Just a word...Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ...June 2, 2024
In the year 1209, an Augustinian nun named Juliana of Liege, Belgium, reported having seen a vision of a brilliantly white full moon, marred only by a small dark area. Juliana had a deep devotion to the Eucharist, and she understood this vision as a sign from God that the Church lacked a specific feast to honor the Blessed Sacrament. Juliana was one persuasive woman; 55 years later, the feast of Corpus Christi, the Body and Blood of Christ, was established by the pope. It is interesting that this feast was inspired not by a fervent reading of scripture, but by a person looking in wonder at the moon.
Wonder, by which I mean being surprised, amazed, delighted, awe-struck, is an appropriate reaction today. Think of Moses at the burning bush, or Mary being told she would be the mother of God, or Thomas, recognizing the risen Jesus by his transformed but still visible wounds. Wonder should be our reaction to the Eucharist, to the Body and Blood of Christ. Why? Because something amazing, marvelous, delightful and awesome has broken into our commonplace world. The God of sheer light and love, has become present to us as nourishment, to satiate our hunger, to unite us in a common purpose, that we might help with the unfolding of God’s reign. In order to do that, we need the presence of God’s Spirit, of God’s enlightenment, of God’s love. And we need to be reminded of that love frequently, that we don’t lose heart, or lose our way.
The mystery of God’s unconditional love and forgiveness may not be ours to understand, but it is ours to welcome with wonder and delight. Not feeling it? Let’s go back to the moon for a moment...how many of us have not gazed upon the moon with wonder, drawn by its grace and beauty? For that matter, how many of us have not been awed by the majesty of the Grand Canyon, or the Pacific Ocean, or a glorious sunset...or a beautiful human being? If we are ever to be lost in wonder within this church, we have to be lost in wonder outside of it. This Eucharist is not an escape from a dull, unexciting, godless world in order to celebrate a single miracle of grace; it is coming to a miracle from a miracle, from an understanding that all creation is charged with the grace of God.
Perhaps this feast can remind us that, yes, God is here, in the sharing of the Bread and Wine, AND God is there, written on the faces of humanity, and all creation. Perhaps this feast can remind us to ask, and ask often, for the same gift given to Juliana some 800 years ago...the gift of looking at the ordinary with extraordinary vision, and re-discovering the God present just beneath the surface of things.