Many Catholics decline participation in half the Eucharistic feast. It is their choice, formed by many factors. Some logical, like declining to share germs, though most are less squeamish about door handles. Some practical, like taking only the minimal spiritual food needed, and in some places, therefore all that is offered.
Earlier this week, Loretta Pehanich blogged a marvelous story that follows up John 2.
We saved some wine from our wedding two years ago because so much was left over. We bring some out every anniversary, as a sign of the blessing it is to be married. Whoever shares it with us agrees: it is the best wine they ever tasted.
It’s not really the liturgical season for the wedding at Cana, much less some second anniversary. But this week, either the day before yesterday or today or tomorrow, many observe a feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. And it strikes me there’s a connection in all this.
Was there something more in the wine Jesus shared at the wedding banquet? Was this the “best” only in taste? Or did Jesus share something more than rearranged molecules for the festivities?
Christians share festivities each Mass. We know and accept intellectually that the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ. But does this grace have a noticeable effect in us believers? We might say it is food for the spiritual journey, but what does that mean? Do we ever ponder, this is the best we’ve ever tasted? Or have our meals with the Lord become humdrum?
We consume a small morsel, hardly enough in the physical universe to keep someone alive for a day, let alone a week. And does it transform us? Water to wine. Wine to blood. Blood to a body that lives and breathes under its head. Doesn’t that make us want to drink deeply?
Do you remember the anniversary of your First Communion? If not, perhaps the observance of the Body and Blood of the Lord serves to celebrate it.
Let the praise be loud and high:
Sweet and tranquil be the joy
Felt today in every breast.
Do you feel it?
Catholic Sensibility 