Corpus Christi

Reading assignment: Corpus Christi: Love’s choice; Hide and seek.

Jesus shares a meal with his apostles on the night before his suffering. He gives thanks, breaks bread, and gives it to them with words of remembrance. He also shares the cup and speaks of a new covenant. The meal looks back to Passover and forward to the kingdom of God. Malcolm Guite’s two Corpus Christi sonnets dwell on receiving Communion: one attends to bread and wine as humble signs through which Christ gives himself; the other pictures a God who finds the person who hides.

The passage makes remembrance active. Jesus tells his friends to remember him as they receive the bread. The meal gathers them around a gift they did not earn. It also points beyond the room: Jesus speaks of a coming kingdom, so Communion holds present gratitude and future hope together. What do you need to remember about Christ when you come to the table?

Guite’s meditation on Love’s Choice focuses on the surprising smallness of bread and wine. The signs are ordinary, yet Christians receive them as a gift from Christ. Christian traditions differ about how Christ is present in Communion and how it should be understood. Read Scripture carefully and speak honestly about those differences. This passage itself clearly joins the meal to Jesus’ giving of himself, the new covenant, and the call to remember him.

The companion poem, Hide and Seek, brings the image of a God who finds the one who hides. Genesis describes people hiding from God after they disobey, and God calling out to them (Genesis 3:8-9). A church procession that carries the Eucharist into public streets expresses a related conviction in Guite’s framing: Christ’s presence matters in the ordinary places where people live. You might be tempted to hide from God because of shame, disappointment, or fear. The invitation is not to pretend those feelings are gone, but to bring your real self into prayer.

Communion is a shared act. Even if you receive it alone or cannot receive it today, you can remember that Christian faith is formed in a people who receive and give thanks together. Let the table shape one act of welcome beyond the church building. Who might need a place at your table, a patient conversation, or a reminder that they are not forgotten?

Read Luke 22:14-20 slowly. Notice the verbs: Jesus takes, gives thanks, breaks, gives, and asks his friends to remember. Sit with one of those actions. Ask Christ to meet you where you hide, and choose a simple way to carry his welcome into your week.