Many products that we might use come with a disclaimer on them that states that if you do not use them in the proper way then any guarantees or warranties that the manufacturer might have extended will be rendered null and void.  If we expect something to work right then it has to be used in the manner in which it was designed and intended.  If we are careless and if we are not a responsible user then we should not expect something to work well for us.  Life follows the same principle.  If we do not live our lives in a responsible way and follow certain “life instructions” then we should not expect that our lives will go well.  God wants us to be happy and to find joy in life but He will not be able to help us if we insist on doing things our way and ignoring His instructions.

“When Moses came to the people and related all the words and ordinances of the Lord, they all answered with one voice, “We will do everything that the Lord has told us.” (Ex 24,3)  The covenant that God establishes with his people is like a set of “life instructions.”  God reveals the secrets of life to us and shares with us a way of life that will lead to joy and happiness.  “You will show me the path to life, abounding joy in your presence…” (Ps 16,11)  For Israel, the covenant is life.  God reveals to his people a highway of life through the desert of this world, “A highway will be there, called the holy way; no one unclean may pass over it, nor fools go astray on it.” (Is 35,8)  God is a Teacher for us who reveals to us the way to life.  “No longer will your Teacher hide himself, but with your own eyes you shall see your Teacher, while from behind, a voice shall sound in your ears; “This is the way; walk in it,” when you would turn to the right or to the left.” (Is 30,20f)  It is God’s part of the covenant to teach us and to guide us, giving us all that is necessary for an abundant life.  God provides life to us and it is our part of the covenant to “heed and do” (Ex 24,7) all that the Lord has told us.  If we live responsibly and do all that the Lord has instructed us to do then our lives will go well and we will live an abundant life.  “If you obey the commandments of the Lord, your God, which I enjoin on you today, loving Him, and walking in His ways, and keeping His commandments, statutes and decrees, you will live and grow numerous, and the Lord, your God, will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy.” (Deut 30,16)

od fulfills all of his promises in sending us his Son, Jesus, to be our Teacher, a Teacher that is visible to us and who will establish with us a New Covenant in his body and blood.  Jesus offers us bread and wine that become His body and blood and instructs us to “do this in memory of me.” (Lk 22,25)  What Jesus has instructed us to do we must do in memory of him.  When Jesus says, “do this,” in establishing the New Covenant in his body and blood, we are to respond “we will do everything that the Lord has told us.”  As we celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi, the Body and Blood of Christ, we remember the New Covenant that has been established in the Body and Blood of Christ.  In this “do this,” Jesus ties the liturgy of the Word with the liturgy of the Eucharist.  The New Covenant is laid out for us in his teachings, his Way of life, and the Covenant is sealed in his Body and Blood.  Now it is for us to “do everything” that the Lord has taught us in order to enjoy the blessings of a life in Christ.  We are not to pick and choose what we will do and what we prefer not to do, we have to “do everything”.

The feast of Corpus Christi usually involves a procession of the Blessed Sacrament out into the streets to remind us that what we are to do is not only done in the confines of a church building.  The  New Covenant in the Body and Blood of Christ encompasses our entire life and we are to carry the Body and Blood of Christ, the New Covenant of love, into the highways and byways of the world.  If our life is not going well, perhaps it is because we are not living according to the instructions that the Lord has laid down for us.  There is a disclaimer on life, if we do not live according to the law of love that the Teacher has revealed to us, then we cannot expect to receive the blessings of an abundant life.  If we do not “do everything” in upholding our part of the covenant, then we can’t blame God for the troubles in our life.  It is not enough to just come to church on Sunday and receive the Eucharist, we must live the Eucharist, the Body and Blood of Christ, every day in a life of sacrificial love and service, empowered by His grace.