An occasion of solidarity is now a likelihood of death.
Our fear of this Covid contagion, which is natural, and consequently our phobia of death, seems to have taken on a heightened alert. In such a situation, what can the Solemnity of Corpus Christi teach us since its context is basically that of a gathering and a meal?
Recently, someone mentioned that the last she received of Holy Communion was in March 2020. Sadly, she is not alone in this plight. Many have been deprived of the Eucharist on account that a religious congregation, that is, the act of coming together to worship, is deemed no longer safe. What is worse is that the life-giving food of the Body of Christ can become a neuralgic point of death.
While the word “fomites” has not entered common conversations, its definition has. A “fomes” simply means “an inanimate object that, when contaminated with or exposed to infectious agents, can retain and transfer a disease”. A good example are the buttons of our lifts. Notice that nowadays users are happy to let someone else press the button to a floor or they might just use a sharp object to press a panel button.
We have become so fearful of touching. But, touching, which is one of the 5 senses, belongs to the reality of materiality. Matter, which is the basis of the Incarnation and therefore the Sacraments, is now considered to be a means of death.[1] The 2nd Person of the Trinity, through the instrumentality of human flesh became Man. In short, matter has been sanctified by Jesus Christ in the Incarnation because the very act of God taking on flesh changes everything about the world. Thus, through the material mediation or instrumentality of bread and wine, He gives us His Body and Blood. In conclusion, the efficacy of a sacrament is dependent on its materiality.
What happens when we suspect materiality? In the place of matter, we have turned to technology because it promises all the wonderful connexions which matter has hitherto provided. We marvel as how instantly we are transported into an encounter thousands of miles away. Imagine kneeling in front of the TV before a virtual display of the Blessed Sacrament in Jerusalem. Contrast this experience with the action of Jesus who spat on the dirt to form a paste to daub a blind man’s eyes in order to restore his sight. Such a healing action would have been unthinkable in the face of Covid’s contagiousness.
What good then is the Blessed Eucharist? Our reaction may just reveal the uncomfortable reality that our need of the Body and Blood of Christ is superfluous after all. In the hands of reason and progress, virtual reality has become the appropriate medium of choice to wean us of the hopeless material dependence on the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ. This nouvelle regime of technology is connected, uniform, digitised, hyper-real, monitored and always on. We do not have to put up with the inconvenience of Jesus alone in the Tabernacle because He can be on tap. All that is necessary is the focus of a camera connected online and He can always be available to us, albeit virtually and not really.
Corpus Christi is the celebration of the principle of sacramentality. In fact the entire system of the Church’s hierarchy is build upon this principle. Jesus minced not a word about the necessity to eat His Body and to drink His Blood in order to live forever. The crowd that abandoned Him was never told that it had misunderstood Him because He had been speaking figuratively rather than literally. Not at all. Instead, He reiterated the requirement of eating and drinking Real food: His Body and Blood.
For that, a valid succession through ordination is a sine qua non for the ability to confect and make available the Bread of Eternal Life. In this sacramental economy, it makes perfect sense that those who are on the verge of death be given Holy Communion because it is THE food for the journey, the Viaticum. Even those who are not dying consume the Body and Blood of Christ too because they are on the same journey toward eternity.
Many cannot receive the Body of Christ today even though the Solemnity is highlighting it. Indeed this is an enforced Communion fast. Whilst spiritual Communion has become the “staple” for most people, we must not forget that spiritual Communion is ordered to the actual reception of Holy Communion. Therefore, every effort of ours should be geared towards the return of full service of the Mass and the reception of Holy Communion.
It is through the Sacraments, that Christ ordinarily effects His salvation of humanity. He continues to save us, really and not virtually, through His Church which is the place and the provider of His Sacraments. As such we cannot absolutise “safe spaces”[2] in the sense that we want to guarantee and secure 100% safety without appreciating that safety and salvation, whilst not mutually exclusive, are not equal. Safety is not the equivalence of salvation.
In the face of an overwhelming fear, any discussion which does not absolutise “safe space”[3] will be deemed as reckless. Indeed, in a climate of panic, we have lost the currency for courage. The daily figures for infections are fluctuating wildly suggesting that we have not crested an uncontrollable wave. The authorities appear to be reacting with a logic less coherent than a headless chicken running. The point is, diseases, especially of a virulent contagion, exaggerate the reality of death.[4] But thankfully, the Body and Blood of Christ emphasise the certainty of eternal life. We should never forget that and therefore, fearful that we are, it is also a time for us to summon forth courage. For Aristotle, courage is the basis of all other virtues. True, courage is not a licence to rashly court danger. Instead, bravery means we acknowledge that life is contingent, and that we humbly embrace the truth that every human activity rests upon the foundation of mortality. As in a war, in a time of trial and tribulation, we call forth the courage to trust in God and have the audacity of faith that despite this overwhelmingly dangerous infection, we hold on to the belief that Jesus is always Emmanuel—He is truly present to us in His Body and in His Blood.
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[1] Nevermind that “death” or temporality is built into materiality.
[2] We live in a world of material inequalities and the measuring system we have put in place is not helpful. Our focus is on productivity and the best person is supposedly the “self-made” man or woman. This itself creates the crisis we have with regard to individual mastery and autonomy. This kind of individualism already traps us in loneliness and isolation. Imagine the “excessive” health precautions we have put in place create even more isolation and loneliness. The very isolation we are suffering from because of our social structures seems to be “cured” by more isolation. There is a psychological price we have not reckoned with because our preoccupation now is survival.
[3] Unwittingly we demand a space where nobody has to die. That somehow the job of the authorities is provide us with such a space. Is it even achievable?
[4] Yes, death becomes us. But we seem to have an amnesia that life, that is, eternal life too becomes us in Christ. In the past, death is so much a parcel of life that cemeteries are located right at the side or the back of the Church. Today, we have engineered to remove this reality by placing memorial parks way beyond our visual range. We may get it out of sight or drive it out of mind, but it can never be banished forever. The only solution to overcoming death is faith in the afterlife. The only secure passport we have to eternity is the Body and Blood of Christ.
