Corpus Christi

The Day of Thanksgiving for the Institution of Holy Communion
(Corpus Christi)

How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land? [Psalm 137. 4][KJV]

Corpus Christi (the Body and Blood of Christ) is the solemn and joyful commemoration of and thanksgiving for the institution of the sacrament of the Eucharist. This year it falls on Thursday 11 June. The observance of the Lord’s passion on the night of the institution, Maundy Thursday, stifles the rejoicing appropriate to the occasion. But today’s observance emphasises the joyous aspect of Holy Thursday.

The Blessed Sacrament is the great gift Our Lord left to us at the Last Supper. Since its institution, the Eucharist has been the source and summit of Christian worship. In this great sacrament God feeds his people and strengthens them in holiness,

‘O banquet most precious! O banquet most admirable! O banquet overflowing with every spiritual delicacy! Can anything be more excellent than this repast, in which not the flesh of goats and heifers, as of old, but Christ the true God is given us for nourishment?’
[Thomas Aquinas]

Historically, the frequency of receiving Holy Communion has varied: daily [Acts 2. 46]; on the first day of the week (Sunday) [Acts 20. 7]; Cyprian, Jerome and others mention that the liturgy is celebrated on other days as well. This continued until the early Middle Ages when reception declined to a few times a year. Later the Council of Trent (1545) urged that reception should be frequent. In the Church of England there is the following rubric at the end of The Holy Communion service in the Book of Common Prayer (1662): ‘And note, that every Parishioner shall communicate at the least three times in the year, of which Easter to be one’. After the Reformation Holy Communion was celebrated perhaps only once a month and this practise persists in some churches. In the nineteenth century the Oxford Movement encouraged more frequent celebrations and the liturgy became central to worship. At St George’s we have inherited this approach to the Sacrament.

Since the Exodus, on into the time when Jesus lived on earth, and up to the present the Passover is a festival when Jews call to mind and make present, through question and answer, action and participation, the deliverance of the people from slavery in Egypt. It is a celebration of freedom. As Christians we bring into the present the actions of Jesus our Saviour, who gives us freedom by the Cross, as we celebrate Eucharist together. But how can we do this and sing our song of freedom in this alien landscape where our liberty is curtailed?

For us now the situation is poignant, emotional and incongruous. Living in this strange land, in exile from our familiar way of life, it is very difficult to rejoice, to sing the Lord’s song, and give thanks for something that, at the moment, we cannot physically receive. We are unable to follow the command of Jesus: ‘do this in remembrance of me’. [Luke 22.19; 1 Corinthians 11. 23 – 25]

Nevertheless we can pray:
Lord Jesus Christ,
we thank you that in this wonderful sacrament
you have given us the memorial of your passion:
grant us so to reverence the sacred mysteries
of your body and blood
that we may know within ourselves
and show forth in our lives the fruits of your redemption;
for you are alive and reign with the Father
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
[The collect for Corpus Christi]

We can make an Act of Spiritual Reception:
In union, dear Father, with Christian people throughout the world and across the centuries gathered to make Eucharist, hearing your holy Word and receiving the Precious Body and Blood, I offer you praise and thanksgiving. Even though I am exiled from tasting the Bread of Heaven and drinking the Cup of Life I pray that you will unite me with all the baptised and with your Son who gave his life for us. Come Lord Jesus, dwell in me and send your Holy Spirit that I may be filled with your presence.

And we can be hopeful that soon we will be able to join together once again in this holy meal. When the disruption is ended we may well find ourselves more thankful for this gift, value it, and have a greater awareness of the impact it can have on our lives.

Joan Conway