Today, on the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, our Church invites us to read and reflect on a passage from the book of Exodus (24:1-11) entitled "They saw God, and they ate and drank". Our treasure, which follows is from a work by Saint Thomas Aquinas, priest.
Corpus Christi is a doctrinal feast established for three purposes: 1) to give God collective thanks for Christ's abiding presence with us in the Eucharist and to honor Him there; 2) to instruct the people in the Mystery, Faith and devotion surrounding the Eucharist, and 3) to teach us to appreciate and make use of the great gift of the Eucharist, both as a Sacrament and as a sacrifice.
Saint Thomas was born about the year 1225 into the family of the Count of Aquino. He first studied at the Monastery of Monte Casino and later at the University of Naples. Afterwards he joined the Friars Preachers and completed his studies at Paris and Cologne, his instructor being Saint Albert the Great. Becoming himself a teacher, he wrote many learned volumes and was especially renowned for his philosophical and theological studies. Saint Thomas died near Terracina on March 7, 1274, but his memory is honored on January 28, the day his body was transferred to Toulouse in 1369.
He was canonized in 1323 and made a Doctor of the Church in 1567. In 1965, the Second Vatican Council taught that seminarians should learn "under the guidance of Saint Thomas," to "illuminate the mysteries of salvation as completely as possible."
The second book of the Pentateuch is called Exodus, from the Greek word for "departure," because its central event was understood by the Septuagint's translators to be the departure of the Israelites from Egypt. Its Hebrew title, Shemoth ("Names"), is from the book's opening phrase, "These are the names…." Continuing the history of Israel from the point where the Book of Genesis leaves off, Exodus recounts the Egyptian oppression of Jacob's ever-increasing descendants and their miraculous deliverance by God through Moses, who led them across the Red Sea to Mount Sinai where they entered a covenant with the Lord. Covenantal laws and detailed prescriptions for the tabernacle (a portable sanctuary foreshadowing the Jerusalem Temple) and its service are followed by a dramatic episode of rebellion, repentance, and divine mercy. After the broken covenant is renewed, the tabernacle is constructed, and the cloud signifying God's glorious presence descends to cover it.
These events made Israel a nation and confirmed their unique relationship with God. The "law" (Hebrew torah) given by God through Moses to the Israelites at Mount Sinai constitutes the moral, civil, and ritual legislation by which they were to become a holy people. Many elements of it were fundamental to the teaching of Jesus as well as to New Testament and Christian moral teaching.
