The Sacrament of Sacraments The most solemn, majestic, and beautiful gifts that Jesus Christ gave to the world are His sacraments. He endowed them with unprecedented and unparalleled power – power to change lives, save souls, and share God’s very life, (Scott Hahn, Swear to God). The Church believes and celebrates seven sacraments. Six out of these [baptism, confirmation, penance, anointing of the sick, holy orders, matrimony] are works of Christ; channels through which divine power is given to us, means by which the life of grace is God is poured forth into our souls. They are ordinary elements empowered with extraordinary divine realities by which humanity participates and are incorporated into divinity The seventh, the Holy Eucharist is not just the work of Christ; it is Christ himself – in the fullness of his being. The Eucharist is God. It is the sacrament of all sacraments. It is the only one out of all of which suffices to be called “sacrament,” with the adjective “blessed” prefixing it. It is a mystery beyond the complete comprehension of human intelligibility. It is a miracle surpassing any other possible. To grapple with this mystery, we must rely on the testimony of Christ himself. In John 6, Jesus gives a vivid, undiluted, uncompromised explanation of what the Eucharist is.
He was direct, no figure of speech used, no beautified language. He was plain – “this is my body …this is my blood.” Purposed For Presence If there is one thing any serious minded Catholic never jokes with, it is the Holy Eucharist because of the faith in the “Real Presence.” Jesus is really and substantially present in the Holy Eucharist, not as in a symbol or a designation or representation but in actuality. That is why we kneel, bow or make other gestures of reverence when the Blessed Sacrament is brought forward. Since his bodily self was only going to be present for a rather short while, and if his sacrificial offering was meant for all peoples and for all times, then the necessity to institute himself sacramentally becomes unquestionably compelling. Consequently, by divine design, and out of his superabundant love, Christ encapsulates himself, wholly and entirely – body, blood, soul, and divinity – within the Eucharistic species. Therein he endures as a tangible expression and memorial of not only his Paschal mystery but also of his abiding and powerful presence for all generations and to every corner of the earth. In effect, his constitution of himself into a small piece of wafer and mysteriously hidden in the drops in the chalice was intended upon availing himself as food to be distributed not for a few apostles in the upper room (Matt 26, Mark 14, Luke 22), nor a few thousand followers (Matt 14, Mark 6), but to millions of souls, not in one place but every corner of the globe, not at one time, but for all times.
Festival of Divine Presence: Development and Observance The feast of Corpus Christi, also known as the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, is a festival not only of and for the Catholic world but also in most other orthodox denominations. It is a solemnity in honor of the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. Being a movable observance, it is commemorated on the Thursday or Sunday after the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity and is a holy day of obligation in many countries. The feast dates to the Middle Ages and originated with a visionary nun and a Eucharistic miracle. While on a pilgrimage in Rome (1263), a German Priest, Fr Peter of Prague, who, at the time, was plagued by doubts regarding the reality of the Real Divine Presence in the Eucharist. While Fr Peter was celebrating the Holy Mass in Bolsena, at the recital of the prayers of consecration, blood started seeping from the host, the specie of the body of Christ, and it smeared onto the corporal and the altar.
This astonishing and miraculous occurrence was reported to Pope Urban IV, who in turn instructed delegates to investigate the tale and have the host and bloodstained corporal brought to Orvieto, the Cathedral of which the relics are reserved till date. Meanwhile there had been a Nun and Mystic, St Juliana of Mont Cornillon, who had had series of visions wherein she had received instructions by our Lord to work on establishing a liturgical feast for the Holy Eucharist, which was her object of supreme devotion. However the future Pope Urban IV would remain hesitant, after many years, to sanction Sr. Juliana’s visions and establish the feast in honor of the Blessed Sacrament as she requested until the miracle of Bolsena finally convinced him as Pope.
Having instituted the feast for the Universal Church, it was celebrated for the first time in Orvieto in 1264. Furthermore, the Holy Father commissioned a the quintessential Dominican Friar, St. Thomas Aquinas, to draw up fitting compositions for the Mass and Office of this great feast, and Thomas produced hymns such as the Pange Lingua, Tantum Ergo, Panis The God eaten… Continued from PAGE 01 Angelicus, and O Salutaris Hostia and lots more, including reflections and theological expositions, in honor of the magnificent and real presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament A ceremonial procession, which dates back to 1275, would later on become customary in commemoration of this feast as approved and encouraged by Pope Martin V and Pope Eugene IV.
This procession was held either on the feast day itself or on the following Sunday, or on the day of the octave of the feast, and was prescribed, unless circumstances warrant that it be not held. During this procession, as is still chiefly the case in the present age, halts are observed at several spots where make-shift altars are setup where a brief adoration is held and the benediction (blessing) is given. In some places, churches that have the cemetery close at hand always have two altars within the confines of the cemetery for the purpose of these stops for benediction. In cities or parishes where it is not achievable or advisable to go outdoor, a procession is held inside the church with side altars set as halts from where the benediction is given until the solemnity is concluded with the final benediction from the high altar of the church. In many other countries, this procession is held publicly, weather permitting.
The Holy Eucharist is ceremoniously taken into the streets accompanied by a rejoicing and adoring crowd of worshippers. This is why in Nigeria, while the feast is celebrated on the designated date according to the liturgical calendar, approval is, due to our perculiar climatic arrangement, to have the public procession moved to the Solemnity of Christ the King, the Sunday before the first week of Advent, which is often at that time of the year when rainfall of very unlikely. Catholicism asnd Cannibalism In a manner of speaking, and true to it, Catholics were once accused by Roman pagans that their faith in the real substantial presence of God in the Eucharist equates them with cannibals, since they chewed the flesh of Christ and drink his blood. However, identifying Catholics who file to the altar for the Eucharist as cannibals highlights two things; On one hand, it affirms the unquestionable fact of the reality of what the Eucharist is – the body and blood of Jesus.
On the other hand, it reveals a regrettable deficit in the understanding of what Jesus delineated concerning himself in John 6 – eat my flesh, and drink my blood. Whereas cannibalism involves, by definition, the chewing and digesting the material flesh of an animal by another of the same kind – human eating humans, the Eucharist entails the Creator’s constitution of himself as food for his creatures – humans eating God. Cannibals consume no more than the meat, blood, bones, i.e., the material elements of their prey, Catholics consume more than the flesh of Christ, or his blood.
The Eucharist is the entirety of the person of Jesus, including his soul and divinity as constituted and miraculously availed, not as material proteinous meat, but as sacramentalized materials – “fruits of the earth and work of human hands,” embodying realities beyond what is visibly available – “the bread of life and spiritual drink.” Cannibals interact directly with the natural constituents of the human body they consume – taste, colour, texture, nutritional value, etc., but in Catholicism, communicants relate {participate} directly with the spiritual divine realities of the Godman, Christ, though as miraculously and substantially encapsulated within the natural constitutions of bread and wine, in taste, texture, shape, size, colour, nutritional value, including alcoholic volume.
More so, unlike cannibals who derive temporary nourishment, gratification and are momentarily satiated by filling their stomachs thereof, for Catholic communicants, the nourishment and satisfaction is spiritual and everlasting, and the strength gained is unto eternal life. With the Eucharist, while the consumption is physical, there is yet something deeper – spiritual communion, i.e., human incorporation and configuration into divinity. Finally, cannibalism amounts to the killing of the victim, but the Eucharistic meal does not result in the death of him who lives forever. His body is broken for all people and for all times, yet he remains ever alive. He is the true bread, living and life giving.
