{"id":55918,"date":"2021-04-08T15:28:18","date_gmt":"2021-04-08T20:28:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=55918"},"modified":"2021-04-17T18:30:59","modified_gmt":"2021-04-17T23:30:59","slug":"easter-and-the-threefold-meaning-of-the-body-of-christ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2021\/04\/08\/easter-and-the-threefold-meaning-of-the-body-of-christ\/","title":{"rendered":"Easter and the Threefold Meaning of &#8220;The Body of Christ&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Father Gerard Austin, OP,\u00a0 is Dominican Scholar in Residence at Barry University in Miami, Florida. Together with Msgr. Frederick R. McManus and R. Kevin Seasoltz, OSB,<\/em> <em>he co-founded the Liturgical Studies program at Catholic University of America in 1970. In 2017 he was honored with the Berakah Award from the North American Academy of Liturgy for a lifetime of outstanding contributions to the field of liturgy. The following reflection was posted on\u00a0the web-site of the Southern Dominican Province this Easter as part of their 2021 Holy\u00a0Week Reflections. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>(Photograph from the chapel of Barry University in 2018).\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>* * *<\/p>\n<p>The Commentary on the General Norms for the Liturgical Year after Vatican II stated, \u201cThe faithful should understand that the last three days of Holy Week are not a preparation for Easter but, as St. Augustine wrote, \u2018the most sacred triduum of the crucified, buried and risen Lord\u2019.\u201d\u00a0 Thus, our constant Catholic teaching explains that the solemnity of Easter has the same kind of preeminence in the liturgical year that Sunday has in the week.<\/p>\n<p>We stand today on top of the mountain as we celebrate our greatest liturgical feast. We are at the heart of the Paschal Mystery: Christ has risen from the dead, and what is crucial for us is the age-old tenet of our faith: Christ\u2019s resurrection is also <em>our<\/em> resurrection!<\/p>\n<p>To better understand what we mean by that inclusion of our own eventual resurrection in that of Christ\u2019s, we should think in terms of the threefold meaning of \u201cthe body of Christ\u201d:\u00a0 (1) the historical body of Christ; (2) the ecclesial body of Christ; (3) the eucharistic body of Christ. Our great feast of Easter involves all three:\u00a0 (1) the historical body of Christ:\u00a0 born of Mary, brought up in Galilee, hailed as a wandering prophet, betrayed, crucified, and raised by God in the Spirit; (2) the Church which Paul called \u201cthe body of Christ,\u201d and which we become by our baptism; (3) the sacramental body and blood of Christ which we receive and we become by our celebration of the Eucharist.<\/p>\n<p>A key for understanding\u00a0 the meaning of the Paschal Mystery is that all three of these uses of \u201cBody of Christ\u201d are inter-related and inter-dependent. Christ gave of himself to the Father in the power of the Spirit at the time of his crucifixion and death, and his resurrection was the Father\u2019s saying \u201cyes\u201d to that gift!\u00a0 In his mercy and love for us, Christ left his Church the eucharist as his final departing gift.\u00a0 We have access to that gift through the prior gift of baptism, by which (as St. Augustine put it) \u201cwe become Christ.\u201d\u00a0 St. John Chrysostom clearly explained in his Easter Catecheses that \u201cwhen Christ was dead, but still hung on the cross, a soldier came and pierced his side with a lance and immediately there poured out water and blood\u2026 Now the water was a symbol of baptism and the blood, of the holy eucharist.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Now we see why the Church has always taught that her principal sacraments are Baptism and Eucharist. By Baptism we become Christ; by Eucharist we become \u201call the more that which we already are, the body of Christ\u201d (St. Augustine). On this Easter Day, the Day of the Resurrection of Christ (and of our own resurrection), let us rejoice and be glad, and with the Apostle Paul cry out:\u00a0 \u201cI live now, not I, but Christ lives in me\u201d knowing that we shall die just as he died, but that we, too, shall be raised up by the Spirit to the right hand of God in heaven.<\/p>\n<p>A blessed and joy-filled Easter to all of you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;We stand today on top of the mountain as we celebrate our greatest liturgical feast.&#8221;<br \/>\nA theological reflection for Easter day, by Gerard Austin, OP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":55919,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3117,3496],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-scholarship-new-ws","category-liturgical-theology"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - 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