Corpus Christi, Year B, 10-06-12

Exodus 24:3-8/ Hebrew 9:11-15/ Mark 14:12-16, 22-26

One of the greatest threats to Europe during the 5th Century came from Eastern Asia.

The Huns led by Attila had swept through Asia and in the year 452 was on the verge of invading Italy.

The Huns were savage and barbaric in every aspect, killing men, women and children, plundering, sacking and destroying.

Attila the Hun was especially and utterly cruel in inflicting torture, greedy in plundering and famous for ripping apart his enemies and drinking their blood.

Rome which was then the seat of the crumbling Roman empire waited in helpless terror for utter destruction.

The pope at that time, Pope Leo knew he had to defend his flock and so he decided to go and meet Attila the Hun at the risk of his life and try to negotiate for peace.

Before he set off, Pope Leo celebrated the Eucharist.

As he ate and drank the Body and Blood of Christ, he thought to himself: If Attila were to rip me apart and drink my blood, then he would also be drinking the blood of Christ and that might convert him.

So with that, the venerable and simple old man went forth to meet the merciless young destroyer who only would kill and plunder.

It was a tense meeting as the Pope pleaded with Attila to stop the bloodshed and spare Rome and the innocent people, and at the same time wondering when he was going to lose his life.

Then in a spectacular and surprising turn of events, Attila ordered his army to stop attacking and return to their base camp.

Many speculations were offered for this sudden and unexpected change in Attila the Hun.

It would be that a sum of money was given to him to stop him from attacking.

Or that his army was short of supplies and worn out, and there was a famine and plague in Italy at that time.

But another story has it that when Attila’s servants asked him why he suddenly changed his mind, he told them this:

While the Pope was talking to him, there appeared above the Pope’s head, two figures with drawn swords, and they seemed to threated Attila unless he consented to do as Pope Leo had requested. Those two figures were said to be St Peter and St Paul.

Well, the fact was that Attila and his savage hordes turned back and Rome was saved at the mitigation of Pope Leo.

The interesting point in all this is that although Pope Leo knew that he could lose his life, he also believed in the power of the Eucharist.

He believed that Christ was in him and that the Blood of Christ flowed in his veins.

This is also what St Augustine taught us: the Eucharist is the only food that changes us to become like what we eat. We partake of Christ’s Body and Blood, and we become like Christ.

St Paul would also attest to that. On the road to Damascus, he was blinded by the light, and he heard the voice saying: Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

He asked: Who are you, Lord? And the voice replied: I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.

Indeed, Jesus the Lord gives us His Body and Blood so that He can live in us and we in Him.

Today, we the Church celebrates the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ.

It is not just about the bread and wine becoming the Body and Blood of Christ after it is consecrated.

It is also about us who receive the Body and Blood of Christ at Holy Communion.

Yes, it is Holy Communion. We are receiving something very sacred. We are receiving Christ the Risen Lord.

And that’s why we must prepare ourselves worthy to receive Christ.

There is that mandatory Eucharistic fast before receiving Holy Communion. We should know that.

There is also the necessity to go for the Sacrament of Reconciliation if we have committed serious sins.

Because St Paul teaches in 1 Cor 11:29, that we must receive the Lord Jesus worthily, otherwise we eat and drink to our own judgment.

To receive Holy Communion in a state of mortal sin is desecration; it’s one serious sin upon another serious sin.

The sacred and the sinful cannot co-exist in us.

When we receive Holy Communion worthily, Christ abides in us and makes us His Body, and His Blood flows in us, giving us life.

We become a holy and consecrated people. That is His covenant with us.

We become His people; He will protect us just as He protected Pope Leo from the ruthless and blood-thirsty Attila the Hun.

Having said all that, we are also confronted with those who have to shed their blood for Christ, those people whom we call martyrs.

In the history of the Church, the martyrs were not as “fortunate” as Pope Leo.

They were literally ripped apart, skinned alive, roasted, impaled and underwent all sorts of horrendous torture before shedding their blood in witness for Christ.

Tarcisius was a twelve-year-old Christian orphan boy who lived during one of the fierce Roman persecutions of the third century.    

Each day, from a secret meeting place in the catacombs where Christians gathered for Mass, a deacon would be sent to the prisons to carry the Eucharist to those Christians condemned to die so that they would be able to bear the pain and torture for Christ.

At one point, there was no deacon to send, and so Tarcisius persuaded the bishop to send him to carry the "Holy Mysteries" to those in prison.

Several sacred Hosts were placed inside a white linen cloth within a little case which Tarcisius put inside his tunic, just over his heart, and with his two hands clasped over it, he started off.

Then he passed by a group of his friends who were just about to start a game, but needing one more to complete the number. Catching sight of Tarcisius they called to him to stop and join them, but he declined saying that he had to do something important.

But when they saw him carrying something in his tunic they caught hold of him and wanted to see it.

He tried to struggle but when the boys were about to pry open his arms he called out to Jesus for help.

When the boys realized he was a Christian, they began to beat him furiously but Tarcisius held on to the Sacred Hosts.

Finally a Christian came by and chased the boys away.

Tarcisius handed the Sacred Hosts to the Christian and requested him to bring Jesus to those in prison, and then he breathed his last.

The Church now honours him as St. Tarcisius, and he is the patron saint of those receiving First Holy Communion.

A young life was lost, blood was spilled, but it was the blood of Christ that was spilled.

But where the blood of Christ is spilled, there the seed of Christianity is planted.

As a matter of fact, in those places where the martyrs shed their blood for Christ, Christianity has flourished.

Indeed, we are the Body of Christ, and the Blood of Christ flows in us.

We may not be called to shed our blood for Christ as the martyrs did.

Yet we are called to make sacrifices and to pour out our lives for others in love, service, compassion, forgiveness, patience, tolerance and understanding.

And we can be sure that like what Attila the Hun saw hovering above Pope Leo, St. Peter and St. Paul, with our guardian angels, are also hovering above us and watching over us, because Christ is in us.