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I would like to understand which is the body of Jesus that we receive during Communion: is it his spiritual body?

How do we explain that to the people who ask us such a question?

Thank you

Answer from the priest

Dear Daughter,

1. we receive the risen Jesus, in his body of glory.

The risen Jesus, who sits at the right hand of the Father, makes himself present on the altar during the Mass.

And in the same way he makes himself present in our hearts at the moment we partake of Communion.

2. It is indisputable that it is so.

Jesus lives in the glory of the Father.

St. John says: “My children, I am writing this to you so that you may not commit sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one.

He is expiation for our sins, and not for our sins only but for those of the whole world” (1 John 2:1-2).

In the letter to the Hebrews we read: “Those priests (of the Old Testament) were many because they were prevented by death from remaining in office, but he, because he remains forever, has a priesthood that does not pass away. Therefore, he is always able to save those who approach God through him, since he lives forever to make intercession for them” (Heb 7:23-25).

3. Of remarkable importance is what we read in the Revelation: “Then I saw standing in the midst of the throne and the four living creatures and the elders, a Lamb that seemed to have been slain. He had seven horns and seven eyes; these are the (seven) spirits of God sent out into the whole world” (Rev 5:6).

Here St. John contemplates Jesus in heaven in the form of a lamb, because of his meekness and the sacrifice he made.

Such lamb is standing, like the pontiff offering the sacrifice, and is as though immolated, because in his body he bears the signs of the wounds which testify to his bloody immolation on the Calvary.

His disposition and appearance also point to his gruesome death and his glorious resurrection.

His seven horns are a symbol of his strength.

His seven eyes are a symbol of his omniscience.

Jesus Christ is shown as omnipotent and omniscient” (Marco Sales, comment on Rev 5:6).

4. It is therefore the risen Christ who makes himself present during the Mass in the supreme disposition of his mortal life: that of his immolation for our benefit.

Jesus, with his true body, but in the condition of resurrection and glory, comes to us to bestow on us the benefits of his redemptive death.

5. The body of the risen Jesus is not a material body but, as St. Paul would say, a spiritual body: “So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown corruptible; it is raised incorruptible. It is sown dishonorable; it is raised glorious. It is sown weak; it is raised powerful. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body” (1 Cor 15:42-44).

6. “Our body in the present life is called animal [Translator’s note: the Italian translation of the Holy Scripture chooses this word instead of ‘natural’ in the previous passage] because it is subject to the laws of vegetative life and therefore to generation, nutrition, growth, etc…, and because it is sometimes a hindrance to the intellectual workings of the soul.

After the resurrection, however, it will no longer be subject to nutrition, etc., nor will it be a hindrance to the soul in its noblest actions, but it will be spiritual, that is, entirely subject to the spirit vivified by the grace of the Holy Spirit: the glorified soul will have full mastery over the body, and the body will come to partake in the qualities of the spirit, and will not be subject to the laws of matter” (Marco Sales, comment on 1 Cor 15:44).

All of this because our resurrected body will resemble the resurrected body of our Lord.

With the hope that one day you too will be clothed in a glorious and immortal body, I bless you and I remember you in prayer,

Father Angelo