When we receive Holy Communion we know that we receive the Body of Christ in the sign of the Consecrated Bread and the Blood of Christ in the sign of the Consecrated Wine. There is, however, a wonderful "multilayering" of the different meanings of the term "Body of Christ" which we receive in Holy Communion.
The Three Ways the New Testament Uses the Term "the Body of Christ":
1. As the human Body of Christ which is now Risen
2. As the Eucharistic Body of Christ
3. As the Mystical Body of Christ, i.e. the Church
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The human Body of Christ which is now Risen. The great revelation of our Christian Faith is that God is One yet Three Persons: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (the Most Holy Trinity). Out of love for us God the Father sent his only Begotten Son to us. The Son became human by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary. The Son of God became flesh–a human being–and dwelt among us. He had all the qualities of a human being except he knew no sin. He got tired, hungry, thirsty; he was limited in his humanity by time and space; he was mortal and could suffer and die. He was fully human, the Church teaches, and yet also fully God.
The Son of God did stop being God when he became human.
Of course, we know he did suffer and die for us on the Cross and on the Third Day he rose from the Dead. Now he dies no more. Catechism #645 states that the Risen body of Christ is the same body in which he was crucified, but it now possesses "the new properties of a glorious body: not limited by space and time but able to be present how and when he wills." It says the Risen body of Christ is no longer confined to this earth but belongs "to the Father’s divine realm."
Catechism #646 states "Christ's Resurrection was not a return to earthly life...In his risen body he passes from the state of death to another life beyond time and space. At Jesus' Resurrection his body is filled with the power of the Holy Spirit: he shares the divine life in his glorious state, so that St. Paul can say that Christ is ‘the man of heaven’."
I have written elsewhere about the state of a Risen Body (See HERE). It is more spiritual than physical and yet it is still physical, a transformed type of physical with no limitations and such a "spiritualized body" is quite mysterious to us in this life.
The Eucharistic body of Christ. Now the Body of Christ that we receive in Communion is the Risen Body of the Crucified Christ. We do not receive ordinary, mortal flesh and blood in the Eucharist. What I mean, is that we receive the risen flesh and blood of Christ. We are not cannibals who eat mortal, dead flesh; we are communicants in the Risen Body of Christ.
But we also receive the Risen, glorified Body (and Blood of Christ) "under the signs" (sacrament) of the Consecrated Bread and Wine of the Eucharist. We eat this Bread and Drink this Wine, but the very essence (equivalent to the "substance") of the bread and wine is totally changed to actually be the Risen Body and Blood of Christ. He comes to us in this form of Food so that we may indeed receive him within ourselves. The Risen Body of Christ in the Sacrament of the Consecrated Bread is called Christ's Eucharistic body. (The same applies to the Blood of Christ).
It should be noted that when we say we receive the Risen Body and Blood of Christ, we are receiving actually the entire Person of Christ, the Son of God as human and Risen. We don't, in other words, receive parts of Christ but as the Catechism teaches, in Communion is "the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained." (#1374)
The Mystical Body of Christ, the Church. Now the Church has a most marvelous teaching which is thoroughly Catholic in its "pedigree." It concerns what is termed the "Whole Christ." Quite simply it is the Risen Christ united to his disciples by their Baptism "into him." All who are baptized are united to him who is the Head of his Body the Church. (See Colossians 1:18 HERE) This Mystical Body includes the living and the dead who are now alive in Christ, the Communion of Saints.
Catholics therefore believe that since the Resurrection of Christ, Christ is not solely "an individual" but he is a "corporate being." This teaching is often referred to by its Latin term "Totus Christus" or "the Whole Christ." ("Christ and his Church thus together make up the "whole Christ" (Christus totus). The Church is one with Christ." Catechism #794)We believe that you cannot have Christ without his Body the Church, because his Body the Church is united to him, really and spiritually.
This meaning of "the Body of Christ" as Church is called "the Mystical Body of Christ."
The word "mystical" is used with a number of nuances: "it is called mystical body, because it is neither a purely physical nor a purely spiritual unity, but supernatural...The relation of the faithful with Christ is mystical, not physical." (See wikipedia article on "Mystici Corporis Christi" HERE) It also refers to a union which is sacramental and involves the sacraments, also called "the mysteries":
"Spiritual progress tends toward ever more intimate union with Christ. This union is called ‘mystical’ because it participates in the mystery of Christ through the sacraments—‘the holy mysteries’—and, in him, in the mystery of the Holy Trinity. God calls us all to this intimate union with him..." (Catechism # 2014)
One implication of this is that when we therefore receive Christ in Holy Communion, we also are given one another as the Church. We are bonded to one another in Christ which is why this act of receiving the Whole Christ in the Eucharist is called Communion. We are placed in Communion with Christ and also in Christ with one another the Church.
St. Augustine famously preached:
"If, therefore, you are the Body of Christ and His members, your mystery is presented at the table of the Lord, you receive your mystery. To that which you are, you answer: `Amen’…Be a member of Christ’s Body, so that your `Amen’ may be the truth." (Sermon 272)
"There you are on the table [the altar], there you are in the cup." (Sermon 229)
"If you receive them well [i.e. the Body and Blood of Christ in the form of Bread and Wine], you are that which you receive." [the Body of Christ the Church] (Sermon 227)
Next Week: Communion and the Holy Spirit
