Body and Blood of Christ – May 26, 2024
The longer we wait to bring back the Communion cup, the quicker we will forget why we need it. The most important reason to share the cup is that Jesus told us to “Take this, all of you, and drink from it.” Yet in receiving the body of Christ, we receive the full grace of the sacrament. So why bother still with the cup?
Drinking the Precious Blood is more than just a duplication of our sharing in the Blessed Sacrament; it is how we become one body: “It reminds us that Jesus’ own self-offering, his shedding his blood on the cross, is what brought about our salvation. Only the same gift of self to God will make us pleasing to him and enable us to be instruments of God’s life to others” (Rev. Paul Bernier, SSS, This Sunday’s Scripture).
The cup of salvation teaches us, our children, and our catechumens what that sacrifice requires: becoming one with Christ’s body and blood.
If Mass were only about receiving grace, then partaking of only the body of Christ would suffice. But the reason we need Eucharistic grace is so we would go and glorify God by our very lives. That means to sacrifice ourselves for others.
The cup of salvation teaches us, our children, and our catechumens what that sacrifice requires: becoming one with Christ’s body and blood. Drinking from the cup is the shedding of blood—Christ’s and our own, poured out for those most in need.
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