The beautiful feast of Corpus Christi used to carry with it processions and devotions, young children in their First Holy Communion finery, with flowers and music through the streets of villages and cities. Today we celebrate the most important gift that is humanly imaginable, today and every day we come to Mass.
At the center of it all is the Eucharist, thanksgiving to God for the gift of the Incarnation, Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord.
In a way that God alone could have thought up, Jesus offers His own Body and Blood for us: “This is my Body, given up for you.” These are words of Love and endless concern for us, for each of us because they point to the complete emptying of Himself on the Cross.
After the Resurrection the Lord appears to His disciples on the way to Emmaus. He stays with them, where they recognize Him in the breaking of the bread. We re-enact this at every Mass. We are reminded of his sacrifice that others may live – you and me – even if we were the only ones on earth!
And yet did you ever notice that the same words are expressed in another world, in fact a universe away from the Lord’s love and concern for others? We hear a culture of death say: “This is my body; don’t tell me what to do.” Those are the words of the abortion-minded as they head into the jaws of the multibillion-dollar industry that dupes young women into “solving” their pregnancy problems. A culture that exploits sex for immoral entertainment and fun afterwards tells these women to solve the problem by killing their child, in their own womb.
“This is my body?” No, it’s not even her body, it’s another body growing within, tiny, delicate, microscopic, but even at conception with all the genetic information to become arms, legs, fingerprints, beating heart, already in days and early weeks. Not potential human life, but a human being with potential – and the sky’s the limit on it, as long as it will be protected in law. The fact that the law does not protect this human being is something that must change.
Every day, the biggest statistical cause of death in the United States that takes a million lives a year, and almost 68 million since 1973 when the U.S. Supreme Court rendered the worst decision it ever made in the history of the country, taking away the right to life for anyone up until the time of birth.
That means in practical terms that anyone under the age of 49 did not have the protection of law to live for the first nine months of their lives. That is a terrible “choice” for a civilization to market. Every third baby never sees the light of day – one third are never born – from “choice.”
Corpus Christi means more than a bright celebration on a nice day. It means a commitment to be with Christ, who offers His life for others. It means standing up for those who have no choice and no voice. Let’s get away from tired words that are a charade and belie the world of morally compromised politicians, pundits and a media wedded to abortion and the reflection of playing God whenever they say “This is my body. Don’t tell me what to do!” That is a universe away, no, a hell away from the heavenly message that we celebrate on Corpus Christi: “This is My Body, GIVEN up for you!”
Through the Eucharist let us renew our efforts to pray, fast, speak, vote and act for the preborn millions threatened by the terror of abortion, a terror that dwarfs every other imaginable source.
Have the Eucharist be the power that drives this concern for those tiny others who have no voice and no choice.
Fr. Denis Wilde, OSA, Ph.D., is a full-time pastoral associate for Priests for Life. A concert pianist, he was formerly an associate professor of music at Villanova University.
