Read Reflect Respond

Feast Days |  Sundays |  Videos | Latest

(22ndJune 2023) Homily for Corpus Christi

(Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus Christ)

READ: (Gen 14: 18-20; 1 Cor 11: 23-26; Lk 9: 11-17)

REFLECT: Eucharist is an act of thanksgiving, proclaims Lord’s death in faith and multiplies true joy…

Dear friends, today along with the holy mother the church we celebrate Corpus Christi (Body of Christ), which is also called as the solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. In Latin, Corpus Christi would mean the “body of Christ.” The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ is commemorated in between the Most Holy Trinity Sunday and the Pentecost Sunday. The solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ honours the real presence of Jesus’ body and blood, soul and divinity in the Holy Eucharist.

This feast calls us to focus on two manifestations of the Body of Christ, the Holy Eucharist and the Church. The primary purpose of this feast is to focus our attention on the Eucharist and believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The secondary focus of this feast is upon the Body of Christ, the Church. The Church is called the Body of Christ because Jesus is the Head of the Church and we the disciples are his followers in close communion with Jesus. On the Feast of Corpus Christi, in many places it becomes an occasion and opportunity for people to conduct or organize public Eucharistic processions. It serves as a sign and expression of our faith, homage and adoration. It fosters faith to a deeper level and strengthens devotion to the Sacrament of Eucharist and love for the Eucharistic Lord. So based on the liturgy of the word, I would like to share with you three points of reflection;

1.     Eucharist is an act of thanksgiving:

We all know that the word ‘Eucharist’ comes from the Greek word, ‘Eucharistia’ which means ‘thanksgiving.’ We thank God in the Eucharist for all the blessings poured on to us though the self-gift of Jesus our saviour. We thank God for his continued presence in the Eucharist; we thank God for daily blessings in the Eucharist to empower our lives and be gripped on to Jesus. So thanksgiving to God for all his blessings, especially realizing that in the Eucharist, we thank God for the fullness of love expressed in it. Something similar attitude and approach of gratitude is what we see in the first reading from the book of Genesis.

The first reading of the day very clearly states that Abram, whose name later changed to Abraham is blessed by  Melchizedek, the King of Salem and priest of God Most High. The King of Salem acknowledges that Abraham is blessed by God abundantly to possess heaven and earth. He also accepts in humility the greatness of God to Abram, keeping him away from all his enemies and adversities. In response to this divine grace and blessing, of his own free will, Abram gives Melchizedek a tenth of everything. This gift is given freely, without expecting anything in return, as an act of gratitude and acknowledgment of God’s blessings.

Just as Abram was ready and willing to bless others by giving a portion of what he had, so also we need to be ready and willing to offer what we have to God as an act of thanksgiving and joy. The greatness of God is manifested to us in the Eucharist by way of love, mercy and forgiveness. Therefore, it is not that we give something in return in the Eucharist, because God has already paid for us and so we give thanks to God in the Eucharist for what has already been paid in full by self-emptying love of God through his own Son Jesus. So what we need is to offer ourselves in thanksgiving to God for all the manifold blessings. It should not arise out of necessity or obligation rather as an act of gratitude for God’s love over us, we need to offer ourselves to God in thanksgiving for all the favour.

So let us realize that Eucharist does not end in itself at the dismissal rather it is the beginning of the Eucharist to be thankful for God’s blessings and to reach out to others joyfully in love and service. We need to believe today the transforming power of the Holy Eucharist. The Eucharist not only forms us to bear witness to God or change one’s life rather it has the power to transform others by the very life that we live. When we believe the transforming power of the Eucharist, we would become thankful people to God for all the blessings showered on us. Let us pray for God’s blessings to remain grateful to God always.

2.     Eucharist proclaims the Lord’s death in faith:

We might wonder, whether we celebrate someone’s death. If we recall or remind ourselves about Good Friday, the day on which Jesus died is called as Good Friday. Is there anything good in the death of Jesus on Good Friday? Yes, we call it Good Friday, because God’s goodness is revealed and manifested in fuller measure by the death of Jesus. Thus, every Eucharist that we celebrate or participate, we proclaim the death of Jesus, which brought salvation to entire human race and even today brings us salvation as we partake in the Holy Eucharist. That’s what we find in the second reading of the day.

The second reading from St. Paul’s letter to First Corinthians very powerfully narrates to us by Paul about his version of the last supper of Jesus and the significance of the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist, what Jesus manifested to his disciples during the last supper, before he could enter into passion, death and resurrection. Moreover, St. Paul tells us that as often as we could eat the bread and drink the chalice, we proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. The proclamation of Jesus’ death implies the love for humanity manifested by Jesus with the plan of God the Father.

Today, we need to ask ourselves in what way we can proclaim the death of the Lord and bring about salvation to people around us. We can be sure that we can never proclaim the death of Jesus, because he rose from the dead, he defeated death, conquered sin and brought salvation to humanity. In every Eucharist we devoutly utter the mysteries of faith, “we proclaim your death O Lord, and profess your resurrection, until you come again.” Yes, this mystery of faith is not a mere statement that we utter without any devotion or deep sentiments or without any connection with God rather it is a faith that consolidates our bond with Christ and the Church. The mystery of faith proclaims the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus, because our God is a living God and not of the dead. He died in order to make us live. So let us realize today that whenever we proclaim the death of Jesus, we proclaim the deep love, longing, loyalty of God the father through his Son and the Spirit.

On this day, let us then remind ourselves of the deep love, longing and loyalty in every Eucharist and devoutly pray for the strength that we need to proclaim the mystery of faith strongly and steadily, genuinely and generously with one another; let us never lose courage to proclaim the death of Christ like St. Paul, who always acknowledged after his conversion that Jesus is the sole master of his life and without Christ his life would be like a fish in the sea without water. We live today, because Jesus died for us. Today, Jesus does not ask us to die for him rather he asks us to live in love and for love for which Jesus died on the cross. The deep expression of love is found in the Eucharist, so let us love the Eucharist and live the Eucharist in deep faith.

3.     Eucharist multiplies joy:

We all of us like to be joyful as none of wish to be sad and distressed. Pure joy comes from God, when we have God with us and within us. That pure joy comes to us in the Eucharist, which Jesus offered to humanity to experience the fullness of Joy. The joy of the Eucharist is neither limited nor polluted; it is neither temporary nor momentary rather it is joy unending, because God chose to remain with us his chosen people in the Eucharist. Thus, the presence of God is always a pure and holy Joy in the Eucharist. The holy joy is what we celebrate and participate everyday in the Eucharist. Something similar thought pattern of joy and happiness is what we see in the Gospel reading of the day.

The Gospel reading of the day presents before us the episode of the multiplication of five loaves and two fish, which reveals the sharing of the food, the offer of eternal life and the generosity of Jesus in providing food for the people, the compassion of Jesus for his people and the left over broken pieces to fill the hungry and to feel the abundance of God’s power and supremacy over us for goodness. I would like to call this multiplication of loaves and fish as the multiplication of joy, because the multiplication of loaves and fish brought joy among the people, who could have gone hungry, if they were sent out without food. Jesus knew for sure the situation of the people and so prepares the disciples well to arrange for them food, so that they could be at peace among themselves.

The Gospel passage has perhaps the prefiguration of the Eucharistic overtones. We hear from the mouth of Jesus, ‘he looked up’ ‘said a blessing’ ‘broke the loaves’ ‘gave them to the disciples’ ‘they all ate and satisfied.’ Yes, these phrases bring us to awareness the act of Jesus at the last supper with his disciples, wherein he gave his body and blood for the salvation of the world. They all ate and satisfied because it was real joy; it was a sign of life; it was a sign of sharing; it was a sign of union. Indeed, they all would have felt that Jesus was there for them and he could give them a transformative experience by the multiplication of loaves and fish. Although, the  people might have thought of these loaves and fish as mere physical nourishment but Jesus makes them understand the spiritual nourishment of the multiplication of loaves and fish by prayer and blessings he makes as a preparation to offer his body and blood for our life eternal.

This is what every Eucharist makes us realize that we have real and eternal joy with us and within us, but we don’t understand nor take it seriously, because we run after fake joys that the world portrays. We get in touch with worldly wisdom and worldly ways, worldly powers and worldly pleasures, succumb our lives, we don’t take a moment to understand the deep vibes and communications of love and real joy that Eucharist offers us. Let us take to heart today that every Eucharist gives us fullness of joy, provided we understand the importance of the Eucharist in our lives. For some of us Eucharist has become place of sleep or rest, and a place of entertainment. We forget the powerful presence of Jesus, the joy the Eucharist offers and multiplies the union and communion the Eucharist brings, the love that is concretely founded in the Eucharist. Let us pray that we experience the multiplication of joys the Eucharist brings and share with others for life eternal.

RESPOND:

Do we understand that Eucharist is an act of thanksgiving and we need to thank God for the daily gifts we receive in the Eucharist?

Do we believe in the mystery of faith that we proclaim in every Eucharist?

Do we experience the multiplication of joy in the Eucharist and offer the fullness of joy with one another in our world?

Let us thank God for the Self-gift of Jesus in the Eucharist, proclaim the mystery of faith genuinely and multiply the joy by participating in the Eucharist and sharing the real joy with others. Amen.

God bless us all… Live Jesus!