Hidden, but not hiding.

As we finish our reflection on the feast of Corpus Christi, we observe that the Eucharist is a stumbling block for many.  Most of Jesus’ disciples deserted Him at the mention of it (John 6:25-59).  Early Romans referred to Christians as cannibals.  Even such spiritual luminaries as C.S. Lewis were not able to fully accept the Eucharist as the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ.  But Lewis struggled with humility, noting - “Here is big medicine and strong magic…the command, after all, was Take, eat: not Take, understand.”

The Eucharist is a difficult mystery to accept in large part because our eyes see bread and wine and our mouth tastes bread and wine; and left to our own fallen nature, our physical senses tend to overpower our spiritual senses.

It is only through our spiritual intellect and will, infused with God’s grace, that we come to recognize, experience, and believe that hidden behind the appearance of bread and wine is the reality of Christ.

Our Pastor, the great Fr. Ed Meeks, pointed out that the hidden nature of the Eucharist is closely related to Christ’s divinity being hidden behind his appearance as an ordinary man.  The crowds even doubted him in that regard, “Isn’t this Jesus who is the carpenter’s son?” (Mt 13:55-56)  And St. Augustine famously observed that the true miracle of the transfiguration isn’t the revelation of Jesus’ divinity shining through, but that He was able to conceal His divinity the rest of the time.

Along these lines, a common objection to the Eucharist is, “if you really believed it was Jesus you would be scratching and clawing to get to Mass each day.”  Fair enough.  But that isn’t a disproval of the Eucharist so much as it is, (1) an acknowledgement of fallen human nature; and, (2) a cartoonish version of relationship with Christ.

It is also little different than the overall argument against the existence of God – “If God truly exists, why does He hide in heaven?  Why doesn’t He come down and show himself?”

As we observed a few weeks back, God did come down and walk among us.  And for that, He was crucified.  But more importantly, Christ told us “It’s better that I leave.”  Why?  So that He could come into our interior.  If we’re hungry, food does no good to restore us unless we eat it.  If we have a disease, medicine has no power to heal us unless we take it internally.  And relationships aren’t fulfilling until we share what is on the inside. 

Just so, Christ desires to dwell in our interior.  Christ “hidden” in the Eucharist is little different than God “hidden” from the eyes of the world.  Just as with eyes of faith we start to see God’s actions all around us, we come to experience Christ in the Eucharist. 

C.S. Lewis had it half right when he observed “the command was Take, eat; not Take, understand.”  Jesus didn’t expect us to understand the mystery of how the Eucharist becomes what it is – but He does want us to understand why He desires it for us - “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” (Jn 6:56)

Blessings of Corpus Christi -

Steve and Karen Smith

Interior Life