The Solemnity Of The Most Holy Body And Blood Of Christ-- Corpus Christi

Paul Allman Siple was the scientific leader of the United States' first permanent station at the South Pole. In his workroom at that distant outpost he had a large globe of the world. It was upside down. In other words, it had a South-up map orientation; sometimes called upside-down maps. We are wired to think that north is ‘top’ and south is ‘bottom’ but in actual fact there is no top or bottom for the Earth because it is spherical in shape.

The researcher said, “When you’re right side up at the South Pole, it’s the rest of the world that’s upside down.”

This is way Christians feel in the Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. He is our pole, the center, at which our world rotates. The Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Christian life” (Lumen Gentium, #11

If you believe that Jesus is really present under the appearance of bread and wine then your world can feel upside down because Jesus says, “it is the spirit that gives life, not the flesh…” (cf. John 6:63), which means that the teaching on the Eucharist can’t be understood from purely human perspective.

And Jesus’ giving us the Eucharist is certainly not symbolic language. For “eat my flesh,” Jesus uses trogein, which indicates the way an animal eats. Jesus had been using the normal word for eating, but for the Eucharist, he turns his word usage up a notch by using word the word for “to gnaw and munch.”

The problem with saying that the Eucharist is just symbolic is that it does not make any sense. How could Jesus just command his disciples to eat his flesh and drink his blood and then say that this is pointless? The fact is that Christ’s flesh avails much because we are saved by the flesh of Jesus Christ (cf. 1 Corinthians 15).

Plus, Jesus’ own disciples understand him literally to eat his flesh and drink his Blood, which might sound like cannibalism, and Jesus does not correct them for understanding his words literally because he did not clarify that eating his flesh would be in an unbloody manner.

In fact, in v. 66 he allows his own followers to leave him instead of comprising the doctrine of the Real Presence. Those who won’t let the Eucharist turn their world upside down include some Christian cults who don’t believe in the Eucharist—they are a modern-day example of John 6:66, called by me the satanic six-pack because that verse says that some disciples left Jesus over his teaching on the Eucharist.

“Heavenly bread, hellish misunderstanding.”

One cultist group harassed, for multiple days, the Catholic pilgrims during the recent five-week National Eucharistic Pilgrimage from Indianapolis to Los Angeles. The protesters trailed the Eucharistic pilgrims using megaphones. They did this because they oppose Catholic belief in the Eucharist.

The National Eucharistic Congress’ security team had to hold additional meetings with the dioceses on the pilgrimage route to help coordinate additional safety measures. Local police agreed to increase their presence so there were multiple officers walking ahead, within and behind the procession. And the Knights on Bikes, an offshoot of the Knights of Columbus, rode their motorcycles to provide an additional level of security for the processions.

There is a precedent in Scripture for this kind of harassing. 1 Thessalonians 2:2 says, “We had previously suffered and been treated outrageously in Philippi, as you know, yet we drew courage through our God to speak to you the gospel of God with much struggle.”

Pray for other people to become good Catholics and receive the Eucharist. John 6:53 says, “unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you have no life in you."

In the Fatima events, the Angel of Peace, believed to be St. Michael the Archangel, appeared to the three shepherd children, Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta, on three occasions in 1916. During the third apparition, the Angel gave them Holy Communion, presenting the Eucharist in a miraculous way. He offered the Host to Lucia and the Precious Blood to Francisco and Jacinta from a chalice. The Angel instructed them to make reparation for the outrages and sacrileges committed against God.

In the Diary of St. Faustina: “From the ciborium came a voice: These hosts have been received by souls converted through your prayer and suffering.” (Diary, 709).

Jesus Wants to Turn Your Life Upside-Down (which is Right-Side Up!)

E.g. The idea of sola scriptura or the Bible-alone can hinder Catholic belief in the Eucharist because you need a validly ordained priest to consecrate bread and wine to affect the transubstantiation into the Body of Blood of the Lord. Catholic scholar Scott Hahn, prior to his conversion, told his friend, “Sacraments bore me,” because they seemed mechanical and ritualistic. Later, his wife told him to remember that Jesus Christ had established Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. To dismiss these gifts was to risk ingratitude and maybe even blasphemy. Later, when Scott Hahn started to read his Bible, he found lots of sacramental teachings of rituals.