Something to rely on

Podcast

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Scripture references

• Exodus 24:3-8
• Hebrews 9:11-15
• Mark 14:12-16; 22-26

Reflection

When I was a young child, I remember very clearly that the rules about bedtime were consistently enforced.  Especially on school nights, my brothers and I all had to be in bed (not necessarily sleeping, but in bed) by 9:00 pm.  I’m sure that there were times when we tried to buck the system, but the system remained nonetheless, and there wasn’t much use trying to argue.

Children and teenagers all need rules.  Whether or not they agree with them, rules and routines provide boundaries.  Human beings are famous for testing limits, but limits are necessary.  Otherwise, there would simply be chaos.

Many if not all of us know of at least someone who has lived or is living in a situation where boundaries and limits are tested.  For some if not many, boundaries and limits are fuzzy at best, and in some cases non-existent; these are often the same cases where parenting is most difficult, and children are most likely to become lost souls.

As we grow into adulthood, we are introduced to contracts of different sorts and kinds.  Management and unions, construction workers and owners, and even children and their parents sometimes work out written agreements at various times and in certain circumstances.

It seems that God in His infinite wisdom also knows the value of limits and rules.  He’s tried on a number of occasions throughout our salvation history to provide us with the rules, not in the form of contracts, but rather in an even more binding format called covenants.  How many times did he make covenants with us?  The story of Moses recounted in the first reading is just one of them (Ex 24:3-8).

The difference is that a contract can be broken by either of the parties involved, simply by failing to live up to obligations or expectations, whereas a covenant remains in effect even if one of the parties involved should break it.

As we celebrate the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, we remember the covenant that Jesus made with us.  He left us the gifts of his Body and Blood as a perpetual renewal of this covenant (Mk 14:12-26), renewing the covenant that had been made with Moses, but taking it to another level (Heb 9:11-15).

We know that our human limitations make it impossible for us to always live up to the obligations of this covenant.  That’s why we have the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  But we rejoice today and all days because God remains faithful to his end of the bargain despite our infidelities.

This is why Catholics have held processions to celebrate Corpus Christi; this is why we will have a procession this weekend: to thank God for his faithfulness to us, and to proclaim to others of our time who too often struggle with the challenges of faithfulness to rules and commitments, that this promise of our God is something we can rely on because it has endured throughout the centuries and will continue to the end of time.