Corpus Christi: central mystery of our faith

Q. On June 2, the Church celebrates The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ or the Feast of Corpus Christi. As the bishop of the see of Corpus Christi, what are your thoughts on that day?

This year will be the fourth that I celebrate, as the Bishop of Corpus Christi, the feast of Corpus Christi. A bishop is required to be present in his diocese to celebrate the feast. This lends great significance to the feast for the whole Church, and in particular for me as the bishop of the diocese bearing the same name.

The feast of Corpus Christi brings together my ministry as bishop and the ministry of all who comprise the Body of Christ. The sentiment that I have celebrating this feast is one of great hope. The Body of Christ is the sacrament of communion, communion with Christ and communion with one another. All of us should take seriously that we form the Body of Christ together as working together, praying together and serving as His body.

Therefore, for me the feast of Corpus Christi is a feast of faith in the real presence of Christ and a celebration of hope that together we form the Body of Christ, the Church.

Q. In his Ecclesia de Eucharistia, Blessed Pope John Paul II said the “Eucharist contains the Church’s entire Spiritual wealth…” What did he mean by that?

This quote must be answered with one word–Jesus. From the beginning of the Church we have professed that when we celebrate the Eucharist (Mass) that Jesus Christ is present both in the gathering of the disciples and in the sacramental species. St. Thomas Aquinas reminded us, that only by faith can we truly recognize and understand the mystery of His presence.

As Christ instituted the Eucharist at the last supper with his apostles, He memorialized the words we repeat every day in the Church throughout the world; “this is my body, this is my blood.” In the early catechism of the Church it states, regarding His presence, “If He said it is, it is.” St. Cyril of Alexandria says, “Do not doubt whether this is true, but rather receive the words of the savior in faith, for since he is truth, he cannot lie.”

And so the Eucharist contains the entire spiritual wealth of the Church because it “is” the presence of Christ Jesus. It is as well the sacrament of His eternal love for us as it is the memorial of His dying on the cross and rising from the dead. It is not by human reason alone that we enter into this mystery, but by faith.

Q. Pope John Paul II said “dark clouds of unacceptable doctrine and practice” have unfortunately developed in celebrating the Eucharist. Have you seen any of those practices in the Diocese of Corpus Christi and what is being done to correct them?

From the early days of the Church there have been attempts to introduce unacceptable doctrines and certainly unacceptable practices into the celebration of the Eucharist. I believe this is because we do not fully grasp the meaning of what we are doing. We must realize that first and foremost the celebration of the Eucharist is a sacred act given to us by God that should not be relegated to personal tastes or newly invented ideas to make the celebration more “relevant” to our day and time or worse to each individual person.

The Eucharist celebrated and prayed with simplicity and dignity, allows the words to be heard and understood. These words of prayer should pierce into the hearts and the minds of us, the faithful. Therefore, it is important that none of us introduce into the liturgy extraneous practices or ideas that seem to be tantalizing to the human mind or emotion. Eucharist is the Lord coming to us, speaking to us, embracing us.

I would encourage everyone during this Year of Faith to take time to return to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (Paragraph 1322) and take the time to read some of the articles regarding the Eucharist. It is important to read those articles with the docility of faith, asking for the Holy Spirit’s gift of knowledge.

Q. What can the faithful do to prevent receiving the Eucharist from becoming, as Pope John Paul II said, “mere habit” and to ensure that it is not received “unworthily, that is to say in a state of mortal sin?”

The Eucharist must never become mere habit, in other words none of us should approach the Eucharist at Mass as an obligation or duty.

To avoid this attitude of “mere habit” our presence and participation must first be an act of faith not merely to “get something out of it.” We should also be docile and open our minds and hearts to the word of God, as it is being proclaimed and explained. When we can “translate” the word of God into daily life and experience and live sacrificially in line with the sacrifice of Christ, life has meaning and is dynamic, not mere habit. Then with that intentionality of living life not as habit, but as an encounter, we return to the Eucharist with listening to His word and embracing His presence with a new heart and a new mind and a new thirst for Christ’s presence in the Eucharist.

This Eucharistic way of life is then a daily discovery of God’s will and not habit. And when one comes to the celebration of the Eucharist weekly in this dynamic of life, Mass is new, not habit.

Much more of course could be said about this, however, as a basic response I would say that when the living word of God becomes life, it becomes a dynamic discovery each day of God’s will for me as an individual person and my responsibility of serving others as Christ has commanded us to do. Then returning to the Eucharist is full of life, full of meaning, full of depth and fully an encounter with the true presence of Jesus Christ and the Eucharist.

Q. What was it like when you were first able to administer the Eucharist as a priest, to consecrate the bread into the Body of Christ? Has this feeling persisted through the years?

Consecrating the bread and wine under the action of the Holy Spirit into the Body and Blood of Christ is a moment, I would say, when time stands still; when one realizes that they are in another dimension of life. There we are in God’s presence, which is God’s action coming to us in the Eucharist. Bestowing upon us a great gift that is His presence according to His promise that He is with us always until the end of time. That persists today. Yes it is a solemn moment for me personally and a solemn moment for any pastor to see in front of him the people of God and all of us joining together as the Body of Christ in unity. It is a time also to recognize people’s difficulties in life and what they are doing to share in the sufferings of Christ. But also, in the great hope of resurrection, it brings all of us into a deep sense of family united around Christ the good Shepherd.