Corpus Christi

This last week the Church celebrated ‘Corpus Christi’, a day of thanksgiving for Holy Communion. As I approach presiding at my own first Mass, it is a sacrament that I have been reflecting on much recently.

Down the centuries, the Church of England has not wanted to restrict believers to one interpretation. Indeed, our differing words for the sacrament witnesses to its richness of meaning. For some it is the ‘Lord’s Supper’- a memorial of Jesus’ Last Supper with the disciples, for others it is ‘Holy Communion’- a place where we meet God in a very special way, others use the term ‘Eucharist’- a word that comes from the Greek for thanksgiving and still others use the Word ‘Mass’- from the Latin words at the end of the service which sends us out into the world.

In a typically diplomatic observation Elizabeth I famously said, “His was the word that spake it, He took the bread and brake it; and what His word doth make it, that I do believe and take it.” In many ways each of these understandings have something to offer us as we hear of Christ’s actions of taking bread, blessing it, breaking it and giving it to his disciples.

Like me, you too may have had moments at the altar rail that have been particularly powerful yet which you struggle to define. And so, as we mark Corpus Christi, I would not worry too much about exact definitions but would commend to you the advice of Cyril of Jerusalem (c.350AD) who encouraged communicants to, “Make your left hand as a throne for your right hand, as you prepare to receive a King.”