Today is the celebration of Corpus Christi. Corpus Christi celebrates Our Lord giving us His Body and Blood at the Last Supper. On a Feast Day such as this, we want to avoid the temptation to celebrate without cause. The feast of Corpus Christi is a celebration, a party. In order to celebrate well, we should ask why do we celebrate? Man is who God gave the Eucharist to so it is with man that we will start.
The most universal fact about man is that he is made for union with God. For evidence of this, look at his desires. Man desires many things, food, friendship, and family to name a few. Among these desires, there is one that man cannot find the object to. It is a desire for something infinite, something that has no beginning or end, and man is uncertain of the object.
Man tries to fill the desire with things of this world. He thinks to himself if I just have one more good moment with my kid, do just one more good thing for someone, or make my spouse happy one more time, then I will be happy. Man does these good things in hope that they will fulfill the deepest desire of his heart. He is time and time again mistaken.. He knows deep down that he longs for something greater. He knows that even the best things of this world will not make him fully happy.
The object of this desire is God. Man will not be happy until he lives his life for union with God. No amount of good things in this world will fulfill man because man is not made for this world. His deepest desire is for God, and he cannot shake it no matter how hard he tries.
The Eucharist is then the fulfillment of this desire within the Heart of man. Our Lord gave man the Eucharist to have a type of Union with God. True union with God cannot be fully had until man beholds God face to face, in heaven. The Eucharist is God Himself and by receiving God in a state of grace we are given a foretaste of what is to come.
The Feast of Corpus Christi then makes a lot of sense. It is chance to celebrate our true happiness. We are made for Heaven and will not be happy until we live Our life for Union with Him. By receiving God when not in mortal sin, we are given a taste of our true happiness. So Happy Feast Day of The Body of Christ.
God Bless,
Jacob Redmond