Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ B

In this transcription, the speaker is sharing the Gospel for the Feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. The Eucharist is emphasized as a precious gift that allows us to experience the act of love between the Father and the Son. The passage from Mark's Gospel is read, highlighting the connection between the Last Supper and the Passover event in the Old Testament. The blood of Christ is seen as the new covenant that brings eternal life. The Eucharist is described as a family meal that bonds us together as brothers and sisters in Christ. The speaker encourages the listener to meditate on the reading and allow Jesus to speak to them personally. Greetings, friends. What a joy to share the Gospel. In our time together, we will share the Gospel selected for the solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. Once again, we recognize in this Feast how the Resurrection of Jesus, which we celebrated throughout the whole Easter season, flows over in abundance and is communicated to us. The precious gift of the Eucharist mediates to us the act of love in which the Son gives His life for us, and the Father responds by restoring life to the Son. We prepare ourselves to ponder this precious mystery by taking a moment to quiet our inner selves. If you will, take a deep breath slowly in and slowly out. Come, Lord Jesus, allow Your Holy Spirit to bring Your Word to life in me. May I hear Your voice, Good Shepherd. We are instructed by the ancient prayer of Lectio Divina, first of all, to read a passage from Scripture. We begin to gain familiarity with the passage as we read, which helps us to open our spirits to what is beyond the Word, to the movement of the Holy Spirit carried on the words of the Gospel. On this Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, we read from Mark's Gospel, chapter 14, verses 12 through 16, and verses 22 through 26. On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover Lamb, Jesus' disciples said to Him, Where do You want us to go and prepare for You to eat the Passover? He sent two of His disciples and said to them, Go into the city, and a man will meet you carrying a jar of water. Follow him. Wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, The teacher says, Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples? Then he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready. Take the preparations for us there. The disciples then went off, entered the city, and found it just as He had told them, and they prepared the Passover. While they were eating, He took bread, said the blessing, broke it, gave it to them, and said, Take it. This is my body. Then He took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many. Amen, I say to you, I shall not drink again the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God. Then after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Mark's account of the Last Supper seeks to make clear how the ritual meal that will become the center of Jesus' disciples' religious practice flows directly from the Passover event and meal of God's chosen people. Four times notice in the first four verses that word Passover is used. Recall how the blood of the Lamb applied to the doorpost on the night of the Exodus caused the angel of death to pass over God's chosen. Now in the New Covenant, it's the blood of Christ, His Son, that frees all people from sin and death, communicating eternal life to those who receive it. Mary Healy, in her wonderful commentary called The Gospel of Mark, brings this out so beautifully, I think. She says, The blood of the covenant was the phrase used at the moment when God established His covenant with Israel at Sinai, at the climax of the Exodus. You can find this in Exodus chapter 24, verses 1 through 8, which is, by the way, the first reading for the liturgy of this feast. Highlighting this phrase, the blood of the covenant, Healy goes on to say, quote, Nearly all ancient covenants were sealed with blood, since a covenant was the forging of a kinship, a family bond, and kinship is constituted by blood. He goes on, The Sinai covenant was ratified by the blood of sacrificed bulls sprinkled on the altar. That covenant, too, was consummated in a sacred meal. Jesus' declaration that now His blood is the blood of the covenant means that the covenant is now being definitively renewed. Now there is a kinship, a deep family bond between God and His people that can never be broken. Close quote. The Eucharist is the family meal of God's people, where we become always more closely bonded as family, brothers and sisters in Christ of our one Heavenly Father. Let's turn now again for a second time to read this passage. Notice as we do what stands out to you. Be sensitive to that word or phrase or whatever moves your imagination. In this word that moves within you, Jesus is speaking to you, revealing Himself to you. We read again Mark 14 verses 12-16 and 22-26. On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, Jesus' disciples said to Him, Where do You want us to go and prepare for You to eat the Passover? He sent two of His disciples and said to them, Go into the city and a man will meet you carrying a jar of water. Follow him. Wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, The teacher says, Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples? Then he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready. Make the preparations for us there. The disciples then went off, entered the city, and found it just as He had told them, and they prepared the Passover. While they were eating, He took bread, said the blessing, broke it, gave it to them, and said, Take it. This is my body. Then He took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many. Amen, I say to you, I shall not drink again the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God. Then after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. And so we come now to the second step of Lectio Divina, which is after reading meditation. In meditating, we seek to surrender to the movement of the Spirit carried on the Word by actively engaging our minds on that which is moving within us. What is speaking to you at this moment? As I ponder this reading, my mind turns back to Easter, which we so recently celebrated. And in particular, I think of that verse from the Acts of the Apostles so frequently quoted in the Easter liturgies. Remember Peter preaching the gospel of Jesus' resurrection, telling the people that God raised Jesus on the third day and granted that He be visible? But now for the central, crucial caveat, not to all the people, but to us who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead. Luke, in his Acts, already has made clear that this eating together with Jesus characterizes the life of Jesus' disciples. In Acts chapter 2, verse 42, we hear, They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers. On the night before He died, Jesus said, Take and eat, take and drink. This is just what Jesus' disciples have been doing ever since. It is the eating and drinking with Him, in the Eucharistic meal, that is, that our family bond with Jesus and God the Father is established and made living. Friends, let me encourage you to linger a while longer with this gospel. When the word you hear, that word stirring in your heart, allow Jesus to speak deeply to you. Before leaving prayer, be sure to intentionally place the word you have received deep in your spirit, where the Lord might bring it growth throughout this week ahead. And friends, it is a joy to share the gospel with you.