1. The life of Christ.
The Life of Christ is prophetically the pattern for the life of the Church since the Church is the Mystical Body of Christ. The Life of Christ is a type for the history of the future Church. It is God’s gift to the Church that by knowing the Life of Christ, the Church can know what will happen to her in the future. This is called eschatology.
A good complete homily for the education of the Faithful must contain a historical narration of the Bible event, an exegesis of the Bible text and a prophetic projection of the future. An example of this is this; Christ had a first coming, the exegesis must show that He came to show us the way back to Paradise. And the prophetic utterance is that He will come a second time in the near future to judge the living and the dead.
Another example is; the Church was born on Pentecost when the Church was gathered in community in a close room with Mary. And the eschatology at the end of the history of the Church, the Church as a community will again be together in an enclose place with Mary in expectation for the coming of God. So it seems that the Church will end the way it begun.
2. The Historical background of Corpus Christi.
The Gospel of Corpus Christi is a picture of the Catholic Church at the end of history; the Gospel begins with ‘at sunset.’ It is identical to Pentecost Day……with a very slight difference.
So the story goes that the Church begun to go around sending around missionaries to preach and established the church everywhere; England, Germany, Italy, China, Philippines, etc. Wherever the Church went she established the Church for the purpose of continuing the work of evangelising the place as the first missionaries did.
Now, what happens if the Church had already gone all over the world and had preached and baptized souls? She establishes the Church to continue her work of evangelisation within each country where she was established. The hope is to continue the work of evangelisation for the next generations. This had been happening since Pentecost until now.
3. Number one.
But what happens when ‘the sunset’ of the history of the world arrives.’ The gospel narrates; FIRST, Christ goes to the desert and allows well disposed representatives from all Churches to follow him to the desert; probably two from China, from Japan, from Europe, etc…And they are invited to follow Him to the desert.
The desert here is not a physical desert. John Chrysostom describes it as a ‘mystical desert.’ It is a way of life. So it could be lived in your room or your house or a little shack in your garden.
4. Number two.
Then the Gospel describes what you must do. The whole Gospel describes how a community should put the Mass into practice in their lives. It is a description of the Catholic Church living the Sacrifice of the Mass…..not just attending Mass but putting the Mass in practice in one’s life. Putting the Mass into practice in one’s life as a community is ‘the following of Christ in the desert.’ The one’s following Christ had been thoroughly trained in different Churches around the world. And their desert is any room.
What do they do when called to follow Christ to the desert? They leave the cities the provinces, their homes, their families, their friends…….and even provision of food and drink.
5. Number three.
They leave all worldly things. Why? So they can concentrate of studying and working in attaining the Kingdom of God; thus the Gospel states that they followed Christ to learn things about His Kingdom.
6. Number four.
They will need food and drink, which the apostles do not have. So they offered to go out to buy in the villages. And Christ said, NO. The apostle, because of the vast crowd was asking Christ to get extra preachers from outside the desert; probably by sending the crowd to seminaries and schools of theology (to send them to the villages), and Christ said NO. They will get everything from the apostles only.
7. Number five.
Who will feed them? Here in the mystical desert only the apostles will provide for everything they need. These apostles like at the time of Christ will not be successors of the apostles like the Bishops. They will, again, be, personally chosen by Christ as at the beginning. Even Peter, the head and Pope will not be elected by a conclave. He will be personally chosen by Christ again. St. Grignon de Montfort calls them the ‘apostles of the latter days,’ and describes them accordingly. They are not the modern missionaries of mercies. Again, like the first apostles they will be divinely chosen by Christ again. Just like at the beginning so it will be ‘at sunset.’
8. Number six
With what will the apostles feed them? With five bread and two fishes. The five breads is the spirituality of the Old Testament represented by the five books of Moses. The two fishes are the two commands of the New Testament, love of God and love of neighbour. Each apostles will master these and teach them to the crowd with perfection because they will be divinely guided.
After feeding the crowd fully, the apostles collected 12 baskets in excess showing the extra knowledge and wisdom these apostles have that they can really teach the deepest teachings of Christ.
9. The Gospel described the Catholic Church living the fullness of the Sacrifice of the Mass during the ‘sunset’ of the history of the world when the Church had been beautified for her Divine Wedding with the Son of God in heaven. To be saved and merit eternal life in heaven we must be part of this Church.
Notice the first step is that all those who followed Christ in the desert left all things including their food and drink; wherewith the apostles thought they had to go out and buy victuals for them. Guiding the crowd to follow Christ to the desert is the ‘new’ evangelisation of Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI. This is the reason John Paul II’s greatest encyclical ‘Veritatis Splendour’ specifically addressed to the Bishops ONLY, but which most bishops did not implement, emphasized the Parable of the Young rich man. And the necessity of going home, sell all his things and follow Christ. That is the first requirement to enter this Church of Corpus Christi.
In fact, St. Bonaventure who wrote extensively on this topic and which is often quoted by Pope Benedict, mistook this to be the Franciscan order who was required to leave all things. But St. Bonaventure, himself, took back his commentary and said that this will still happen in the future. Pope Benedict feels it is happening at this time. And he had been looking for this Church described in the Corpus Christie Gospel.
10. In summary how does the Church of Corpus Christi look like?
She has left all worldly things including the essentials. She had followed Christ in the mystical desert described by St. John Chrysostom. She only feeds herself on the teachings of Scriptures and Tradition. She is only interested in seeking the Kingdom of God. She lives in community in the mystical desert away from the world. She has plenty of extra wisdom regarding the salvation of souls. She is guided by apostles chosen by Christ, Himself.
In short, they are living in community and practicing in their lives the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass……..thus a celebration of Corpus Christi.
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