I’d like to wish all of my Catholic readers a happy and blessed Corpus Christi, which we celebrate on June 22. This is a very special Mass as it is a powerful reminder of why I am a Catholic. A few weeks ago, someone asked me why I chose to become a Catholic. Truthfully, there are many valid and wonderful reasons that I could give, but I gave her two which I think are the most important. First, I told her that it was the only church where I could receive all of the sacraments. My second and most important reason is that the Catholic church is the church which was founded by Jesus Christ and I want to be in the church which he founded. If he had founded the Presbyterian church then I’d happily be a Presbyterian. If he had started the Baptist church I’d gladly begin worshiping in the nearest Baptist church. However, as he founded the Catholic church, this is the church I choose to worship in. The sacraments, particularly that of the Eucharist, is the focus of this particular celebration. In the Catholic church, when I receive holy communion, I am not receiving bread and wine. In the Catholic church, the bread and wine become transformed into the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ, which Jesus states so clearly and emphatically in today’s reading. The passage begins with John 6:51, which is my favorite verse in all of Scripture. Here is the text of the Gospel passage, taken from the Web site for the USCCB, which will be read during this Mass in every Catholic church.
Gospel
JN 6:51-58
Jesus said to the Jewish crowds:
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
whoever eats this bread will live forever;
and the bread that I will give
is my flesh for the life of the world.”
The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying,
“How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
Jesus said to them,
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,
you do not have life within you.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
has eternal life,
and I will raise him on the last day.
For my flesh is true food,
and my blood is true drink.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
remains in me and I in him.
Just as the living Father sent me
and I have life because of the Father,
so also the one who feeds on me
will have life because of me.
This is the bread that came down from heaven.
Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died,
whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
The sacraments, particularly confession and the Eucharist, are ones which I need on a regular basis. I cannot tell you what a great joy it is for me to be a Catholic, where I know that I can always receive the true body and blood of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, as he desired. Have a blessed feast day.
Thoughts from David Goldfield 