Fruits of Redemption

The opening prayer for Corpus Christi is loaded:

O God, who in this wonderful sacrament have left us a memorial of your Passion, grant us, we pray, so to revere the sacred mysteries of your Body and Blood that we may always experience in ourselves the fruits of your redemption.

First, the Eucharist is a memorial. The night before he died Jesus took bread and wine and declared them to be his Body and Blood, and said, ‘Do this in memory of me.’

Memory is a wonderful thing. We take note that God’s memory is so powerful and real that it actually makes present past events. Extraordinary, but true.

Therefore, in the Eucharist:

The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are made present. The fruit of this sacrifice is the body and blood of Jesus, but under the appearances of bread and wine. So, we truly receive his body and blood. Not bread. Not a symbol. Truly the Lord’s flesh and blood.

Second, we revere the mystery because it is beyond the mind of man.

Third, we experience in ourselves the fruit of the redemption of Jesus:

We die to sin. We rise to new life.

Amen.