Sunday to Sunday with Christie Martin: Corpus Christy

Corpus Christi literally means the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ can refer to a couple of different definitions that are all equally true. On one hand, the Body of Christ can mean the Church, of which He is the head. Each and every one of us, united under the head, make up the members of His body. However, today we will focus on the Body of Christ as it exists in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.

The Catholic Church teaches that the Eucharist is the full and real presence of Jesus – His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity – contained under the appearance of bread and wine (CCC #1375). Just as Jesus turned water into wine – one substance into a completely different substance – He miraculously turns the bread and wine into His Body and Blood through the priests’ hands at the altar each time a priest performs the rite of consecration. This miracle is referred to as transubstantiation, or the turning of one substance into another. The Catechism quotes St. John Chrysostom to explain how this miracle takes place: “It is not man that causes the things offered to become the Body and Blood of Christ, but he who was crucified for us, Christ himself. The priest, in the role of Christ, pronounces these words, but their power and grace are God’s. ‘This is my body’, he says. This word transforms the things offered.” (CCC #1374). It is important to highlight here that Jesus Himself is performing the miracle through the priest and that the priest has no miraculous power of his own.