Body and Blood of Christ (June 11, 2023)

 

Living Bread

John 6: 51-58

 

“I am  the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

 

These two sentences summarize the mystery of God’s love for us.

 

We cannot gain God’s eternal life on our own.  So, out of love for us, Jesus, the Son of God, came to share God’s life with us. 

 

In the Eucharist, he remains with us to be out food of eternal life. 

 

Body and Blood of Christ (June 19, 2022)

 

We Come up Short

Luke 9: 11b - 17

 

At the beginning of Luke Chapter 9, Jesus “summoned the Twelve and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.”

 

The verse that immediate precedes today’s Gospel tells us that “when the apostles returned, they explained to [Jesus] what they had done.” (v. 10)

 

Still, there was now a great crowd of over five thousand people, who had come to listen to Jesus and to receive his healing.  What the Twelve had done was not enough.  And just to feed the bodies of these thousands of people, the Twelve realized, “Five loaves and two fish are all we have.”

 

Jesus then “took” what the Twelve had, “and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing over them, broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.” 

 

“They all ate and were satisfied.”  And there was still more.

 

Jesus still does this for us.  Of course, now it is His Body and Blood.  

 

Image source:  www.agnusday.org

Corpus Christi (March 6, 2021)

 

“This is My Blood”

Readings

 

It seems to be a bizarre sight described in the First Reading from Exodus.  Moses took blood of young bulls, splashed half of it on an altar, then sprinkled the other half on the people. 

 

Therefore, it is important to recognize the symbolic power of what Moses did.  Moses explained to the people, “This is the blood of the covenant.”  The altar represented God.  Thus, God and Israel now share the same blood.  In that covenant, God made Israel God’s family.

 

In the Gospel, Jesus said, “This is my blood of the covenant.”  Thus, in the Eucharist, God’s new covenant with humanity is not established symbolically with animal blood.  It is with the blood of God’s only Son, Jesus Christ.  He is the Lamb of God. 

 

By Jesus’ sacrifice, we are now members of God’s family forever (2^nd Reading)

 

 

Solemnity of Body and Blood of Christ - A (June 14, 2020)

Food of Eternal Life

John 6:51-58

Last Sunday, Trinity Sunday, we learned that “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

Today, on this Solemnity of Corpus Christi, we celebrate this gift of eternal life that is now present to us in the gift of the Eucharist. 

Jesus tells us that God’s gift of eternal life is found in Jesus, “the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I give is my flesh for the life of the world.”

Let’s pray that we might continue to deepen our love and appreciation for the Bread of Eternal Life.

May parents, catechists, educators form in children and young people this love through their words and examples.

And let’s pray for more vocations to the priesthood, and may priests allow Jesus to form them in holiness.  

Reflection Song: 

Composer:  Curtis Stephan

Cospus Christi - C (June 23, 2019)

Jesus in the Eucharist

Luke 9: 11b-17

In this short Gospel passage, Jesus teaches, heals, perceives the people’s hunger, and feeds them.  “They all ate and were satisfied.”

The Eucharistic Jesus continues to do the same for us.  He teaches.  He heals.  He knows our hungers.  And he feeds us.

Then, he commissions us to share his ministry by sharing what we have received, “Give them some food yourselves.”  

Image source: www.qumran2.net

 

Body and Blood of Christ - B (June 3, 2018)

Divine Presence – Past, Present, and Eternal

Mark 14:12-16, 22-26

Last Sunday, we celebrated one of the presences of the Most Holy Trinity in space and time.  That is the presence of God in us as children of God.

Today, we celebrate the same divine presence in the Eucharist. 

In the Eucharist, we who live in time and space come in touch with the Presence of the Divine who no time nor space can contain. 

The Body and Blood of Christ is “the covenant” (Gospel – Mark 14:24) makes present to us now the death of Christ on the cross, “a death [that] has taken place for deliverance from transgression” and “the promised eternal inheritance.”  (2^nd Reading – Hebrew 9:15)

Image source: http://simonhoadalat.com 

(Website of the Diocese of Dalat, Vietnam)

Body and Blood of Christ - A (June 18, 2017)

John 6: 51-58

Divine Life – Now and Eternal

In this Liturgical Year A, the Gospel readings on feast days that mark some of the major aspects in the life, ministry, and mystery of Jesus Christ can be taken as opportunities for us to deepen our appreciation of the profound impact of God’s love on us.

One of the Gospel readings for Christmas is the Prologue of John’s Gospel.  Here, John proclaims, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son” (1:14). 

Then just last Sunday, for the Solemnity of Trinity, we heard, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” (3:16).

And today, for the celebration of Corpus Christi, Jesus tells us, "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world" (6:51).

In the Eucharist, the mystery of the Incarnation – God’s Word made flesh – continues to be a reality for us.  The love of God for us is so great that in the Eucharist, Jesus shares his divine life with us.  In the Father’s only Son, present to us in the Eucharist, we have, even now, eternal life, the life of God’s children. 

 Image source: www.agnusday.org 

Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ - C

Commentary

Luke 9: 11b – 17

All We Have, and All We Need

“Five loaves and two fish are all we have.”

And to feed at least five thousand people with that.

That is all we have.

But with Jesus, there was more than enough. “They all ate and were satisfy.”

The gestures of Jesus are unmistakenly Eucharistic: Jesus “taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing over them, broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.” [1]

What we have remains little and even insignifant. Yet, with Jesus who gives himself to all, there is plenty.

Jesus Christ continues to give himself to us and through us – for the salvation of the world.

The gift of self – united with Jesus – is all we need.

-----------------------

[1] Emphasis not in Scripture text.  Only by blogger.

Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ - C (May 29, 2016)

Readings

Image source:  http://www.agnusday.org

Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

Commentary

Mark 14: 12-16, 22-26

“Prepare”

A priest in our community, Fr. Jay, pointed out that the word “prepare” or “preparation” appears three times in this short passage. 

Jesus knows what he is about to do.  He prepares for it.  And he is ready for it.

The reading given to us in the lectionary skips verses 17 – 21, the verses where Mark recounts Jesus telling the disciples that one of them would betray him.  Jesus knows. [1]

And this passage continues in Mark with Jesus warning the disciples that their faith will be shaken, and that their leader, Peter, would deny him.  [2]

Yet, Jesus loves these very weak and broken disciples. 

He loves them to the point of giving his very life for them.  To them, he says, “This is my body,”  “This is my blood.”  What he now says in words, he will complete on the cross.

To us, the Lord continues to give this gift of love.  To us, he now says, “This is my body,” “This is my blood.”

He knows.  He prepares.  And he is ready.  Because he loves us.

----------------------------
[1], [2]  Frank Moloney, This is the Gospel of the Lord: Reflections of the Gospel Readings, Year B. Homebush, NSW, Australia: St. Paul Publications, 1993.  

Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (June 7, 2015)

Readings

Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (June 22, 2014)

Commentary
John 6: 51-58

The Gift of Self

The gift of life Jesus gives to the world is the same divine life in the Father and the Son.  "Just as the living Father sent me, and I have life because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will have life because of me."

This gift of life comes to us through the Eucharist - the gift of Jesus on the cross.  He gives us himself to be our food of life, "The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world."

As we receive this gift of divine life, we are called and empowered to give ourselves, even to the point of the cross, for the life of the world.

How am I doing that?