Cycle C - Year I:

2 June 2013 - Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ

(Liturgical color: White)

Luke 9:11b-17

The Eucharist: the source of our Christian Life!

The boast of the P-Noy Administration about economic gains should have been good news to the poor of this country. But they are indifferent and unaffected, because they remain hungry and poor still. In fact, even official government statistics negate the official government pronouncement, because according to their collected data the number of poor in our country has not changed at all for the last so many years.

To the poor, putting food on the table preoccupies their daily struggle. Because satisfying their physical hunger for food is a step to liberation from their poverty.

Today, as the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, the theme of the liturgy touches on the very core of poverty: the hunger for food. The gospel from Luke is about the multiplication of the bread and fish.

In the gospel about five thousand people who were following Jesus were hungry and have no food to eat. So the miracle of the multiplication of bread slowly started to unravel before the very eyes of the apostles. So that with just five loaves of bread and two fish that they originally have, they were able to feed more than five thousand people, with still so much leftover fragments of twelve wicker baskets filled.

The miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fish emanated from the mercy and love of Jesus. Because our Lord Jesus cares for the whole man, body and soul, that he takes care of our physical needs as well, including our hunger for food.

This feeding of the multitude still happens today when we attend the celebration of Holy Mass. Jesus through the priest during Holy Communion still gives us his Blood and Body for us to partake.

The Holy Eucharist, or Corpus Christi as the Body of Christ, is the center and source of our Christian life. Even after his ascension, Jesus chose to remain with us in the sacrament of the Eucharist. Because in the Eucharist Jesus gives his Body and Blood to be our food through our spiritual journey.

St. Thomas Aquinas said that the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is visus, tactus, gustus. That means, when we receive Jesus in the Holy Eucharist we actually see, touch, and taste him. His real presence is not imaginary in our mind. Because Jesus is an "edible" God, as some theologians would say.

In practical life, by partaking of the Body of  Christ we receive the grace, strength and energy to grow and become Christ-like. In other words, we too become like Christ to others. His mission becomes our mission for the salvation of mankind and the world.

As Jesus was merciful and loving to the crowd in the gospel and to us also now, He wants us also to be his channel of mercy and love to our fellowmen. So that as we remember this solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ we must commit ourselves to always make a big difference in the lives of those who are going hungry, those who have less in life, those who are poor in spirit and wealth, and those who are already desperate because of poverty, through our acts of Christian charity, generosity and love for the less fortunate in our midst.

A blessed Corpus Christi Sunday to all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Deo Optimo Maximo!