The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ
(Corpus Christi) – June 11. 2023
Deuteronomy 8: 2-3, 14b-16a; 1 Corinthians 10: 16-17; John 6:
51-58
Theme: The
Eucharist as the Spiritual Food and Real Presence of Christ
In reading
the scriptures of today, I realize that there are two types of hunger that
people suffer from in our societies. There are people who hunger for basic
foods and those who hunger for presence or companionship. The people who struggle
to find something to eat can understand today’s scripture readings better than
those whose basic food is not a problem. To hear that God intervenes to feed the
Israelites in the desert is a real sign of love and care for the poor because,
for them, bread and water are a matter of life and death. On the other hand, other
people hunger for values other than food and water. They suffer from absence
where there should be presence. They hunger for companionship, love, concern,
mercy, and respect which are not problems in great families of poor societies. So,
these people who suffer from the absence will understand better what the
evangelist John teaches us in our Gospel that the Eucharist is the Real
Presence of Jesus Christ. In this liturgy of Corpus Christi, our Mother Church teaches
us two mysteries of the Eucharist: The Eucharist (the Body and Blood of Christ)
is the spiritual food that gives us eternal life, it is the real presence of Jesus
who is our companion in our earthly journey, and it unites us with our Lord and
with our brothers and sisters.
The
Eucharist is the spiritual food that gives us eternal life. Our first reading,
taken from the book of Deuteronomy, tells us the story of how Moses used the
experience of Exodus to call his people to observe the commandments of God that
he enjoined on them. In v. 1, which is missing in our passage, Moses starts his
exhortation with the words “Be careful to observe this whole commandment that I
enjoin on you today” (Deuteronomy 8: 1). Then, in our passage, he reminds his
fellow Israelites of how God took care of them in their exodus of forty years
from Egypt to the promised land. When they were hungry, God fed them with
Manna, the basics that they needed to continue their journey (see Exodus 16:
4-15). And when they were thirsty, God provided them with water (see Exodus 17:
1-7). Our first reading contains some allegories that need to be interpreted in
order to understand how it connects to our topic of the Eucharist.
First, we
need to note that the forty-year sojourn of the people of Israel in the desert
from Egypt to the promised land symbolizes our spiritual journey from this world
to heaven. Second, notice how the desert is described in this reading. It is
described as “a vast and terrible wilderness with its saraph serpents and scorpions,
its parched and waterless ground” (v. 15, NABRE). For forty years, God leads
his people through this area that is hostile to human life. This description of
the desert of the people of Israel applies also to our societies. We live in a
world where there are all different kinds of dangerous things that make us
weaker spiritually and so prevent us from moving on and from arriving at our “promised
land” which is heaven. Thus, the way God provided his people with food and
drink in the desert to give them strength so they could continue their journey
to their destination is the same way Jesus gives himself to us in the Eucharist
as food that sustains us in our earthy journey to get spiritual strength and
continue our spiritual voyage from this “dangerous” world to our destination which
is the kingdom of heaven.
Besides
being our spiritual food, the Eucharist is also the real presence of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Note that the words “flesh” and “blood” that repeat many times in
our gospel passage stand for the person of Jesus. “Whoever eats my flesh and
drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” (John 6: 56). The celebration of
Mass is a celebration of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. In the
mystery of transubstantiation, we believe that the bread and wine become, not
“like” the body and blood of Christ, but they really become the Body and Blood
of Christ. In the Communion, we receive Jesus. Every time we take part in the
celebration of the Eucharist, we enter a more intimate relationship with Jesus
Christ.
The real presence
of Christ is also manifested in the adoration of Jesus present in the Blessed
Sacrament of the Eucharist. We are encouraged to spend time in the adoration of
the Blessed Sacrament to experience this real presence of Christ. In adoration,
the Blessed Sacrament reminds us of the supreme sacrifice of our Lord on the
cross for our salvation. Adoration is a mystical encounter between you and
Jesus. It helps us to experience the presence of Jesus as our companion, love,
and friend who cares for us and understands the situation we go through. Let us
look at Christ who is present in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar. He is
always ready to forgive us when the people condemn us. He wants to hold our
hands and walk with us when we feel lonely. His companionship encourages us when
we feel abandoned. So, the liturgy of the Mass and Adoration of the Blessed
Sacrament are the great moments we experience the real presence of Christ in
the Eucharist.
The
Eucharist, which is our spiritual food and the real presence of Christ, unites
us, not only with our Lord but also with our brothers and sisters when we
celebrate it together as we do now. This is what Saint Paul teaches us in our
second reading. He reminds and convinces the believers of Corinth and all of us
that in the celebration of the Eucharist, the bread and wine that the priest
consecrates and that we share in communion is really a participation in the
body and blood of Christ. (1 Cor 10: 16). Our communion with the Lord alludes
to our communion with our brothers and sisters. “Because the loaf of bread is
one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.” (1 Cor
10: 17). When we attend Mass, we participate in the mysterious communion with
Jesus and with our fellow brothers and sisters. The Eucharist is the Body and
Blood of Christ that unites us with Jesus and with one another.
Celebrating
this solemnity of Corpus Christi, our Mother Church wants to remind us that this
world is not our home. Our home is in heaven. Here, we are on our spiritual
journey to our promised land, heaven. Like the journey of the people of Israel in
the dangerous desert who needed God to provide them with food and drink, and who
needed God to be present and walk with them, we too in our earthly journey to
heaven need Jesus. When the “scorpions”, “serpents”, and all the dangerous
things in our societies try to weaken us and so prevent us from reaching our “promised
land, Jesus gives us his Body and Blood as food to strengthen us spiritually. He
who is present in the Blessed Sacrament offers us his presence as our companion
to walk with us, encourage, forgive, and love us whenever we feel lonely, abandoned,
and depressed. Amen.
Rev. Leon Ngandu, SVD
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