We are the Body of Christ

I vividly remember walking on campus in Austin, back in 1984, shortly after "becoming a Christian" and "accepting Jesus in my heart as my Lord and Savior."  Listening to Christian praise music on my cassette walkman (kids, these were the predecessors of today's MP3 players) as I walked to class, I was euphoric.

How I loved Jesus!  It was like a whole new world.  "Jesus," I prayed, "let my steps be your steps, my words your words, and my thoughts your thoughts..." or something along those lines.  I'd never been a non-Christian, really; we went to church pretty regularly throughout my childhood, and I've always had a strong sense that I am abundantly blessed by my Creator and have a responsibility to steward those blessings wisely.  But this "born again" stuff was a whole new level.  Jesus!  In my heart!  I could live out His will in my very own life!

Now I see, of course, that this idea of "accepting Jesus as my Lord and Savior" is just a fraction of the real deal.  Like looking at a picture of an African safari, versus really going on one, or something.  Because now, as a Catholic, I know that I can really, truly, literally accept Jesus as often as I wish, through the incredible daily miracle of the Mass.  It really is a miracle, just as sure as when He walked on water.  But a much more significant one, because it's the means by which God is implementing His plan to redeem humankind after the Fall.  Throughout the world, at all times, Masses are being said, and God is coming to us, body, blood, soul, and divinity, through Jesus, and thus we actually become His hands, feet, mouth, heart, and mind here on earth.

"For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.  Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him."     ~~ John 6:55-56

"...she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger" (a food trough!)  ~~ Luke 2:7

"Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed."  ~~ Luke 22:7 (the custom necessitated eating the lamb)

"While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body."  ~~Matthew 26:26

It really just makes so much more sense that this is literally true.  Why would Jesus have said so, over and over, if it wasn't?  Why would He have spent so much of His last night on earth just serving food?  Sure, it's a weird idea, and a bit hard to get used to--in a world with tons of little one-off pagan religions, why do you think the early Christians were viewed as such a strange sect by their first-century counterparts?  Indeed, why did a bunch of Jesus' own followers hit the road following the Passover the year before the Last Supper, when he told them they should eat His flesh and drink His blood?  Of course they were freaked out--it's hardly what they expected from their Messiah.  But how could we possibly have predicted God's plan?  Surprising...inconceivable...impossible to understand...miraculous, even, don't you think?