Christ "all in"

"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.'"

A reflection from Father Tudgay for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.

We often say that someone is “all in” when we refer to a person’s commitment to a cause or a relationship or trade when they are consumed by what they devote themselves to. Being “all in” on something usually means that a person is passionate about the cause or the other person or the business pursuit in such a way that an experience of sacrificing is absolutely worth it. For you and I to be “all in” on something, we have to believe in something or someone in a way that we’re passionate about, either because we think that being “all in” on someone or something changes our life for the better or changes the world around us for the better or… both? What if you and I are ”all in” on Christ in the same way that he’s “all in” on us…? 

This weekend is another significant insertion of a major feast in the Church’s liturgical year. The celebration of the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ invites us to reflect in gratitude on the gift of Christ’s presence to us in the Eucharist. This feast draws our attention to the institution of the Eucharist by Jesus at the Last Supper as the perpetual and living memorial of his sacrificial death in the Church. Following the development the liturgical texts by Saint Thomas Aquinas, in celebration of the deepening of the doctrine of transubstantiation, the Church’s focus shifted to a deeper appreciation of Christ’s enduring presence in the Eucharist, which keeps our identity as Catholics rooted in the greatest expression of his love for us. 

It is critical that the doctrinal development of our understanding of the Eucharist doesn’t stay relegated to the theoretical or remains too abstract. We have to keep in mind that you and I have access to Christ’s presence in the Eucharist because of his suffering and death. Our experience of and access to the Eucharist is first because Jesus goes “all in” on us, first by his assumption of a human nature in the Incarnation, and then his willing acceptance of how his Paschal Mystery would unfold.  

The invitation of the Christian life is that we always strive to be “all in” for Christ in the way that he’s “all in” for us. Jesus’ passionate love for each and every one of us represents the singular motivation for his willingness to suffer for us and to draw us together in the celebration of the mass. This Sunday’s feast reminds of the sublime sacrificial gift of God’s enduring presence with us, one that we should never take for granted!