where we cannot physically share in the Eucharist.
At St. Isidore, we are currently developing a plan to increase the number of cups of Christ’s Precious Blood at our Sunday liturgies so that everyone will have the opportunity to drink from the “one cup,” thereby connecting us even more closely to each other.
Its ability to connect us, forming us into the One Body of Christ, is why the Eucharist is at the very heart of our Catholic faith and why we share in it at every Mass.
