Gospel Reflection for Solemnity of Corpus Christi – Sunday 3rd June 2018

In this Sunday’s Gospel, the Feast of Corpus Christi, we are taking a mini pilgrimage to the Holy Land.  As we hear of Mark’s account of the last supper, we are transported  to Jerusalem during Jesus’ time on earth.  It seems that Jesus and His disciples are staying outside of the city, perhaps somewhere near Bethany on the other side of the Mount of Olives to the east of Jerusalem.   Or maybe they are camping out on the hillside near the garden of Gethsemane.  The guestroom for the Passover may have been in a neighbourhood on the south side of the town.  Finally Jesus and His disciples go back to the Mount of Olives after supper to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane, out of town again to the east across the deep valley of the Kidron stream.

I have just given you, as a pilgrim guide, three settings for three events;

1)  Preparation for the Passover.

2) The Sacred meal which we now know as the Eucharist.

3) The arrest of Jesus.

These are concrete locations where the saving events happened.  On this feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, we go in spirit to these locations and re-tell the events to allow you to be open to the spirituality of this day, the gift of the Eucharist.  In your own meditation, I trust that you will allow the Holy Spirit to teach you but let me presume to offer you one prompt for your prayer.  In these places we witness the fulfillment of covenant.  The Jewish Passover meal recalls God’s covenant with Israel. For us as Christians, that covenant is in-fleshed in Jesus.  He calls the Passover cup “My Blood of the covenant” and in the Mass we refer to it as the “Blood of the new and eternal covenant”.  Today at Mass, God’s promise is truly present in the human signs of Eucharist; Word, bread, wine, and all of us transformed into saving signs of God’s fidelity truly present in Jesus Christ.