Cycle C - Year II:  

19 June 2022: Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ 

(Liturgical Color: White)

Readings:

First Reading:        Genesis 14:18-20

Second Reading:  1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Gospel:  Please Read  Luke 9:11-17 

Jesus is the Bread of Life!

A new convert to Catholicism was asked by his Parish Priest: "What is the difference between a crucifix and the Holy Eucharist?" His response: "The crucifix looks like Christ but it is not Christ   The Holy Eucharist doesn't look like Christ but He is the real Christ!"

We celebrate this Sunday another important feast: The Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, or more popularly known as Corpus Christi.

For Catholics, the doctrine of the Real Presence asserts that in the Holy Eucharist our Lord Jesus Christ is wholly present, body and blood, soul and divinity, under the appearance of bread and wine.  Even after His ascension into heaven Jesus chose to remain with us in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. It is in the Eucharist that we encounter Jesus Himself and thus receive a foretaste of heavenly glory.

The Gospel from St. Luke presents us the narrative of the miracle of the loaves which takes place on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.  This miraculous feeding of the big crowd was a prelude to something much more wonderful, the miraculous gift of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself in the Holy Eucharist.  The incident on the feeding of the crowd teaches us that Jesus desires to nourish His exhausted hungry flock with bread and fish.  This was a foreshadowing of the Lord's desire to spiritually nourish the whole world with His own Body and Blood in the Eucharist at Mass.

Because it is within the holy sacrifice of the Mass that we have our immediate experience of this encounter with our Lord Jesus Christ. That is why we are invited to prepare our minds, heart and bodies in anticipation of the representation of the Paschal Mystery. So that our minds and hearts and bodies ought to be oriented toward adoration of our Lord, contrition for our sins, thanksgiving for our blessings and crosses and supplication offered with our particular intention in mind.

The great St. Thomas Aquinas wrote that Jesus' presence in the Eucharist is "visus, tactus, gustus." It means His presence is not imaginary in our mind. Because when we receive Jesus in the Holy Eucharist we actually "see" (visus), "touch" (tactus), and "taste" (gustus) our Lord Himself. And so some theologians would say He is an "edible" God.

The Eucharist provides the spiritual strength for us Christians that we need for our long journey toward salvation. The Eucharist is the culmination of Jesus' entire life, which was a single act of love toward the Father, and our brothers and sisters.

As we prepare to go to Mass we must ask: "How will I offer myself to God during Mass in order to match Jesus' love and gift of self to me?"  And we will soon discover that as much as we think we are giving to Jesus, in reality He is never outdone in His generous outpouring of His very life into our own, in the Holy Eucharist. And we cannot properly receive the Bread of Life unless at the same time we give the bread of life to those in need wherever and whoever they may be, through Christian charity. Amen.

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

Ad Jesum per Mariam!