Corpus Christi Year A 2026

If Trinity Sunday is my least favourite Sunday, then Corpus Christi is my favourite solemnity. Just like the Church’s teaching on God the Holy Spirit, this feast also took time to develop. In John 6, Jesus told the crowd that eternal life is premised on eating His Body and drinking His Blood. What does that mean? In fact, the entire crowd’s response except for the 12 was a total rejection of Christ’s invitation. It is not surprising because it sounded like cannibalism. The institution of the Solemnity of Corpus Christi shows us how the Church’s understanding slowly deepened over time.

Firstly, to put into context, the principal feast that highlights the Body and Blood of Christ should be Holy Thursday. But Maundy Thursday is reverently sombre, placed, as it were, just at the time when Christ will enter into His Passion. There is not much time to ponder on the meaning of the Body and Blood of Christ. Instead, the focus of Holy or Maundy Thursday is on the gravity of Christ’s Passion and His desire to establish a priesthood of service.

Secondly, Corpus Christi is livelier, two months exactly removed from Maundy Thursday (that is, if we mark it on a Thursday rather than on a Sunday). We give thanks to God for the wonderful gift that is brought about by the total and complete change of the substance of bread and wine into the substance of the Body and Blood of Christ. We are not handling a mere symbol but acknowledging the true Presence of Christ with us. The Eucharist is truly Emmanuel. The Eucharist is God with us.

In a small town of Lanciano, Italy, a Basilian priest who had doubts about the Eucharist, witnessed with his own eyes, at the words of consecration, the transformation of the bread and wine into flesh and blood. It took place in the 8th century making it the oldest evidence of a Eucharistic miracle. Lanciano is by no means the only expression of the Church’s belief in the Eucharistic presence that is validated by a miracle. There are many and Carlos Acutis, Saint Carlos now, documented them for the benefit of our electronic age.

But without any of these miracles, according to Catholic teachings, Real Presence is literal in which Christ is wholly present—His Body and Blood, His Soul and Divinity under the appearances of bread and wine. While many Protestants struggle with the apparent unscriptural belief held by Catholics, the Bible is not silent. Jesus claimed to be the living bread which came down from heaven and that anyone who eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread which Jesus gives for the life of the world is His flesh. St Paul affirmed that the wine we drink and the bread we eat is a participation in the Blood and Body of Christ. The Docetists who denied the reality of Christ’s Body were refuted by St Ignatius of Antioch who asserted that “bread is the Flesh of Christ and the cup His Blood”. Early Church Fathers from Ignatius until Augustine, all declared that the bread and wine are the Body and Blood of Jesus Himself.

In not so many words Vatican II’s document on the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, that is, Lumen gentium describes the Eucharist as the source and summit of Christian life. The Decree on the ministry and life of the priest, also reinforced this idea by further adding that the Eucharist, apart from containing the entire spiritual good of the Church, is the source and summit of all evangelisation.

As the apex, it is the only noble or appropriate food that can accompany us on our pilgrimage and if we take Jesus seriously, it is the key to heaven. “If you desire eternal life, eat my flesh and drink my blood”. Given its lofty state, would it not be logical that the forces of hell should be arrayed against it?

The goal of hell is not to make us forget heaven. Satan’s goal is not even to convince us that there is no hell and as a consequence, there is no heaven. Rather, it is more effective, given that human nature is sacramental, to make us relativise heaven, which is to make heaven unimportant. Let me explain.

Science is possibly the only canon of truth we know and therefore it is the standard for knowledge etc. Outside of science, we discount knowledge that cannot be proven in the laboratory. Devotion is also a form of knowledge but because of the narrow parameters imposed by science, as such devotion is disdained and it is relegated to the domain of the weak or the witless. In fact, devotion is considered the preserve of the elderly and the foolish. Following this line of thinking, the Devil is not proposing that Holy Communion is not central but that it is not as important for heaven with the suggestion that maybe it is only for the dumb and stupid. Our adoration for example is attended by the devotional crowd, the seemingly insignificant ones. The sophisticated and the intellectual do not need this. They are secure in their scientific knowledge. The cultic is scorned as too enclosed and ritualistic.

How do we combat Satan? What I am going to say will come across like devotional dribble and maybe intended as fodder for the dumb.

I am not instructing you nor commanding you on how you MUST receive Holy Communion. What I am begging you is to WATCH or be AWARE of how you are receiving Him. Therefore, it is not a question of tongue or hand. The host is NOT a piece of bread SYMBOLISING Jesus. The Host IS Jesus under the appearance of bread. The exhortation to be aware is not because we are promoting devotion but rather in obedience to Christ with regard to the reality of eternal life. He has given us the only food that can accompany us on the pilgrimage to heaven. Given that Satan intends to lead astray, it means we have a battle on our hands. Satan succeeds when we do not know Whom we are receiving.

The point of heightening awareness is to avoid a performative contradiction. Much of life is like that. We profess one thing but we behave otherwise. We instinctively recognise the need for coherence and for integrity. So in the Eucharist, we profess to receive Jesus under the appearance of bread but we behave as if it is no more than just a piece of bread. What can happen for many of us is the manner we receive may send the message that the Host is a very special bread, a highly revered symbol but nevertheless still a symbol. But as Flannery O’Connor said, “Well, if it were a symbol, to hell with it”. The statement sounds rather rude but she was defending the literal meaning of the True Presence of Jesus. In the case of the Eucharist, martyrs die for Jesus. They did not sacrifice their lives for a symbol of Jesus. For Satan not to win the war, grow in a deeper awareness of Whom you are receiving so that your lives may reflect Whom you believe in.

Corpus Christi Year C 2025

Holy Thursday should be the proper solemnity for the Body and Blood of Christ. But since we have the Rite of Washing of Feet for that evening, the spotlight should naturally shine on the Christ who came to serve. Thus, it is left to Corpus Christi to tease out the profound impact of Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary because His passion, death and resurrection become present to us each time we celebrate the Eucharist. In short, we get a first-hand view of what Christ did on Calvary, albeit, in an unbloody manner.

Every Eucharist is truly a privileged window to the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. If Easter showed us that Christ came to save us, then Corpus Christi reminds us that His desire to redeem and save is an ongoing operation. On this day, it might be a good time to ask what we truly believe in because small things mean a lot. For example, on Trinity Sunday, you were made aware that the replacement of just one word in the formula of baptism can have catastrophic consequences. The change from “I baptise” to “We baptise” invalidates a baptism and consequently nullifies the effects of subsequent Sacraments. Most devastating is felt when one of those invalidly baptised men becomes a priest.

In my previous posting as parish priest, when a host drops onto the floor, either the communicant or the minister nonchalantly picks up the host, either to consume or to “dispose” if it appeared to be soiled. “Nonchalantly” as if it were nothing. Over here in Sacred Heart Cathedral, the minister steps aside, covers the spot with a purificator and usually someone will go to the area where the host dropped, with water and purificator to purify and dry the place. Honestly speaking, when I first encountered this, it felt rather stupid or unnecessary.

Let me clarify where the feeling of non-necessity is coming from. We are lined up to receive Holy Communion and it is no big deal for a host to drop on the floor or ground. Simply pick it up and get on with life because life is short, life is busy. Do not make a big deal out of it.

But science makes us look stupid while it also helps us. How so? A surgeon in preparation for surgery goes through a stringent sterile procedure of hand-washing, vesting, putting on the gloves and masking. In this exercise, he or she is meticulously diligent that there should be no possibility of contamination traced to the process. What is the big deal? Imagine the surgeon half way through a surgery removes her mask, rubs her nose and blows it and then continues to operate. What is a few bacteria or viruses?

But when we watch the NCIS series, observe how painstakingly careful the laboratory technicians are when it comes to the collection of evidence. Even a micro-fragment can be used to prove a case. Like for example, paint transfer, no matter how light the contact between two vehicles—invisible to the eyes but not to the microscope, can yield evidence to convict.

Now it makes a bit more sense that purification takes place after a Communion mishap. It highlights the reality of not “what” we receive but “Whom”. I have read somewhere that a Protestant pastor expressing to his Catholic counterpart that if he were to believe what we Catholics believe in, he would not be kneeling but would fall flat on his face.

Why? Because small things matter.

At the end of the Eucharist, there is a purification that takes place at the credence table. Ordinarily, the priest should conscientiously purify the sacred vessels ensuring that all particles of Holy Communion are swept into the chalice which is rinsed with water and then consumed by the priest. Such minutiae indicate how important the Eucharist is to us but more than that, it expresses our deference and reverence toward Whom we consider to be our Lord and Saviour.

As I face you, what is behind me is the Sacristy. The name itself indicates a place where sacred vessels and holy vestments are stored. Within the Sacristy there is a sink called the Sacrarium. It leads nowhere because whatever water that flows into the Sacrarium, enters the ground beneath where no one steps on.

In the past, this was how they purified a chalice. It was rinsed first with unconsecrated wine which was poured into the Sacrarium. Then, it was rinsed a second time with water and again drained into the Sacrarium. The care that we put into the purification of our sacred vessels is indication of how highly we honour the Lord—that the bread and wine are truly the Body and Blood of Christ

Such a devotion is not alien to us. The Chinese have a term to describe a precious child. “寶貝” [“băo bèi” in Mandarin or “bou2 bui3” in Cantonese]. Whenever a precious child is hurt, the mother or the father will feel the same hurt and in terms of caring for the “bou2 bui3”, the parents will go out of the way to ensure that nothing should injure the child. Was that not the very temptation which Satan proposed to Jesus on top of the parapet? “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down; for scripture says: He has given his angels orders about you, and they will carry you in their arms in case you trip over a stone”.

If we believe the Eucharist to be the Body and Blood of Jesus, should our behaviour not mirror a parent’s protection of a “bou2 bui3”? In a way we ought to modify our behaviour according to our conviction. We should endeavour to move in that direction as you may be aware that at each weekend Mass, the first item for announcement is to invite you to the Thursday evening or 1st Friday 24-hour Adoration. Our devotional life is a concrete expression of what we believe of the Eucharist as the source and summit of the Christian life.

Perhaps you might understand why in the Cathedral, we have not made any announcements about a person’s choice of clothing. Not that that is not important. I sometimes remark crudely that I am not bothered by indecent dressing. There is a reason. The Parable of the Merchant and the Pearl highlights how a person would sell everything to acquire the pearl of great price. Jesus is the only treasure worth our lives and our sacrifices. When we have discovered Him to be the soul of our lives, our behaviour, which includes dressing, will slowly conform to what we profess in. A time-tested path to encountering or discovering Jesus is through beauty in our architecture and our liturgy. The embrace of beauty sets the soul on the road towards excellence in behaviour and nobility in spirit. Such a change can only be achieved through captivation and not through coercion, through conviction and not through compulsion. If a person is forced to dress up for Jesus, what happens when there is no force?

The Eucharist can only be the source and summit of Christian living because Jesus Himself is the source of sustenance for the ascent to the summit of eternity. Through the most sublime gift of His Body and Blood, He is not merely the food which nourishes our spiritual life. Instead, He is the only food Viaticum, that is, the singular sustenance for the journey to our eternal homeland. In conclusion, while the Solemnity of Corpus Christi highlights the centrality of the Eucharist as the presence of Jesus, truly, really and substantially, the reality is that He is the only food that can transform us to resemble Him. We are the only ones who can receive Him and benefit from receiving Him. As St Maximilian Kobe said, “If angels could be jealous of men, they would be so for one reason: Holy Communion”.

Solemnity of Corpus Christi Year B 2024

Trinity Sunday can be regarded as an invitation to enter the inner life of God who chose to reveal Himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This invitation is also a vocation for each one of us. No, we are not called to be “three” but we are definitely invited to a mutuality that mirrors the Trinity’s communitarian love.

This brings us to the magnificent Solemnity of Corpus Christi because it is the primordial sacrament of love. Away from the need to focus on the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ, during the Sacred Triduum, the Church instituted this feast as a way for us to rejoice at the extraordinary gift of the Eucharist.

This Solemnity itself was set in the 13th century. Those who oppose the Church may point out that this “hocus pocus” was nothing more than a “Catholic” invention added to muddy the purity of the Faith. Yet it is fascinating that the early Church herself already possessed the profound sense of the Eucharist as Real Presence and not just symbolic representation. St Paul even though he did not use the language regarding the True Presence that we are familiar with already stated that consuming the bread and drinking the chalice were a participation in the Body and Blood of Christ. So much so that those who eat and drink unworthily of the Body and Blood of Christ, bring condemnation upon themselves.

The point here is that even though Pope Urban IV set this solemnity some time in AD1264, the centuries preceding his papacy were not silent. All throughout her history, the Church has always and constantly taught one way or another that the bread and wine used during the celebration of Mass are changed into the Body and Blood of Christ. The Catholic writer Flannery O’Connor once responded to a suggestion that the Eucharist is just a symbol said, “If it is ONLY a symbol, to hell with it”. The reply reveals a seriousness about this Presence which is substantial, true and real for Catholics. Why?

Two things can be said. Firstly, it regards eternal life. Secondly, we need to consume and drink love to become whom we love.

A couple of Sundays’ ago, the case was made that Holy Communion is necessary in order to gain eternal life. This is premised on the experience of the Jews after Jesus had multiplied loaves and fish. He gave them enough to eat and they were searching for more of the same. The conversation proceeded to the point that Jesus made it an absolute requirement that eternal life is premised on eating His Body and drinking His Blood. He did not correct those who chose to walk away from Him. He did not run after them to explain that He was speaking figuratively and not literally.

Perhaps we might be familiar with St Jerome’s translation of the Pater Noster that allows us to grasp this hard saying of Jesus. We are used to “Give us this day our daily bread”. The word “daily” in its original Greek is “epiousios” which translated looks like “super-substantial” bread. Clearly a word that indicates that the Eucharist is more than just ordinary bread. In fact, “ousios” is exactly the Catechism’s formulation: this change the holy Catholic Church has fittingly and properly called transubstantiation.

Every Sunday and at every Mass, a miracle happens. The bread and wine both retain their accidental appearance but their substances, bread and wine, are changed into the very substance of Christ’s Body and Blood. We are not receiving just bread and wine. As St Augustine remarked, “What you see is the bread and the chalice; that is what your own eyes report to you. But what your faith obliges you to accept is that the bread is the body of Christ, and the chalice is the blood of Christ”. And as St Francis of Assisi said, “O sublime humility! O humble sublimity! That the Lord of the whole universe, God and the Son of God, should humble Himself like this and hide under the form of a little bread, for our salvation”.

This brings us to the second note. We have been created by love to love. In order for us to grow ever more in love, we are fed with the sublime food of love. It was St Thomas Aquinas who said that “the Eucharist is the sacrament of love: it signifies love, it produces love. The Eucharist is the consummation of the whole spiritual life”. Through the Sacraments, God dispenses grace but in the Eucharist, God gives Himself to us. Thus, for us to mature into the love of Christ, Jesus feeds us with Himself because He is love to the full, so that we can develop to become like Him.

The challenge is that we are often unloving. Or that we proclaim love but behave with hatred. Many a times, we despair because of the catastrophic failure to live up to our vocation. It is characteristic of a self-motivated generation to depend on personal strength. What happens when we desire to change but struggle mightily and fail? St John Bosco’s advice is a timely reminder that “we do not go to Holy Communion because we are good; we go to become good”. If we are not loving enough, it is more likely that we have not eaten enough of Holy Communion. Or we have placed obstacles for it to be effective. In this self-destructive behaviour, Satan happily lets us do it because we are good at it or he throws curved balls at us so that we can stumble and be discouraged. Many who despair and stay away from the Church, from the Sacraments of Confession and the Eucharist think that they are not worthy of God because of their sinfulness. It is a lame and a mistaken excuse. They are not aware that what they are stating is that basically God is not worthy of them. Think about it. My sin is so big that God will not forgive me. Is it more likely that God is not big enough to take away my sin? Or, God is not worthy of me.

More than anything, our spiritual renewal in this pilgrimage through life requires the Viaticum. Holy Communion is not the “last” Sacrament given before we die but it is really the food and provision for the journey. We are in the world but we are NOT of this world which is why to imitate Christ who came to sanctify the world, we need the Eucharist. Christ did not come to sanitise it, that is, to make life more bearable. Instead, sanctification is to infuse the world that has forgotten its creator. Through our words and actions enriched by the Eucharist, we make God in Jesus Christ more recognisable in our lives and for the world. For Him to be known and loved even more, we need the Eucharist more and not less. The sacrament that save is the very sacrament of love. St Teresa of Calcutta said this, “The time you spend with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is the best time you will spend on earth. Each moment that you spend with Jesus will deepen your union with Him and make your soul everlastingly more glorious and beautiful in Heaven and will help bring about everlasting peace on earth”.

Solemnity of Corpus Christi Year A 2023

There is something to love about Corpus Christi. It is the second celebration in the liturgical calendar that highlights the Body and Blood of Christ. The first was Holy Thursday. At the Last Supper, even though the Passover Meal instituted the Sacrament of the Eucharist, the emphasis was rightfully placed on the establishment of the priesthood of the New Covenant. After Easter, after Pentecost and right after the Solemnity of the Blessed Trinity, the attention is now shifted to the topic of Jesus’ Body and Blood.

The Solemnity celebrates, highlights and acknowledges Christ’s promise and presence. First, the promise was made right after He had multiplied bread and fish to feed to the hungry horde. The empty stomachs occasioned for Him a teaching moment on the necessity of eating His Body and drinking His Blood in order to secure eternal life. We know what happened from that incident. Everyone left Him: None of the 5000-strong crowd of men, not counting women and children, could fathom eating flesh and drinking blood—an act suggestive of cannibalism. Jesus did nothing to disabuse them of this idea.

Second, He told the Apostles before the Ascension that He would be with them until the end of time. Through both the establishment of the priesthood and the institution of the Holy Eucharist, Jesus has kept His promise to be present to us from then until the moment the Church on earth crosses into eternity.

Most interestingly, with regard to the charge of cannibalism, for 1500 years, Catholics or Christians had no problem understanding what they consume. The beauty of the accusation is that it actually lends historical weight to what the ancient Church believed in. They understood Jesus’ literal reference and without any reservation, they ate His Body and drank His Blood. They were unfazed by the accusation of cannibalism because they were not eating body parts as cannibals do. We consume Jesus in His entirety—His Body, His Blood, His Divinity and His Humanity. We eat Jesus, full stop. Not parts of Him. It matters not how big a piece of the sacred Host that we consume or how much from the consecrated chalice we have drunk, we would have eaten and drunk of Jesus fully.

To appreciate why we need to eat Jesus, we start with what happens in the process of consumption. The food we eat has a way of becoming us. Try a two-regimen of “Char Koay Teow” and witness your girth expanding. But there is another way of looking at how food changes us. A good example would be garlic or “petai”. If we consume nothing but just garlic or “petai”, soon enough our entire body will reek of garlic or “petai”. This analogy can help us grasp how slowly through the regular reception of the Holy Eucharist, we undergo a transformation which mirrors what the bread and wine undergo when they are consecrated at Mass.

Both the bread and wine retain their accidental appearances meaning that they will taste like bread and wine but through both the Spirit and the Word, both the substances of the bread and wine are changed completely into the substance of the Person of Christ. In other words, the process we term as “Transubstantiation” is achieve at an essential level thereby allowing the accidents to remain. Whatever renders bread as bread and wine as wine has been changed into the full divinity and humanity of Jesus.

The process of Transubstantiation is guaranteed by Christ Himself through the Sacrament of Holy Orders. Through the priest who celebrates the Eucharist, Jesus fulfils His promise of giving us His Body and Blood. We eat and drink of Him in order that we may become like Him. In other words, just like the body beginning to exude the smell of garlic or “petai”, worthily consuming Christ’s body and drinking His blood will make us resemble Him more and more.

The Solemnity is truly a call for us to be the Body of Christ. This privileged vocation is a timely reminder especially when we are caught in the throes of a culture war that is centred on gender politics. That may not strike a chord for those in this country who are more familiar with racial politics. Here, our identity is not tied to qualification but “kulification” (skin colour) which simply calls to attention that identity is important. When we look at man’s attempts to secure a better world, nothing much has changed no matter how much we have advanced technologically. In the past, people cheated people and now they just have better ways of scamming electronically. It merely proves that we do not change the world by the dint of our might and effort. Instead, lasting transformation takes places through the conversion of heart. The more the human heart is shaped like Christ, the better will the shape of the world be.

The procession of the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ is an expression of this desire to be moulded into His image and likeness and it provides a solid foundation for our Catholic Christian identity. It does not solve the problem of posed by gender ideology or racial politics but it does give us a firm foundation to stand on. We are the Body of Christ and in carrying the Body of Christ, we signal our intention to be shaped more and more into His Body. As we continue to eat His Body and drink His Blood at the Eucharist, we beseech Him to mould and form us to be more like Him so that the change that humanity longs for can truly take shape.

Solemnity of Corpus Christi, Year C, 2022

The Solemnity of Corpus Christi, that is, the Body and Blood of Christ, reminds us that even though the Incarnate Word, has ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father, He is actively present in His Church now and until the end of time. As part of this event, there is usually a procession which supposedly leads the faithful through the streets of the city. In our case, it is a short route around the housing estate.

Why the parade? It makes no sense to speak of the Eucharist as the source and summit of Christian life if we were reduce it to merely an expression of our personal faith. To grasp why everything flows from the Eucharist and how every action is directed to it, we should take a closer look at the concept of “Transubstantiation”.

Part of our challenge is Catholics have scant understanding of what it means.[1] Inadequate knowledge can have negative consequences and the worst would be the reduction of the Blessed Sacrament to merely a symbol. As a practitioner of this “liturgical craft” or a person plying the “religious trade”, and without judging, I can say that many Catholics treat the Eucharist like an exalted symbol. The problem is, no matter how esteemed or dignified, it remains a symbol, nonetheless.

So, if it is not a symbol, what is it then?

Catholic theology affirms that Christ is truly, really and substantially present in the Blessed Sacrament. What this means is that the Real Presence of Jesus is distinct from the other ways in which He is said to be present. It is true that He is present everywhere but the Real Presence is where we can say with conviction that what we receive on the tongue or what is placed on our palm is “God Himself” and not a symbol of Him.

Yes, the Consecrated Host may be a tiny piece but it contains not a part of Christ. Each fragment is entirely His Body and His Blood, His Soul and His Divinity. No less. At the Incarnation, He became present to us in time and space, for 33 years or thereabout. But after His Resurrection, His Presence could no longer be constrained by time and space.

How is that possible? Through the process of “Transubstantiation” and supported by “Apostolic Succession”. Without Apostolic Succession, there cannot be transubstantiation.

According to the Council of Trent, as quoted in the CCC, “by the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood. This change, the holy Catholic Church has fittingly and properly called transubstantiation.” (CCC 1376)

It is still a loaded concept. What is it?

To understand it we need two categories which are related to each other and they are substance and accident. These two philosophical categories are seldom used except that accident for us means something else. One cannot separate substance from accident because they are metaphysical (beyond the senses) categories rather than physical. There is no such thing as “pure substance” which one can identify. Substance answers the question “What” because it addresses the “whatness” of an entity. Examples are man, woman, cat, table.

We only know what a substance is by virtue of its accidents. This means accidents answers the question “How” because it addresses the “howness” of an entity. How do the descriptions make a thing what it is? In English grammar, accidents are analogous to “adjectives” because an adjective qualifies or demarcates a “noun” just like accidents define a substance.

Whenever change takes place, it is the “substance” that remains. This means that substance acts as the principle of unity for the various accidental[2] changes that it undergoes. For example, the fluid that you drink to quench your thirst. In terms of mechanics, the cup of thirst-quenching fluid undergoes changes by freezing, by liquifying, by boiling. The content of the cup can be frozen into ice or liquified into a solvent, and finally through boiling vapourised into steam. It is the same content in the cup that undergoes all these accidental changes.

Another way to conceive the relationship between substance and accident is to look at your school yearbooks from Std 1 to Form 6. Through the series of class photos, you are able to trace how a “subject” underwent changes through the years. Whatever the changes are, it is always the same person who undergoes the changes. From a short, tiny boy, he has sprung into a well-built man, from a scrawny little girl, she has grown into a tall and slim model.

Almost every case of change conceivable is accidental. In the case of the Eucharist, what we have is a substantial change. How? If a substance is the unifying factor for accidental changes to take place, then in transubstantiation, the unifying factors for change are the accidents of bread and wine. These accidents must remain unchanged, in order that, when a priest consecrates both the bread and the wine in the chalice, the substances of the bread and wine are completely changed, or rather transubstantiated into the very Body and Blood, the Soul and Divinity of Christ. As the accidents remained unchanged, it feels like bread and it tastes exactly like wine before consecration. In other words, the “breadness” of the bread or the “wineness” of the wine are changed completely into the same substance that 2000 years ago walked upon the earth.

This explains our carrying the Consecrated Host in procession. We are not interested in carrying a “symbol” through the streets. Symbols may be powerful but they cannot save us. Only God can. If anything, Satan would like and is working very hard to lead us in thinking that the “host” we receive is no more than just a “symbol”. The point is, no matter how meaningful, no matter how magnificent, it cannot be a symbol as Flanner O’Connor, the eminent Catholic novelist, wrote in 1955, “Well, if it is a symbol, to hell with it”. We are not worshipping a symbol.

Transubstantiation explains the Church strict teachings with regard to the reception of the Eucharist. St Thomas Aquinas in the “Lauda, Sion” or “Sing forth, O Zion”, which was the sequence we sang or recited, “Behold the bread of angels (Panis angelicus) sent. For pilgrims in their banishment. The Bread for God’s true children meant that may not unto dogs be given”. The dogs are symbolic of those who do not know and therefore cannot gain from receiving Holy Communion.

If it were only a symbol, then there should be no drama involved when every Tom, Dick and Harry receives Holy Communion. But it is not. If we were to feed a dog Holy Communion, what is the dog eating? The Body of Christ, for objectively that is “Who”, not “what”, it is. The difference between a dog and a baptised Catholic consuming Holy Communion is that the dog will NEVER gain anything good from eating the consecrated Host but we will benefit or not, depending on whether or not we place obstacles (our sins) to its effects.

This knowledge that we are eating and drinking no less than the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ is the reason for St Paul’s teaching in 1 Cor 11, “And so anyone who eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily, will be behaving unworthily towards the Body and Blood of the Lord”. It may sound offensive but it highlights “Whom” we are truly and objectively receiving, Jesus Himself. Now you understand why we cover the spot where you drop your Host so that we can purify it. If you find it abhorrent to even think about subjecting the corpse or remains of your beloved to people stomping on it, how much more must we be reverential when dealing with the Body of Christ.

If we think negatively, St Paul’s teaching sounds condemnatory but if we regard it positively, he is inviting us to an inner transformation. Transubstantiation changes the substances of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ whereas transformation does not turn us into God but rather that those who meet us will encounter Jesus Christ—through our words and actions. This is what we must bear in mind and heart as we process with the Blessed Sacrament or when we consume it. Whether or not there is a procession, transubstantiation goes hand in hand with our transformation. The more we eat of the Body of Christ, the more we can resemble Christ in every thing that we say and do. We are not God but we can be like Him and for that, we need the only “vehicle” capable for this divinisation: the Bread of Life—the Eucharist.

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[1] It is a concept alien to the modern mindset. Our world view is organised according to “I, me or myself” as the centre of the universe. A suggested alternative to transubstantiation is “transignification”. The Holy Communion signifies a reality for me. The question then becomes what happens to that “reality” when it no longer means anything to me. Does it cease to be “real”?

[2] An accident is defined as the unfortunate incident that happens unexpectedly and unintentionally, resulting in damage or injury. Translated, it is “kemalangan” and the closest it resembles “unintentionality” is when we describe birth as an accident. This kind of accident is not a failure in contraceptive practice but rather it details how one is born either as poor or rich, man or a woman. A rich person could have been born poor and therefore the being rich is really an accident of birth.

Solemnity of Corpus Christ Year B 2021

We “makan” almost unthinkingly. The “foodie” culture is deeply ingrained in our society because we connect through cuisines. This is clearly illustrated by the local greeting. In English, we salute each other with a “How are you?”. But a Chinese “Have you eaten?” clearly highlights the centrality of food in the way we relate with each other. The other day I wanted to invite someone over for dinner but recoiled immediately because I worried about the possibility of infection.

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.

Corpus Christi Year A 2020

I feel like I was born in the wrong era. But I am not a victim. Let me explain what I mean by being born in out of time. Today, virtual reality is taken for granted and is no longer a fixation for futurologists. You wear a goggle and your experience is as authentic as you would get in real-life. Your brain cannot tell the difference. Gaming is not the only industry which uses VR. The porn, or using a more “amoral” term, the adult entertainment industry has also embraced VR whole-heartedly.

If a man so desires, he can have the woman of his wildest dreams and all his fantasies, sexual or otherwise, are fulfilled. He merely needs a VR-headset to stimulate his vision and hearing, creating an immersive 3-D environment so that the brain is induced or better, seduced into thinking that the virtual is real. But, no matter how much “adult entertainment” (or virtual sex) mimics real-life interaction, no matter how “real” it feels, currently, we still recognise that that it is all in the head. It may be different in the future.

Now transfer this experience to our current situation. Imagine a man or a woman kneeling in front of a TV live-streaming a Eucharistic Adoration. Or attending a live-stream Mass as if one were attending Mass. If intimate relation with a VR-hot chick is all in the head, how different is that from watching a live-streamed Mass?

Oh, but that is different. Fair enough. I was born in the wrong time.

Since religious service has been deemed to be “non-essential”, people have reasoned that it is OK to watch live-streamed Masses (not that it is wrong) after all Jesus is present in different ways when we celebrate the sacred liturgy. First, He is present in the community gathered around the altar. Second, He is present in the Word proclaimed. Third, He is present in the priest celebrant. Fourth, He is present in the Eucharistic bread and wine. Each is a presence of Jesus. So, if your family gathers to proclaim and pray the Gospel whilst watching a live-streamed, there He is present. However, there is a qualitative difference in the fourth Presence of Jesus.

Why?

A parishioner or a priest, both are instances of Jesus’ Presence, but you would never kneel to worship them, would you? Whereas, for the Eucharistic species, especially the Blessed Sacrament in exposition, you would fall on your knees in worship and adoration.

From the earliest times, Christians have taken the words of Jesus to heart. In today’s Gospel, He told the crowd He had fed with the multiplied loaves and fish, that should they desire eternal life, they must eat of His Body and drink of His blood. Sadly, the people were content to settle for a Jesus doing what Moses had done in the desert as we heard in the 1st Reading—to feed them physically. In the Gospel, Jesus commanded and not suggested because He was referring not to food in the general sense. He was decidedly Eucharistic in His mandate. Thus, like their ancestors of old, the crowd murmured and wondered how someone could even broach a cannibalistic practice. He did not back down in the face of their objection.

To gain eternal life is to eat the Body and drink the Blood of Jesus, no less. If Jesus had meant it in a figurative way, He would have proposed that they “eat” (phago, φάγω) instead of directing them to “chew” (trogon, τρώγω). Otherwise, why would the crowd murmur? Furthermore, He stated that the Bread He would give was His flesh (sarx, σάρξ) for the life of the world. He could have used the word Body (soma, σώμα) which is more figurative and definitely more palatable when proposed as an idea.

This points to a Jesus who cannot be more real in giving Himself to us as the Viaticum. Down the centuries, through Apostolic Succession in the Church, Jesus continues to fulfil His promise of feeding us with His Body and Blood. The Church He founded makes the Eucharist for us. The word used to describe this process of confecting His Body and Blood is “Transubstantiation”, in which the very substances of the bread and wine are changed into the substance of Jesus, the same Jesus who walked 2000 years ago. Notice how intuitive the Institution Narrative is as it changes from the 3rd person (in description of the night HE took bread, etc) to 1st person (This is MY Body. This is MY Blood). While the substances of bread and wine are changed, the species retain their accidental appearances of bread and wine so that Jesus is truly, really, and substantially present in the Eucharist—a Presence that has given comfort to billions from the time of the Catacombs to the current pandemic. And not just comfort but strength.

If Jesus is our Viaticum, then deprivation of Mass certainly has an impact on the spiritual health of pilgrims on the road to eternity. This pestilence is not just medical problem but also a spiritual challenge. Whilst we tally up the cost of stopping the economy, surely, we need to consider how sensitive souls are imperilled with this denial of Holy Communion. Of course, one can bring up the matter of making a Spiritual Communion through live-streamed adoration, and etc.[1]

In Sacramental Communion, when we eat and drink the Body and Blood of Jesus, we consume the accidents of bread and wine. It means that we eat and drink of Jesus in faith and love which is also what we do in Spiritual Communion. Since both Spiritual Communion and Sacramental Communion are received in faith and love, the effects are the same. However, Spiritual Communion always symbolises our desire to receive Jesus sacramentally and it is premised on the possibility of actual participation. In other words, Spiritual Communion is directed towards the reception of Sacramental Communion. Since Spiritual Communion expresses a desire and is not a fact, it is therefore a sacramentally less perfect sharing in the Body and Blood of the Lord.

Interestingly, when it comes to interpersonal and intimate relationship, people will not settle for that which is virtual but it appears that when it comes to the true, real and substantial Presence, live-streaming may induce us into settling for a projected reality. For those who are elderly, isolated, immuno-deficient or compromised and sick, live-streaming is a blessing. For those who are able-bodied, live-streaming should only deepen our longing for what is real and not be complacent with the virtual. What we have currently is not, despite all the hype, the new normal but the abnormal.

If Christ intends for us to eat and drink of Him for eternal life, then the unavailability of the Eucharist cannot be of divine origin. But we know that God can make good come out of what is a bad condition. He does not change the situation but allows it to redirect our attention. People who have given up on prayer have started to pray. Hopefully, this deprivation of Holy Communion will deepen our love for the Eucharist. But more than the supernatural gift of the Body and Blood of Christ, we should also take heed of the natural realm because faith and food are two sides of a coin. If the absence of Holy Communion should deepen our appreciation for the privilege of the Eucharist perhaps we can pray that we will also develop our solidarity with those who will require assistance as they struggle to get back on their feet during this period of recovery from the pandemic. Jesus has not abandoned us for He gave us His Body and Blood as food for the journey for as long as we are in the world. In keeping His promise to be with us, He is also inviting to ponder on another absence. Through the acute lack of the Eucharist, we are reminded to remember the privation of the other: the shortage of food for the poor is not the lack of God’s compassion but rather of ours. Thus, the want of Holy Communion is not just an invitation to Spiritual Communion. It is also an encouragement to a deeper appreciation of physical hunger especially for the poor and marginalised. At Corpus Christi, we carry our Lord in procession. May we also carry His brothers and sisters in our hearts and with our hands and feet. 

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[1] If you read this piece as a diatribe against live-streamed Mass, it is not. I am deeply concerned with the prolonged deprivation of Sacramental Communion. Satan will use any means possible to prevent us from receiving that which is our guarantee for eternal life. And our complacency may just be our unwitting cooperation with him.

Christ the King Year C 2019

Habermas, a German philosopher, said something to the effect that systems, especially political or economic, take on a life of their own and they will cannibalise whatever they can in order to survive. We have witnessed this in totalitarian systems. For example, Communism literally “devoured” its young to perpetuate itself. Red Sparrow, the movie starring Jennifer Lawrence is one good example. Black Widow of the Marvel series is another example as she was the product of a self-absorbed state[1]. It just means that the system no longer serves man but instead the art of statecraft goes, he is sacrificed at the altar of political expediency or in a command economy, he is sold at the market of supply and demand. Today, as we celebrate the Kingship of Christ, it might be good to reflect on the meaning of His reign or His rule both in heaven and on earth. In relation to His sovereignty, what role do the governmental or economic systems play in the Kingdom of Christ?
 

In the arena of politics, this idea of kingship is not alien to us living as we are under a monarchy. Some praise our unique arrangement because we have a paramount ruler within a rotational system. He is King of a federation, voted in by the individual sovereigns from the states that have hereditary rulers. Lest I be accused of lèse-majesté, let me categorically state that, on the whole, the history of the monarchy here and elsewhere leaves much to be desired. King David may have been an exception as we heard in the first reading. He was in every sense of the word, a regent, a man who acted for God. He was described in the Book Samuel (1 Sam 13: 14) and quoted in the Acts (Acts 13:22) as a man after God’s own heart. But even he stumbled in his later years when, consumed with lust, he murdered Uriah, his general, so as to commit adultery with Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba. The sins of his royal loins were like scarlet and red as crimson.

One can safely surmise that our experience with earthly royalty is at best patchy or spotty. There have been saintly rulers in Christendom, both kings and queens—Edward the Confessor of England, Louis the Pious of France, Margaret of Scotland, Elisabeth of Hungary and Elizabeth of Portugal. But by and large, royalty is just another word for excesses, honour, privilege and being entitled. And in many cases, corrupt and depraved.

The Gospel for Year C is profoundly interesting. Here we are introduced to an unexpected notion of kingship—a concept that shatters our received wisdom.

This is a King who hangs unglamorously on a Cross in the unsavoury company of two thieves. Yet, He is King as indicated in the 2^nd Reading. For by virtue of His sonship, the Incarnate Son of God is King because He is the very image of the Invisible God. As the Credo proclaims, begotten from the Father from eternity, He is King by right. But, hanging repulsively on the Cross, He is also King by virtue of our redemption. If according to our profession of faith, the Credo, He is King by right, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, then in the Gospel, stretched on the Cross, He is King by conquest. By His wounds we have been healed. By His death, the gates of heaven are thrown open for the children of Adam and Eve to enter. Either way, on the throne or on the Cross, He is our King.

How should Christ be King? Is He supposed to be a King in a spiritual sense only? We have established that by right, yes, but by conquest, no. Hence, He must be King in every sense of the words, spiritual and temporal for nothing in life is outside the purview of His rule.

Our major challenge is we have accustomed to living compartmentalised lives—a bit schizophrenic if you like. Science has done a great job at excluding religion from the public realm. Religion as a public expression has been reduced to a private encounter. So, on the one hand, it is easy to imagine the reign of Christ using the terminology of spirituality. As a spiritual King, He established on earth the Church and through a hierarchical system, He rules as head of this mystical Body. On the other hand, both the state and the market are domains where religion, since it is a private matter, should not interfere. We witness this in Catholic politicians, especially in the USA, who are proud to publicly declare their religious affiliation while at the same time are quick to insist that their religion is nothing more than a private matter. 

However, the word Christendom connotes the idea that Christ’s reign is much more comprehensive and therefore inclusive rather than being restricted to the spiritual realm. The relationship between Church and State cannot be mutually exclusive where the Church is confined to serve our spiritual end whereas the state and the market have a role devoted to the temporal affairs. Supposedly, the Church leads us to heaven whilst the state and market provide for the material well-being of the people.

The state and the market do not exist solely to fulfil the material needs of the people but must always have as their goal to provide space for the practice of virtues so that its people can make their way to heaven.

The last King to die in Britain on a battlefield was the Scottish James the IV, from the House of Stuart, who was killed in 1513. In those days, it was an occupational hazard for Kings because they led their army to war and were often the first to fall. This illustration gives us an idea that to rule is to be at the service of the people. The master is first and foremost a servant. And hence, whatever system we can devise, it must be our servant rather than our master because it serves to assist us in our pilgrim journey to heaven. Christ, our Lord and Saviour, stretched on the Cross, our King, ruled through His service, giving up His life so that we might gain eternity.

We all know that Christendom no longer exist and whatever vestiges of it, many of the Christian nations are doing their best to eradicate their Christian past. In some Christian countries, the civil authority is opposed to religion especially to Christianity, the very foundation of its civilisation. Hence, where Christ cannot be King, it is left to His soldiers. We are called Church Militant for a good reason. We have a task at hand which, is to make Christ known, if not through our words, then through our actions. Let the world know that Christ is King through each one of us.

As the preface rightly reminds us, “…as eternal Priest and King of all creation, He offered Himself on the altar of the Cross, as a spotless sacrifice to bring man peace, so that He might accomplish the mysteries of human redemption, and making all created things subject to His rule, He might present to the immensity of His Father’s majesty, an eternal and universal Kingdom, a Kingdom of truth and life, a Kingdom of holiness and grace, a Kingdom of justice, love and peace”.

It does not matter whichever systems we are inserted into; the task remains the same—that Christ be known and love. Hence, let us all be the soldiers Christ our King can be proud of. We have a heavy responsibility, and may the Lord bless us all.

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[1] When a state, under the guise of providing relief, removes a child at the age of 3, from the care of its principal providers (parents), that is a good example of a nanny system that cannibalises its young. The child will be indoctrinated with state or rather the most current philosophy, thus perpetuating the state’s survival.