June 7 – Corpus Christi

OVERVIEW: The good person is never in need and can be free of any feeling of want (Clement of Alexandria). God cared for Israel in the desert for forty years; surely he will care for us (Ephrem). The preservation of the Israelites’ clothing and shoes in the desert is a figure of the resurrection (Ambrose). If God can preserve clothing from decay, he can also make bodies immortal (Augustine). After bodily food we should have a spiritual meal (Chrysostom).

8:3 Not by Bread Alone
The Good Person Is Never in Want. Clement of Alexandria: One who possesses the Word, who is almighty God, needs nothing and never lacks any of the things he desires, for the Word is an infinite possession and the source of all our wealth. However, someone may object and insist that he has often seen the just in need of food. This is rare and happens only where no one else is just. Besides, let him read the beautiful sentence, “It is not by bread alone that the just man lives, but by the Word of the Lord,” who is the true bread, the bread of heaven. The good man is never really in want as long as he keeps intact his adherence to faith in God. For he can ask for and receive whatever he needs from the Father of all, and he can enjoy whatever belongs to him, if only he obey his Son. Then too, he has this advantage, that he can be free from feeling any want. The Word, who acts as our educator, gives us riches. There is no need to envy the wealth of others with those who have gained freedom from want through him. He who possesses this sort of wealth will inherit the kingdom of God. Christ the Educator 3.7.39 40.

8:4 Clothing That Did Not Wear Out
Trust in God. Ephrem the Syrian: Nourish your soul with the fear of God, and God will nourish [your] body. Do these things, so that what you yourself are unable [to procure] may be given you by God. Take note of this, if God does not give the rain and the wind, it avails you naught, even if you are anxious. Obey God, therefore, and creation will obey your needs. If God nourished Israel for forty years in the desert, while they were murmuring and disbelieving, and effortlessly preserved their sandals and clothing, how much more so in the case of believers? Commentary on Tatian’s Diatesseron 6.18a.

Deuteronomy 8:1-10
A Figure of the Resurrection. Ambrose: Is he not good, who in the wilderness fed with bread from heaven such countless thousands of the people, lest any famine should assail them, without need of toil, in the enjoyment of rest? For the space of twenty years, their raiment grew not old, nor were their shoes worn, a figure, which, to the faithful, points to the resurrection that is to come. This shows that the glory of great deeds and the beauty of the power by which he has clothed us and the stream of human life is not absurd, not for nothing. On the Christian Faith 2.2.23.

The Blessing of Immortality. Augustine: God granted to the garments of the Israelites their proper state without any damage for forty years. If so, how much more does he grant a very happy temperament of certain state to the bodies of those who obey his command until they may be turned into something better? This embetterment occurs not by the death of man, by which the body is deserted by the soul, but by a blessed change from mortality to immortality, from an animal to a spiritual quality. On the Good of Marriage 2.2.

Christ’s Glorified Body. Augustine: If the garments of the Israelites could last without wearing out for so many years in the desert and the hides of dead animals could continue undestroyed for so long a time in their shoes, surely God can extend the quality of incorruption in certain bodies for as long as he wills. I think therefore that the body of the Lord is the same now in heaven as it was when he ascended into heaven. Letter 205.

OVERVIEW: There is danger in ascribing success to our own merits (Ambrose). We should employ the gifts God gives us to help others grow in virtue (Clement of Alexandria).

Deuteronomy 8:11—9:5
8:17 Beware of Trusting One’s Own Power
False Trust in One’s Merits. Ambrose: Such a one is he who ascribes all his success to his own merits and hence, feeling self assured, does not recognize his own errors which drag him with their extended rope afar. For, if he believes that his acquisition of property is due either to mere chance or to shrewd cunning, there is no occasion for him to feel undue pride in matters to which there is no glory attached, or where the labor results in nothing, or where there is evidence of shameless cupidity, which prescribes no limits in its pursuit of pleasure. Six Days of Creation 6.8.53.

8:18 God Gives Power
How to Use God’s Gifts Well. Clement of Alexandria: By these words [Scripture] is showing clearly that it is God who grants us gifts of good things and that we ought as servants of the grace of God to sow God’s gracious gifts and enable our neighbors to become people of honor. The aim is for the man of self control to enable those who are continent to find their fulfillment, the man of courage to do the same for the noble, the man of practical wisdom for the understanding, and the man of justice for the just. Stromateis 2.18.96.4.

OVERVIEW: Much like a medical doctor, God binds up the battered hearts of the penitent with the bandages of his love in order to restore them to their original condition (CASSIODORUS). People can learn about the power of God from the numberless stars and raindrops, as well as other celestial bodies that God made (CYRIL OF JERUSALEM).

Scripture frequently uses synecdoche, a figure of speech in which reference to a part is understood as reference to the whole thus a reference to a raven implies the entire avian kingdom (GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS). Not only did God work six days in creating the world, but he works continuously, even on the sabbath, in the providential care of his creation (BEDE).

All the pains and problems of this world will come to an end; then the gates of heaven will be closed, and not one will be able to enter or leave (AUGUSTINE). The phenomenal spread of Christianity throughout the world was predicted in the Psalms (EUSEBIUS).

147:12-15 God Provides Safety and Peace for His People
OUR REAL SECURITY WILL BE WITH GOD IN HEAVEN. AUGUSTINE: Because whatever pains and difficulties we may have endured in this world, everything that comes to an end is in fact nothing. Good things are coming that will not come to an end; it is through toils and troubles that we come to them. But when we get there, no one can tear us away from them. The gates of Jerusalem are closed, their bars are also put in place, so that it may be said to that city, “Praise the Lord, Jerusalem; Zion, praise your God, because he has strengthened the bars of your gates, he has blessed your children within you, he has made peace in your borders.” The gates being shut, the bars bolted home, no friend can go out, no enemy come in. There we are to enjoy true and real security, if here we have not let go of true reality. SERMON 130.5.

GOD SENDS HIS WORD TO EARTH. EUSEBIUS OF CAESAREA: “He that sends his word on earth, until his word runs swiftly.” He that sends is evidently distinct from him that is sent. You have then, here, both the Sender, the almighty God, and also the Word that was sent, who having many names is called by the holy oracles now Wisdom, now Word, now God, and also Lord. And as you know how in a very short time the word of his teaching has filled the whole world, I am sure you will wonder at the fulfillment of the prophecy, “Till his word runs swiftly.” PROOF OF THE GOSPEL 6.10.

OVERVIEW: Paul’s argument now comes to a crucial turn (CHRYSOSTOM, SEVERIAN OF GABALA): We are to avoid any connection with idolatry (TERTULLIAN). People who are drawn to idolatry will expect something from it, and to trust in an idol is to turn away from God (AMBROSIASTER). Paul appealed to the Corinthians to judge for themselves, which indicates Paul is sure of his own case. In this passage we find one of the few places in Scripture where holy Communion is described. As we hold the cup of blessing in our hands we sing a hymn to God for having poured out this draft that we might be saved. We thereby do what lovers do turn our eyes away from all others (CHRYSOSTOM). One who properly eats the body of Christ is incorporated in the unity of his body (AUGUSTINE), as partners of the living Christ (CHRYSOSTOM). Every soul is a house of bread (AMBROSE) gathered, crushed, moistened and fired (AUGUSTINE). Many grains are made into one bread (CHRYSOSTOM). Anyone who eats at the table of demons revolts against the table of Christ. Though the demonic forces may work in pagan sacrifices (AMBROSIASTER), the food offered to idols has no power in itself to corrupt (THEODORET OF CYR). The uncleanness lies not in the food but in the distorted intentions of the sacrificers (CHRYSOSTOM). Good food is profaned when offered to idols (CYRIL OF JERUSALEM).

10:16 The Cup of Blessing
WE DO WHAT LOVERS DO. CHRYSOSTOM: Paul called it a cup of blessing, because as we hold it in our hands we exalt him in our hymns, wondering and marveling at his unspeakable gift, blessing him for having poured out this draft so that we might not abide in error, and not only for having poured it out but also for having imparted it to us all. This is what lovers do. When they see those whom they love desiring what belongs to strangers and despising their own, they give what belongs to themselves and so persuade them to turn away from the gifts of those others. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 24.3.

YOU ARE WHAT YOU HAVE RECEIVED. AUGUSTINE: That chalice, or rather, what the chalice holds, consecrated by the word of God, is the blood of Christ. Through those elements the Lord wished to entrust to us his body and the blood which he poured out for the remission of sins. If you have received worthily, you are what you have received. EASTER SERMON 227.

10:17 All Partake of the One Bread
ONE BREAD. CHRYSOSTOM: The body of Christ is not many bodies but one body. For just as the bread, which consists of many grains, is made one to the point that the separate grains are no longer visible, even though they are still there, so we are joined to each other and to Christ. But if we are all nourished by the same source and become one with him, why do we not also show forth the same love and become one in this respect too? This was what it was like in ancient times, as we see in Acts [4:32]: “For the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul.” HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 24.4.

EVERY SOUL A HOUSE OF BREAD. AMBROSE: Thus every soul which receives the bread which comes down from heaven is a house of bread, the bread of Christ, being nourished and having its heart strengthened by the support of the heavenly bread which dwells within it. Hence Paul says: “We are all one bread.” Every faithful soul is Bethlehem, just as that is called Jerusalem which has the peace and tranquility of the Jerusalem on high which is in heaven. That is the true bread which, after it was broken into bits, has fed all humanity. LETTER 45.

THE BREAD GATHERED, CRUSHED, MOISTENED AND FIRED. AUGUSTINE: So by bread you are instructed as to how you ought to cherish unity. Was that bread made of one grain of wheat? Were there not, rather, many grains? However, before they became bread, these grains were separate. They were joined together in water after a certain amount of crushing. For unless the grain is ground and moistened with water, it cannot arrive at that form which is called bread. So, too, you were previously ground, as it were, by the humiliation of your fasting and by the sacrament of exorcism. Then came the baptism of water. You were moistened, as it were, so as to arrive at the form of bread. But without fire, bread does not yet exist. EASTER SERMON 227.

ONE BODY. AUGUSTINE: The one who is properly said to eat the body of Christ and to drink his blood is the one who is incorporated into the unity of his body. Heretics and schismatics can receive the sacrament but to no avail in fact, to their harm since the result is to increase their pain rather than to curtail the length of their punishment. CITY OF GOD 21.25.

OVERVIEW: Incredulous, the Jews ask how Christ could give them his flesh to eat. Our senses too may struggle to understand Jesus’ words, but then let faith confirm that we do indeed receive Christ’s body and blood in the sacrament (Cyril of Jerusalem). It is the medicine of immortality (Ignatius), which benefits those in faith. The eternal flesh of Christ is lifegiving because the enfleshed Word is present in it (Cyril of Alexandria), along with the Spirit (Philoxenus). This bread is both earthly and heavenly, joining our earthly flesh to divine flesh (Apollinaris) when we eat it, thus giving us eternal life (Irenaeus). Jesus wants us to know that this is not just a parable or enigmatic saying he has delivered, but that we must really eat the body of Christ (Chrysostom). This real eating also provides real satisfaction (Augustine). We are in God and he is in us when we partake of his true flesh and blood in the sacrament (Hilary). Just as two pieces of wax become one when joined, in the same way, the one who receives the flesh of Christ becomes one with him as we eat and drink life (Cyril of Alexandria). Christ, as the living image of the Father, says he lives because of the Father (Hilary). He is not saying he is dependent on the Father, so much as that he has his essence from the Father beyond all time and beyond all cause (Gregory of Nazianzus). When he goes on to say that we eat him, this sounds strange; but when we eat Christ we are eating life because he is life (Augustine). We live in Christ because our nature is united to his nature in this eating (Hilary) by which he gives us not only life but also eternal life. Our Lord knew how precious life was in our eyes and so repeats this promise of life often in his Word (Chrysostom) and in the sacrament, which gives us the heavenly bread of immortality (Romanus).

6:52 How Can This Man Give Us His Flesh to Eat?
Let Faith Confirm You. Cyril of Jerusalem: Failing to understand his words spiritually, [the Jews] were offended and drew back, thinking that the Savior was urging them to cannibalism. Then again in the old covenant there was the showbread. But that, since it belonged to the old covenant, has come to an end. In the new covenant there are the bread of heaven and the cup of salvation, which sanctify body and soul. For as bread corresponds to the body, so the Word is appropriate to the soul. So do not think of them as mere bread and wine. In accordance with the Lord’s declaration, they are body and blood. And if our senses suggests otherwise, let faith confirm you. Do not judge the issue on the basis of taste, but on the basis of faith be assured beyond all doubt that you have been allowed to receive the body and blood of Christ. Mystagogical Lectures 4.4 6.

6:53 No Life Without the Flesh and Blood of the Son of Man
The Medicine of Immortality. Ignatius of Antioch: Come together in common one and all without exception in charity, in one faith and in one Jesus Christ, who is of the race of David according to the flesh, the Son of man and Son of God . . . and break one bread, which is the medicine of immortality and the antidote against death, enabling us to live forever in Jesus Christ. Epistle to the Ephesians 20.

The Mystery Is Revealed to Those Who Believe. Cyril of Alexandria: How he will give them his flesh to eat he does not yet tell them, for he knew they were in darkness and would never in that state be able to understand what is ineffable. . . . But the power of learning suitably follows on those who believe. . . . It was therefore right that faith should first be rooted in them before understanding. . . . And it is for this reason (I suppose) that the Lord refrained from telling them how he would give them his flesh to eat, calling them to believe before they seek. For those who believed, however, he broke bread and gave it to them, saying, “Take, eat; this is my body.” . . . Do you see how he does not explain the mystery to those who had senselessly rejected the faith without investigation? But, to those who believe, he declares it most clearly. Commentary on the Gospel of John 4.2.

6:54 Jesus’ Flesh and Blood Are for Eternal Life
The Enfleshed Word Is Life. Cyril of Alexandria: Whoever eats the holy flesh of Christ has eternal life because his flesh has the Word which by nature is life. Commentary on the Gospel of John 4.2.

Within the One Who Partakes. Philoxenus of Mabbug: Now, in as much as a sinner receives our Lord’s body and blood in faith, he is in our Lord, and our Lord is in him, as our Lord himself says. Where the Lord dwells, there is his Spirit too. On the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

Joined to All Flesh, He Gives Life. Apollinaris of Laodicea: One cannot benefit from the Word of God for eternal life, except through his flesh. For until he was joined to the flesh, all flesh was held under the power of death. But now his lifegiving flesh has been given. It nourishes the whole human race to life through the power suspended in it and joined in likeness to those who share the same physical nature. Fragments on John 28.

Earthly and Heavenly Bread. Irenaeus: For we offer to him his own, announcing consistently the fellowship and union of the flesh and Spirit. For as the bread that is produced from the earth, when it receives the invocation of God, is no longer common bread but the Eucharist, consisting of two realities, earthly and heavenly, so also our bodies when they receive the Eucharist are no longer corruptible, having the hope of the resurrection to eternity. Against Heresies 4.18.5.

6:55 True Food and Drink
Real Eating. Chrysostom: Either he means to say that the true food was he who saved the soul. Or, he means to assure them that what he had said was no mere enigma or parable but that you must really eat the body of Christ. Homilies on the Gospel of John 47.1.

Real Satisfaction. Augustine: Or think of it this way: Whereas people desire meat and drink to satisfy hunger and thirst, real satisfaction is produced only by that meat and drink that make the receivers of it immortal and incorruptible. He’s talking here about the fellowship of the saints where there is peace and unity, full and perfect. Therefore . . . our Lord has chosen for the types of his body and blood things that become one out of many. Bread is a quantity of grains united into one mass, wine a quantity of grapes squeezed together. Then he explains what it is to eat his body and drink his blood: “He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood dwells in me and I in him.” So then to partake of that meat and that drink is to dwell in Christ and Christ in you. Whoever does not dwell in Christ, and in whom Christ does not dwell, neither eats his flesh nor drinks his blood; rather, he eats and drinks the sacrament of it to his own damnation. Tractates on the Gospel of John 26.17 18.

We Are One, Because the Father Is in Christ and Christ in Us. Hilary of Poitiers: If in truth the Word has been made flesh and we in very truth receive the Word made flesh as food from the Lord, are we not bound to believe that he abides in us naturally? [Jesus], born as a man, has assumed the nature of our flesh now inseparable from himself and has joined together the nature of his own flesh to the nature of the eternal Godhead in the sacrament by which his flesh is communicated to us. For in this way we are all one because the Father is in Christ and Christ is in us. . . . And so, if indeed Christ has taken to himself the flesh of our body, and that man who was born from Mary was indeed Christ, and we indeed receive in a mystery the flesh of his body and because of this we shall be one, because the Father is in him and he in us how can a unity of will be maintained, seeing that the special property of nature received through the sacrament is the sacrament of a perfect unity? . . . As to what we say concerning the reality of Christ’s nature within us, unless we have been taught by him our words are foolish and impious. For he says himself, “My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.” As to the verity of the flesh and blood there is no room left for doubt. For now, both from the declaration of the Lord himself and our own faith, it is truly flesh and truly blood. And these when eaten and drunk enable both that we are in Christ and Christ is in us. Is this not true? Yet those who affirm that Christ Jesus is not truly God are welcome to find it false. He therefore himself is in us through the flesh and we are in him, while together with him our own selves are in God. On the Trinity 8.13 14.

6:56 Jesus’ Flesh and Blood Unite Us
One with Christ. Cyril of Alexandria: If one joins two pieces of wax, one will see that one has become part of the other. In a similar manner, I suppose, the person who receives the flesh of our Savior Christ and drinks his precious blood . . . shall be one with him. Commentary on the Gospel of John 4.2.

Eat and Drink of the One Who Is Life. Cyril of Alexandria: O sublime condescension! The Creator gives himself to his creatures for their delight. Life bestows itself on mortals as food and drink. “Come, eat my body,” he exhorts us, “and drink the wine I have mingled for you. I have prepared myself as food. I have mingled myself for those who desire me. Of my own will I became flesh and have become a partaker of your flesh and blood. . . . Eat of me as I am life, and live, for this is what I desire. . . . Eat my bread, for I am the lifegiving grain of the wheat, and I am the bread of life. Drink the wine I have mingled for you, for I am the draught of immortality. . . . I am the true vine; drink my joy, the wine that I have mingled for you.” Meditation on the Mystical Supper 10.

6:57 The Living Father Sent Christ
Christ Is the Living Image of the Living. Hilary of Poitiers: Can lifeless copies be put on a level with their living originals? Can painted or carved or molten effigies be put on a level with the nature that they imitate? The Son is not the image of the Father after such a fashion as this; he is the living image of the Living. The Son who is born of the Father has a nature in no way different from his. And, because his nature is not different, he possesses the power of the nature that is the same as his own. The fact that he is the image proves that God the Father is the author of the birth of the Only Begotten, who is himself revealed as the likeness and image of the invisible God. And hence the likeness, which is joined in union with the divine nature, is indelibly his own because the powers of that nature are inalienably his own. On the Trinity 7.37.

The Shared Being of the Father and the Son. Gregory of Nazianzus: All things that the Father has are the Son’s. On the other hand, all that belongs to the Son is the Father’s. Nothing then is unique to either one, because all things are in common. For their being [essence] itself is common and equal, even though the Son receives it from the Father. It is in this respect . . . that it is said, “I live by the Father,” not as though his life and being were kept together by the Father but because he has his being from him beyond all time and beyond all cause. On the Son, Theological Oration 4(30).11.

To Eat Christ? Augustine: The Lord and master was inviting his slaves, and the food he had prepared for them was himself. Who would ever dare to eat his own Lord and master? And yet he said, “Whoever eats me lives because of me.” When Christ is eaten, life is eaten. Nor is he killed in order to be eaten, but he brings life to the dead. When he is eaten, he nourishes without diminishing. So do not be afraid, brothers and sisters, of eating this bread, in case we should possibly finish it and find nothing to eat later on. Let Christ be eaten; when eaten he lives because when slain he rose again. Sermon 132a.1.

Christ Has the Father Within Himself. Hilary of Poitiers: So then he lives through the Father, and just as he lives through the Father we live through his flesh. For all comparison is chosen to shape our understanding so that we may grasp the subject we are treating with the help of the analogy set before us. Christ dwelling within our carnal selves through the flesh is the reason we have life, and we shall live through him in the same way as he lives through the Father. If, then, we live naturally through him according to the flesh, that is, if we have partaken of the nature of his flesh, must not Christ naturally have the Father within himself according to the Spirit since he himself lives through the Father? And he lives through the Father because his birth has not implanted in him an alien and different nature because his very being is from the Father yet is not divided from the Father by any barrier of an unlikeness of nature because within himself he has the Father through the birth in the power of the nature. On the Trinity 8.16.

Not Only Life, but Eternal Life. Chrysostom: The “life” of which he speaks here is not merely life but the excellent life. For it is clear from this that he spoke not simply of life but of that glorious and ineffable life. For everyone lives, even unbelievers and the uninitiated who do not eat of that flesh. . . . And he is not speaking of the general resurrection either (for all alike rise again), but he is speaking of that special, glorious resurrection that has a reward. Homilies on the Gospel of John 47.1.

6:58 59 Eat This Bread and Live Forever
Length of Life versus Life Without End. Chrysostom: If it was possible without harvest or fruit of the earth, or any such thing, to preserve the lives of the Israelites of old for forty years, much more will he be able to do this, having come for a greater purpose. . . . He knew how precious a thing life was in people’s eyes, and therefore he repeats his promise of life often, just as the Old Testament had done. But the Old Testament only offered long life, whereas he offers life without end. This promise was an abolition of that sentence of death that sin had brought on us. . . . He said these things in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum, where many displays of his power took place. . . . He taught in the synagogue and in the temple, with the intention of attracting the multitude and as a sign that he was not acting in opposition to the Father. Homilies on the Gospel of John 47.1 2.

The Heavenly Bread of Immortality. Romanus Melodus: All the angels on high marvel at the affairs of earth For earthborn men dwelling here below Are exalted in spirit and reach what is on high As they share in Christ, crucified. For all together partake of His body, As they eagerly come to the bread of life, They hope for eternal salvation from it. Even though visibly, to all appearances, it is bread It sanctifies them spiritually because it is The heavenly bread of immortality. That the bread which we take is the flesh of the Immanuel, The Master Himself was the first to teach us; For when He voluntarily went to His Passion, Christ broke the bread of salvation, And said to His apostles, as it is written: “Now draw near; eat of this, And eating, you will receive eternal life, For this is my flesh, this food, Since really, I whom you behold, am The heavenly bread of immortality. We all know, we who possess complete faith in Christ, That as we approach, eager for the mystic bread And in addition take the cup of salvation, If we are of pure heart and without dissimulation We are all participants of the flesh and blood Of Christ with faith in Him, and we hope From this a life like that of the angels; For, in very truth, the body of the One who suffered, The very holy body of Jesus Christ is The heavenly bread of immortality. Kontakion on the Multiplication of Loaves 13.1 3.