Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,

The discussion with the eighth grade class was about sex. I had their undivided attention. I told them that sex was for babies and bonding, God’s gift for life and love. I told them that sex was only meant for a husband and a wife as the marital act is body language that says, “I’m yours and yours alone.”

Then I dropped the bombshell. “When a husband and wife make love, they renew their wedding vows.” I added, “And if they do not ever make love, their marriage is ratified but it is not consummated. That’s canon law number 1061.1, look it up. The marital act is that important to the marriage covenant.”

A man and a woman become husband and wife when they promise one another to be true in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, all the days of their lives. Their vows are renewed, though, not just with words. “The marital act becomes the wedding vows made flesh.” When couples tell me that they want to renew their marriage promises on their wedding anniversary, I smile and think to myself, “Well, get a room.” 

To make a covenant at Mount Sinai with his people, God did not exchange vows and rings. God used blood. Long before blood banks solicited people to give the gift of life, the Israelites knew that blood was life. The Israelites used blood, the sign of life, to show that their covenant with God gave them life.

For blood, Moses slaughtered young bulls.  Moses splashed half of the bulls’ blood Moses on the altar to show that God was bound by this promise. The other half of the blood he sprinkled upon the people (Exodus 24:6-8). Like two friends who cut their palms and shake hands to seal their friendship as blood brothers, blood sealed the solemn covenant between God and his people.

It did not take long for the people to break the covenant.  As soon as Moses' went back up Mount Sinai, the Israelites melted down all their gold jewelry and made a golden calf.  After all, what would you rather follow, a beautiful golden god or ten tough commandments?

The Israelites, for most of the next thousand years, worshipped false gods, oppressed the widow, orphan and stranger, murdered, raped and pillaged their neighbors, and generally did not keep their covenant with God.  But God still kept his half of the covenant.

In fact, God made a new and everlasting covenant. On the night he was betrayed, Jesus took bread, broke it and gave it to his disciples. “Take it; this is my body.” After the meal he took the cup of wine, gave thanks, and gave it to them to drink. “This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many” (Mark 14:22-24).

The old covenant used the blood of bulls.  In the new covenant, Christ uses his own blood. “He is the mediator of a new covenant” (Hebrews 9:15). He poured out his own life for the life of the world. 

The pandemic put communion out of the reach of many Catholics. Many watched Mass online, which was not even half a loaf. Like watching a cooking show, you saw the delicious food but could not eat it.

With this celebration of the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, we are no longer watching Mass on TV. We can once again gather in person to receive the Body of Christ. We can renew with God the new and everlasting covenant. We can carry out the words of Christ, “Do this in memory of me.”

In Christ,

Father David