First Holy Communion
I was lucky to attend Holy Mass today, on the feast day of Corpus Christi, also known as “the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ“, witnessing the first Holy Communion of a young boy. Because of the current crisis with its restrictions forced upon the Church and her worship, the young boy had to wait a couple of weeks longer than expected for that blessed day. The priest mentioned this period of waiting, this testing in patience in his homily, quoting the proverbial expression by which “good things take time“. How true that is. The best things in life are the fruits of hopeful endurance.
The young boy‘s first Holy Communion made me remember my own first Holy Communion in June 2019, one year ago, at the ripe full age of 33, and along with it the whole beautiful liturgy and meaning of the feast of Corpus Christi reminded everyone present of this summum bonum, this highest good, that is our communion with Jesus Christ, being joined to Him, which is granted to us through each of the seven sacraments and in the most mysterious and intimate way in the reception of the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar: receiving Him, in the form of bread and wine, fully – the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of the Eternal King, who took flesh from the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Jesus Christ instituted the Eucharist on Holy Thursday before His sacrifice on the cross, which is why each and every Thursday of the week is dedicated to the Most Blessed Sacrament. The feast of Corpus Christi, usually celebrated with a public Eucharistic procession, always takes place shortly after Pentecost on a Thursday in June, the month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus from which all streams of grace flow like blood and water from His opened side on the cross.
It is the Catholic faith to profess and trust that Jesus Christ is really, substantially, fully present in each and every little piece of the broken Eucharistic bread.
The feast of Corpus Christi, and the Eucharist in Sacred Scripture and ancient Christian writings
Though this special feast celebrating the unfathomable mystery and blessing of Christ‘s real presence in the Holy Eucharist was instituted in the Latin Church not before the 13th century, in the day and age of Saint Thomas Aquinas, by Pope Urban IV, the faith in this truth goes back to the Apostles who were present with Christ at the seder meal of Pesach before His death and resurrection, this faith is as ancient as can be.
It is present in Sacred Scripture and in Christian writings of the first and second century, of the earliest days of the Church.
“Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed: and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth me, the same also shall live by me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead. He that eateth this bread, shall live for ever. These things he said, teaching in the synagogue, in Capharnaum.“
John 6: 54-60
“For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And giving thanks, broke, and said: Take ye, and eat: this is my body, which shall be delivered for you: this do for the commemoration of me. In like manner also the chalice, after he had supped, saying: This chalice is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as often as you shall drink, for the commemoration of me. For as often as you shall eat this bread, and drink the chalice, you shall shew the death of the Lord, until he come. Therefore whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord. But let a man prove himself: and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of the chalice. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the body of the Lord.“
1 Corinthians 11: 23-29
“The chalice of benediction, which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? And the bread, which we break, is it not the partaking of the body of the Lord? For we, being many, are one bread, one body, all that partake of one bread.“
1 Corinthians 10: 16-17
In the Didache or the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, a sort of early Christian handbook of catechesis and liturgy from the 1st century, one finds the following lines on the celebration of the Eucharist:
“Now as regards the Eucharist (the Thank-offering), give thanks after this manner: First for the cup: ‘We give thanks to Thee, our Father, for the holy vine of David Thy servant, which thou hast made known to us through Jesus, Thy servant: to Thee be the glory for ever.‘
Didache or the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles
And for the broken bread: ‘We give thanks to Thee, our Father, for the life and knowledge which Thou hast made known to us through Jesus, Thy servant: to Thee be the glory for ever.‘
‘As this broken bread was scattered upon the mountains and gathered together became one, so let Thy church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into Thy kingdom, for Thine is the glory and the power through Jesus Christ for ever.‘
But let no one eat or drink of your Eucharist, except those baptized into the name of the Lord; for as regards this also the Lord has said: ‘Give not that which is holy to the dogs.‘
Now after being filled, give thanks after this manner: ‘We thank Thee, Holy Father, for Thy Holy Name, which Thou hast caused to dwell (tabernacle) in our hearts, and for the knowledge and faith and immortality which Thou hast made known to us through Jesus Thy Servant, to Thee be the glory for ever.‘
‘Thou, O, Almighty Sovereign, didst make all things for Thy Name’s sake; Thou gavest food and drink to men for enjoyment that they might give thanks to Thee; but to us Thou didst freely give spiritual food and drink and eternal life through Thy Servant.‘
‘Before all things we give thanks to Thee that Thou art mighty; to Thee be the glory for ever.‘
‘Remember, O Lord, Thy Church to deliver her from all evil and to perfect her in Thy love; and gather her together from the four winds, sanctified for Thy kingdom which Thou didst prepare for her; for Thine is the power and the glory for ever.‘
‘Let grace come, and let this world pass away. Hosanna to the God of David. If any one is holy let him come, if any one is not holy let him repent. Maranatha. Amen.‘“
“And on the Lord’s Day of the Lord come together, and break bread, and give thanks, having before confessed your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure. Let no one who has a dispute with his fellow come together with you until they are reconciled, that your sacrifice may not be defiled. For this is that which was spoken by the Lord: ‘In every place and time offer me a pure sacrifice, for I am a great King, saith the Lord, and my name is wonderful among the Gentiles.‘“
Besides many other documents from the first few hundred years in the history of the Church confirming the belief that the bread and wine of the Eucharistic banquet are for real the Body and Blood of Christ, there is the witness of the so-called First Apology of Saint Justin Martyr, a Christian philosopher who lived from 100 to 165 A.D.
Justin Martyr addressed this apologetic treatise “to the Emperor Titus Aelius Adrianus Antonius Pius Augustus Caesar, and to his son Verissimus the Philosopher, and to Lucius the Philosopher, the natural son of Caesar, and the adopted son of Pius, a lover of learning, and to the sacred Senate, with the whole People of the Romans“. He was beheaded under the Roman prefect Rusticus, alongside fellow Christian brothers, for professing the Christian faith and refusing to sacrifice to the Roman gods. According to the account The Martyrdom of the Holy Martyrs, Justin replied to Rusticus, when he demanded from him an offering to the gods: “No right-thinking person falls away from piety to impiety.“
What was this piety for Justin Martyr from which no right-thinking person entrusted with it can ever fall away? Devotion and thanksgiving to the one true living God in the following manner:
“But we, after we have thus washed him who has been convinced and has assented to our teaching (explanatory note: that is: after he has received baptism), bring him to the place where those who are called brethren are assembled, in order that we may offer hearty prayers in common for ourselves and for the baptized (illuminated) person, and for all others in every place, that we may be counted worthy, now that we have learned the truth, by our works also to be found good citizens and keepers of the commandments, so that we may be saved with an everlasting salvation. Having ended the prayers, we salute one another with a kiss. There is then brought to the president of the brethren (explanatory note: that is: the priest) bread and a cup of wine mixed with water; and he taking them, gives praise and glory to the Father of the universe, through the name of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and offers thanks at considerable length for our being counted worthy to receive these things at His hands. And when he has concluded the prayers and thanksgivings, all the people present express their assent by saying Amen. This word Amen answers in the Hebrew language to ‘so be it‘. And when the president has given thanks, and all the people have expressed their assent, those who are called by us deacons give to each of those present to partake of the bread and wine mixed with water over which the thanksgiving was pronounced, and to those who are absent they carry away a portion. And this food is called among us the Eucharist, of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins (explanatory note: that is: baptism), and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined. For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Saviour, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word (explanatory note: that is: Christ‘s words of institution on Holy Thursday), and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh. For the apostles, in the memoirs composed by them, which are called Gospels, have thus delivered unto us what was enjoined upon them; that Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, said, ‘This do ye in remembrance of Me, this is My body;‘ and that, after the same manner, having taken the cup and given thanks, He said, ‘This is My blood;‘ and gave it to them alone.“
The First Apology of Justin Martyr, chapter LXV – LXVI
The fruits of Holy Communion according to the Catechism
About the fruits and effects of the Most Blessed Sacrament, of Holy Communion, we read in the Catechism:
“Holy Communion augments our union with Christ. The principal fruit of receiving the Eucharist in Holy Communion is an intimate union with Christ Jesus. Indeed, the Lord said: ‘He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.‘ Life in Christ has its foundation in the Eucharistic banquet: ‘As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me.‘ On the feasts of the Lord, when the faithful receive the Body of the Son, they proclaim to one another the Good News that the first fruits of life have been given, as when the angel said to Mary Magdalene, ‘Christ is risen!‘ Now too are life and resurrection conferred on whoever receives Christ.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, Articles 1391-1398
What material food produces in our bodily life, Holy Communion wonderfully achieves in our spiritual life. Communion with the flesh of the risen Christ, a flesh ‘given life and giving life through the Holy Spirit,‘ preserves, increases, and renews the life of grace received at Baptism. This growth in Christian life needs the nourishment of Eucharistic Communion, the bread for our pilgrimage until the moment of death, when it will be given to us as viaticum.
Holy Communion separates us from sin. The body of Christ we receive in Holy Communion is ‘given up for us,‘ and the blood we drink ‘shed for the many for the forgiveness of sins.‘ For this reason the Eucharist cannot unite us to Christ without at the same time cleansing us from past sins and preserving us from future sins: For as often as we eat this bread and drink the cup, we proclaim the death of the Lord. If we proclaim the Lord’s death, we proclaim the forgiveness of sins. If, as often as his blood is poured out, it is poured for the forgiveness of sins, I should always receive it, so that it may always forgive my sins. Because I always sin, I should always have a remedy.
As bodily nourishment restores lost strength, so the Eucharist strengthens our charity, which tends to be weakened in daily life; and this living charity wipes away venial sins. By giving himself to us Christ revives our love and enables us to break our disordered attachments to creatures and root ourselves in him: Since Christ died for us out of love, when we celebrate the memorial of his death at the moment of sacrifice we ask that love may be granted to us by the coming of the Holy Spirit. We humbly pray that in the strength of this love by which Christ willed to die for us, we, by receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit, may be able to consider the world as crucified for us, and to be ourselves as crucified to the world. . . . Having received the gift of love, let us die to sin and live for God.
By the same charity that it enkindles in us, the Eucharist preserves us from future mortal sins. The more we share the life of Christ and progress in his friendship, the more difficult it is to break away from him by mortal sin. The Eucharist is not ordered to the forgiveness of mortal sins – that is proper to the sacrament of Reconciliation. The Eucharist is properly the sacrament of those who are in full communion with the Church.
The unity of the Mystical Body: the Eucharist makes the Church. Those who receive the Eucharist are united more closely to Christ. Through it Christ unites them to all the faithful in one body – the Church. Communion renews, strengthens, and deepens this incorporation into the Church, already achieved by Baptism. In Baptism we have been called to form but one body. The Eucharist fulfills this call: ‘The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread:‘
If you are the body and members of Christ, then it is your sacrament that is placed on the table of the Lord; it is your sacrament that you receive. To that which you are you respond ‘Amen‘ (‘yes, it is true!‘) and by responding to it you assent to it. For you hear the words, ‘the Body of Christ’ and respond ‘Amen.‘ Be then a member of the Body of Christ that your Amen may be true.
The Eucharist commits us to the poor. To receive in truth the Body and Blood of Christ given up for us, we must recognize Christ in the poorest, his brethren:
You have tasted the Blood of the Lord, yet you do not recognize your brother,. . . . You dishonor this table when you do not judge worthy of sharing your food someone judged worthy to take part in this meal. . . . God freed you from all your sins and invited you here, but you have not become more merciful.
The Eucharist and the unity of Christians. Before the greatness of this mystery St. Augustine exclaims, ‘O sacrament of devotion! O sign of unity! O bond of charity!‘ The more painful the experience of the divisions in the Church which break the common participation in the table of the Lord, the more urgent are our prayers to the Lord that the time of complete unity among all who believe in him may return.“
Eucharistic hymns and prayers by Saint Thomas Aquinas and Saint Ignatius of Loyola
As mentioned before, it was in the day and age of Saint Thomas Aquinas, the great teacher on the real and substantial presence of Christ in the Eucharistic species of bread and wine, that the feast day of Corpus Christi was instituted in the Roman Catholic Church. Saint Thomas Aquinas called the Eucharist “the sacrament of love“ and “the consummation of the whole spiritual life“.
It is an act of supernatural faith to believe that every time we receive the blessed bread and wine from the consecrated hands of a Catholic priest, we receive the Eternal King, our Savior, Himself. “For we walk by faith, and not by sight“ (2 Corinthians 5: 7).
“Tell, tongue, the mystery of the glorious Body
Pange lingua glorious corporus mysterium – hymn written by Saint Thomas Aquinas for the feast day of Corpus Christi
and of the precious Blood,
which, for the price of the world, the fruit of a noble Womb,
the King of the Nations poured forth.
Given to us, born for us, from the untouched Virgin,
and dwelt in the world
after the seed of the Word had been scattered. His inhabiting ended the delays with wonderful order.
On the night of the Last Supper, reclining with His brethren,
once the Law had been fully observed
with the prescribed foods, as food to the crowd of Twelve
He gives Himself with His hands.
The Word as Flesh makes true bread into flesh by a word
and the wine becomes the Blood of Christ.
And if sense is deficient to strengthen a sincere heart
Faith alone suffices.
Therefore, the great Sacrament let us reverence, prostrate:
and let the old Covenant give way to a new rite.
Let faith stand forth as substitute for defect of the senses.
To the Begetter and the Begotten be praise and jubilation,
greeting, honour, strength also and blessing.
To the One who proceeds from Both be equal praise.
Amen, Alleluia.“
“Almighty and everlasting God, behold I come to the Sacrament of Thine only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ: I come as one infirm to the physician of life, as one unclean to the fountain of mercy, as one blind to the light of everlasting brightness, as one poor and needy to the Lord of heaven and earth. Therefore I implore the abundance of Thy measureless bounty that Thou wouldst vouchsafe to heal my infirmity, wash my uncleanness, enlighten my blindness, enrich my poverty and clothe my nakedness, that I may receive the Bread of Angels, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, with such reverence and humility, with such sorrow and devotion, with such purity and faith, with such purpose and intention as may be profitable to my soul’s salvation. Grant unto me, I pray, the grace of receiving not only the Sacrament of our Lord’s Body and Blood, but also the grace and power of the Sacrament. O most gracious God, grant me so to receive the Body of Thine only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, which He took from the Virgin Mary, as to merit to be incorporated into His mystical Body, and to be numbered amongst His members. O most loving Father, give me grace to behold forever Thy beloved Son with His face at last unveiled, whom I now purpose to receive under the sacramental veil here below.“
Prayer before Holy Communion by Saint Thomas Aquinas
“Anima Christi, sanctifica me. Corpus Christi, salva me. Sanguis Christi, inebria me. Aqua lateris Christi, lava me. Passio Christi, conforta me. O bone Jesu, exaudi me. Intra tua vulnera absconde me. Ne permittas me separari a te. Ab hoste maligno defende me. In hora mortis meae voca me. Et iube me venire ad te, ut cum Sanctis tuis laudem te. In saecula saeculorum. Amen.“
Anima Christi prayer by Saint Ignatius of Loyola
“Soul of Christ, sanctify me. Body of Christ, save me. Blood of Christ, inebriate me. Water from the side of Christ, wash me. Passion of Christ, strengthen me. O good Jesus, hear me. Within Thy wounds hide me. Permit me not to be separated from Thee. From the malicious enemy defend me. In the hour of my death call me. And bid me come unto Thee. That I may praise Thee with Thy saints forever and ever. Amen.“
Happy feast day of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ!
Saint Justin Martyr, Saint Thomas Aquinas, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, pray for us!