Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ
What he did at supper seated,
Christ ordained to be repeated,
His memorial ne'er to cease
— Corpus Christi Sequence by Saint Thomas Aquinas
In the reading from Deuteronomy, Moses commands the people to exercise their memory. He tells them to remember how the Lord has saved them, and not to forget the Lord who remains with them. Our memories, like our imaginations, often operate outside of our control or choice. After a simple glance at family photos or old year books, and many memories can simply just start coming to mind. I was recently visiting the parish where I grew up, and just walking around that church I could remember sitting in those pews with my parents as a small child, sitting in other pews with fellow students at school Masses, serving Mass or stations of the cross, going to confession, receiving First Holy Communion and Confirmation, times of adoration, etc. Driving out to my parents’ home and seeing the road on which I had been in a minor car accident also brought back the memory of that night from years ago. Our memories can simply come to mind. Yet, Moses and Our Lord give commands to choose to use our memories in certain active ways.
In times of silence, stillness, and prayer we can begin to choose to remember Our God, we can choose to remember the words and deeds of Jesus Christ Our Lord. We can like Jesus dwell in our minds by choosing to let Him fill our memory. In fact this seems to be part of what Jesus wants of us when He speaks at the Last Supper of the Eucharist. He says “Take and eat for this is my Body.” And He also says “Do this in memory of me.” As humans we can be prepared to receive Jesus in the Blessed sacrament with our body and our soul. The physical receiving of the Eucharist is an important part of receiving the sacrament, but let us also make sure to receive the Lord at the moment into the depths of our heart and soul: to choose to recall His words so that He may dwell in our memory; to choose to try to know Him more so that He may dwell in our understanding; to ask Him for the grace to love others as He does so that He may dwell in our hearts. Let us pray for the grace to receive Jesus fully in this most precious gift of His Body and Blood given to us in the Eucharist.