1. The solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ is linked to Easter because what we receive in the sacrament of the Eucharist is the life of the Resurrected Christ. Use this article as a guide for the Mass reading. Read also this article about Pope Urban IV's "Transiturus", the document that instituted the Feast of Corpus Christi
Reflect. What you receive in communion is the new life that the Lord has won for you. What you get each time you receive the Body of Christ is the assurance that the eternal life he promises is yours. It is a privilege that you have been granted, not because of something you've done but because of the great love that God has for you. How do you value this mystery in your life?
2. The solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ is connected to Easter for a second reason: our participation in the life of Christ received in baptism. The sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ is like the umbilical cord through which we receive the substance of the Lord's resurrected life. When we were baptized, we were made sharers in the Lord's life and that life finds its nourishment in the Eucharist.
Reflect. When you approach the sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, do you give it the proper respect and veneration? The one hour of fasting required before communion is a manifestation of that veneration. The sacrament of reconciliation is there so that we can receive communion with a conscience untrammeled by guilt. What other external manifestation of veneration and respect do you show for the Eucharist?
3. Through the Sacrament of the Eucharist, we ourselves become the Body of Christ. We have been baptized into the Body of Christ; at the same time, through the reception of the Eucharist we make our place in the Lord's Body our own.
Reflect. In the Eucharist, we become "Church"; we become "ekklesia", one of those who have been called to God and members of the household of the Lord (am Yahweh). Our presence in the Sunday gatherings then is the external manifestation of our desire to belong to the Lord How eager are you to attend the Sunday assembly of the faithful? Is your attendance at Holy Mass truly an expression of your desire to be with the Lord, the Head of the Church, His Body? .
