Thoughts from our Chaplain - The Mass is not ended!

This weekend we celebrate the great feast of Corpus Christi. My thoughts go back to a week ago, when we had the lovely celebration of the First Communions and how well the children had been prepared for it.

Over the centuries different aspects of the Eucharist have been emphasized: personal thanksgiving, adoration, the sacrifice of Jesus, sharing a meal, etc.

I like the way St Paul writes about it to the Corinthians. He told them off for eating their own food in a hurry and as a consequence some went hungry, whilst others got drunk! He tells them what he taught them, i.e. “that on the same night that Jesus was betrayed he took some bread and thanked God for it and broke it  and he said, ‘This is my body, which is for you; do this as a memorial of me’.” (1 Cor. 11: 23-25). Paul tells them: Jesus didn’t eat his own meal. Instead he took bread, broke it and gave it away.

Actually he gave himself away, because he said, “This is my body for you”. The message is: Let us break the bread in order to give it to others. To me that means that at the end of the Eucharistic celebration the Mass is not ended, but that we bring what we have received, i.e. Jesus and his values, to others. That would be a very worthy celebration of Corpus Christi.             

Fr Piet Wijngaard, O.Carm.