Happy Corpus Christi!

I went on a four-day men's weekend a few years ago.   It was a compelling experience.   During that weekend I began to realize just how much my wife meant to me.  At the end of the weekend, they had a closing ceremony.  She was there.  One of the men walked up to me after saying "I knew that was your wife, you never took your eyes off of her."   He's right.  There was a longing there, a love that wasn't just affection, but a realization that she was indeed my better half.   I just wanted to speak to her, spend time with her, and even hold her again.  It wasn't just physical; it was a deep spiritual connection that went beyond what we see and into a deeper reality.

In our modern world marriage is seen as something to do with feelings.   You see men and women getting divorces with the excuse of "I didn't feel the same anymore.  I don't love him/her."   We've lost the notion of just what the word covenant is.  Instead, we see it as a simple contract.    A covenant is not a contract.    In a contract, people exchange one thing for another.   You mow my yard, and I give you cash.   I install a light fixture for you and you clean my garage.   That's a contract.  Marriage is not a contract, though we have civil ones that protect people from abuse.  Marriage is a covenant.

In a covenant, people exchange each other.   I give you all of me, and you give me all of you.   It's all in.  100%.   It's not a 50/50 negotiation that ends with the other getting half of all you own.   It's a real sharing of yourself with someone else.    Jesus in today's readings reminds us that we are in a covenant with God.   "I will be your God, and you will be my people."  (Exodus 6:7).     That was His promise of a Covenant to the people of Israel.  Jesus came and gave us a New Covenant, one whose sign is the Eucharist.   Thinking about that should leave us awestruck.   God is offering you all of Himself, down to even the last drop of blood.   So much so that you can partake of His divine life and live forever!   That should blow our minds!

There is more though!   I will be your God, and you will be my people.   A covenant is not one-sided.   God did indeed do all of the work on the cross.   However, communion demands a response.    St. Paul says in one of his letters: "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? ". (1 Corinthians 10:16) Then again he says "Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord."  (1 Corinthians 11:27).     A more modern translation might read: "The Eucharist is indeed the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, if you take it in grave sin you could go to hell." 

No one can earn their way to heaven.  Faith though is a covenant in which He is our God, and we are His people.   That means we act a certain way, walk the walk and talk the talk.  People of a covenant look different.   A married man should act like a married man.   He shouldn't be off flirting with other women.   People should know by his very actions, words, and deeds that he is married.   That moment when the minister says to you "The body and blood of Christ," you are being reminded of this reality.  "You are His people, are you acting like it?"   Can you honestly say Amen to that? 

On this Feast of Corpus Christi, the Church reminds us to take time and make sure that we realize what we are doing at the table of the Lord and to rectify those things in our lives that are drifting away.   That way at the end of our lives we can say with honesty at the foot of the throne of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ: "All that the LORD has said, we will heed and do." (Exodus 24:7)