Spirituality of body and blood

Today, we commemorate the solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, given for us, not only in the Eucharist, but all the way to His crucifixion, death, and resurrection.

“While they were eating, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, gave it to them, and said, ‘Take it; this is my body.’ Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, ‘This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many.’” (Mk. 14: 22-24).

Thus, when you and I humbly choose to receive the Eucharist in Holy Communion, it is not only for our own, personal sanctification and salvation. It is our personal commitment to likewise give ourselves as bread and wine for others, all the way to the end, until there is no more to give. And all this is for the sake of LOVE. My body and blood, for others. As it was with Christ, so it is with each one of us who are His beloved disciples.

SITUATIONER. But our situation as a nation so very far from that. The giant gap between the haves and the have-nots is the very opposite of what we are commemorating today in our liturgy. The widespread social injustice and moral corruption in our country is precisely what Christ condemned and sacrificed His very life for.

Take this family from Payatas. The husband is a tricycle driver and earns so very little from day to day. The wife knows how to sew for a living, but they cannot afford to buy even a second-hand sewing machine. And they have ten children. Yes, ten! The family sleeps in one, little room with hardly any walls but rags and “tolda.” How many Filipino families are living below and way below the poverty line?! Throughout the past decades and even centuries, our economic and political powers-that-be have not really committed themselves to the meaning of the Eucharist the Body and Blood of Christ for others and yet many, if not most, receive Holy Communion regularly!

The other scandalous violation of the spirituality of the Body and Blood in our society today is the widespread desecration of human sexuality from premarital sex, to extramarital sex, to prostitution, to cyberspace sex, all the way to the recent Kho-Halili video sex scandal. Need I say more?

CHALLENGE/MISSION. God keeps giving us the opportunity to be agents of change on two levels of SSS.

Stewardship, Simplicity, Sharing. Against the current culture of materialistic, consumerist narcissism is the alternative, Christian lifestyle of stewardship, which leads to simplicity, which in turn leads to sharing. We are not the owners of our own lives, time, talents, and treasures. We are simply God’s stewards, and as such, must render ourselves trustworthy, as St. Paul reminds us. (1 Cor. 4: 1-2). This humble realization cannot but lead us to a more simple lifestyle, so that as a consequence, there will be more of our time, talents, and treasures that we can share with others.

On the national level, there is an urgent call for social justice through institutional reforms toward a more equitable distribution of God’s resources from land, to housing, to family living wage, to food and clothing, to education, to humane work and employment, etc. Among the middle-class, upper-middle-class, and rich sectors of our society, the only way they can live the Eucharist is through the alternative lifestyle described above. No less than a spirituality of the Body and Blood of Christ. Gawad Kalinga and other socially-oriented organizations are truly a major breakthrough in this regard.

Sid by side with this is the Moral Force Movement, initiated by Chief Justice Reynato Puno, acting as a private citizen. The formal national launch and summit will be on June 20, 2009. Its vision-mission: “The Moral Force Movement is a social movement that aims to instill values of integrity, social responsibility and love of country among the Filipino people through education and service-oriented programs in which Filipinos from various sectors and faiths can participate.” Its priority concern right now is the 2010 national and local elections, through a voter’s education program on transformational leaders, who will transcend self-interest for the common good.

Sensuality, Sexuality, Spirituality. This is the second SSS in the spirituality of the Body and Blood of Christ that is so urgently needed in our country today. What is God’s design for the sex act between man and woman? By its very nature, it is meant for husband and wife who are committed to each other in total and unconditional love, which naturally involves procreation. The couple are no less than co-creators of life with the Creator. Love and life are the God-designed meaning of sexual intercourse. At the height of sexual pleasure, each spouse experiences a self-abandonment to the other, and this is what M. Scott Peck describes as a mystical experience. God’s presence in each spouse.

Our Congressmen and Senators should pass into law an urgently needed anti-pornography bill and answer to God for any further neglect or delay in this regard.