I distinctly remember coming to the “age of reason” at about five years old while I was at Sunday Mass with my family. I was trying to think and understand how it was possible that there was “enough Jesus” to go around to so many people through the passing of so much time since Jesus walked the Earth. I understood in my child’s heart that what was Present on the Altar at Mass was indeed Jesus. I understood it was His body. But looking at the Corpus on the crucifix, I didn’t as yet understand the Miracle of the Institution of the Eucharist by the words of the Priest who stands in persona Christi in the Holy Mass. I was trying to think how that small body of one Man could be spread around to everyone throughout so much time!
The ponderings of a child! When my beloved Father died, my little niece of three years old at the time was simply fascinated by the body of her Grandpa lying in state at the visitation before his funeral Mass. She kept approaching the casket and had amazing questions I would never as an adult think to think! She wondered why, if he was sleeping, was he still wearing his glasses? Then she wondered why was he still sleeping? As best I could explain in 3-year-old language, I told her that Grandpa fell asleep with Jesus, and he will be waking up in Heaven. To her amazement, she exclaimed, “Will we all have a wake-up-in-Heaven day?!” To my amazement, she completely understood the Resurrection and the Life in her tender 3-year-old heart!
This Sunday (or Thursday) as we celebrate Corpus Christi, the great Feast of Christ leaving Himself in the Most Blessed Sacrament to abide with us after His ascension into Heaven, we will hear Jesus speak to us in the Gospel: "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." Jesus really is Who He says He is: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” It is a great feast of Love! With childlike wonder, let us never miss an opportunity to adore Him in the Most Blessed Sacrament, Who loves us so tenderly and abides with us!
