Corpus Christi, 3rd June 2021
We are part of a body which is on the move. And, to quote Russell Hulsey, a contributor to a book celebrating Thomas Merton’s 100th anniversary,
Life has never been, nor will it ever be about ‘figuring it all out’ it is more concisely, about being in motion, wielding the weight of love the light of compassion – and moving evermore deeply into the mystery of that is ineffable and all encompassing.
(p.59 We Are Already One)
There’s a Buddhist influence there, but I think one can also apply this to what Jesus is about. Jesus is signalling his intention to honour this dynamic, this wielding of the weight of God’s love which moves not only us, keeps not only us, in being, is what being is all about, but moves even the stars and those far moments of creation which they, too, now signify. We can, perhaps, see the eucharist in this light also, as a moment in time significant of all time, of this movement which keeps everything in motion. We recoil, now, from the imagery of blood sacrifice but, perhaps, remodelling this feast of Corpus Christi in terms of love, which necessarily consists of sacrificing ourselves for others, of being at the service of others rather than merely of one’s own self, one can see it as the supreme example of the process of gift which moves everything, which makes everything possible, including ourselves. This is us, once again, being called to join Jesus in the one moment, the one movement, of his own self-offering to the Father. We do this now symbolically, but in the hope that its effect is real.