Commemorating the Real Presence...
Reflections on the readings for the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ (June 14, 2020): DT 8:2-3,14-16; PS 147:12-13,14-15,19-20; 1 COR 10:16-17; JN 6:51-58
MISSIO offers “Preaching Mission,” as a homily help, providing connections to mission from the readings of Sundays, Feast Days and Holy Days.
Today we humbly and gratefully contemplate His promise...
On this Sunday as we celebrate the feast traditionally known as Corpus Christi, we venerate our Lord – Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity – in the Blessed Sacrament. The Real Presence of Christ is commemorated with an open joy that we might find inappropriate during the somber days of Holy Week. On Holy Thursday we honor the institution of the Holy Eucharist and on Good Friday the sacrifice of Jesus’ life to redeem us. Today we humbly and gratefully contemplate His promise: “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me and I in him” (John 6:54-56).
Our Lord has come to share with all who hear and believe in Him even more than the immense promise of God’s forgiveness and the hope of salvation. Jesus tells the crowds who come to listen that He Himself is the living bread. Christ is not simply offering them a gift. He is the gift. And if they have real faith that His Body is food and His Blood is drink and if they do what He asks and consume Him – however impossible that sounds to them – they will have life everlasting. The Son of God came to share Himself with us, yet the incredible extent of His willingness to unite with us stopped some of the people in their tracks. They could only understand with human ears and eyes and minds. For those of us who rejoice in the wonder of the Holy Eucharist, it is a profound celebration of the Divine gift of Christ’s life and love. For those of us who have had the sobering and disturbing experience of life without being able to attend the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass or to receive Holy Communion for some time, revering the feast this year is more important than ever. Let us recall that the word Eucharist means thanksgiving, and that is the deep feeling that all who follow Jesus will express today.
