Healing the Body of Christ

It is invigorating to feel the freedoms and regularity of our lives these days as this virus is becoming less of a factor in our part of the world! Advances in treatment and prevention have helped to reduce new occasions of suffering here and in many other countries, but not all. This weekend, our special second collection will help the Catholic Church in Brazil and India – two countries still being ravaged by the pandemic – to meet the emergency needs of our neighbors in the world community.

Meanwhile, we have been through a lot of challenges and sufferings that might still need the healing touch of Christ. Some have experienced major sufferings and losses, and even those of us who did not have such traumatic experiences have endured a long period of challenges. Everything from extreme isolation to simple frustration at all the restrictions can leave us with scars or emotional “baggage” that does not always go away on its own.

As we celebrate this Sunday the Body and Blood of Christ, two key elements of this high feast speak to the realities we are experiencing in this Year of the Eucharist in our archdiocese. These are also the two things we have missed the most during the time of restrictions that are now behind us. The gift of being able to participate in Masses by video (on cable or internet, with our parishes or others) has proven a great fallback option when we are unable to participate in-person. It allowed us to be nourished by God’s Word and to have some kind of connection with the community of faith that is the Church. However, this option lacks the full experience of that Christian community – the mystical Body of Christ – and receiving the powerful sacrament of the Eucharist in Communion.

Two of the many powerful qualities of the Body and Blood of Christ are those of unity and healing. We are what we eat: receiving Christ in Communion makes us one body in Christ, supporting and strengthening one another. When someone is homebound and we bring them Communion, they are in fact united with all of us; when we do it together in church, it is an even more powerful experience of being the Body of Christ. Secondly, the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus made present in the Eucharist brings us salvation and healing. Far more than just a ritual or symbol, this sacrament makes present the Body and Blood of Christ and acts powerfully in those who receive it to transform and heal us in body, mind, and spirit.

May this feast about the Body of Christ, the Church, help us deepen our appreciation of the need for healing in our lives, and reconnect us more fully with the Eucharist as the source of that healing. As we continue and expand our efforts to welcome people back to our collaborative parish communities, may we help one another to find in the Mass and Communion the strength we all need to experience Jesus’ gift of more abundant life! (John 10:10b)
- Fr. Joe