Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today, we celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi, “The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.” Once a year, we dedicate a day to reflect on the meaning and the power of the Eucharist that we celebrate every day. The celebration of the Eucharist is at the heart of every Catholic Christian Community. The Eucharist forms and transforms the Church and holds us together as a community of faith, heals our brokenness and empowers us to fulfill the mission of Jesus. In the Eucharist, what we eat is no longer bread and what we drink no longer wine. It is the whole person of Jesus that we take in. 

The “bread and the wine” of the Eucharist transforms us into Christ. We become the Body of Christ in communion with our brothers and sisters. We are not just in communion with those we see present in our Church, but with men and women whom we will never meet, speaking languages that we will never understand, as well as with those who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith.

All our Christian and missionary activities are taken up into the Eucharist and nourished and strengthened by the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the wellspring of our hope and our courage. We come to the Eucharist to be nourished and strengthened. We go from the Eucharist to fulfill our mission. In the Eucharist, we receive the Body and Blood of Christ, the whole person of Jesus and carry him into all aspects of our lives.

The following story from a young man gives us good insights into being fed by the Eucharist. “I once was coming home with my mother and father in the car. And my mother was a wonderful mother and a devout Catholic. But she didn’t like our parish priest and he had delivered himself of another one of his sermons and she found it a little bit outrageous. And so, going home in the car, she was driving, she complained about it and said, “Oh, but Father blah, blah, blah.” And my father, who was a lovely man, smiled and winked at me, and we teased her a little bit about how come you love Jesus but you can’t love Father. Finally, my father said to her, “Sarah Jane, I don’t know why you go to church at all.” And she looked at him straight in the eye and she said, “I go for the bread.” Great answer, and both of us were dumbstruck.”

“I go for the bread.” We know that she was talking about the Eucharist. We are fed, nourished, refreshed and strengthened with the bread of life and the cup of compassion. However, the bread with which we are fed does not merely satisfy our physical hungers. The bread God gives also takes the form of the living Word that nourishes the spirit and strengthens our will. It is not on bread alone that man lives but “by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Mathew 4:4) To live by the Word of God means to be still and to listen for His Word, to change, to grow and be transformed by His Word.

To read more of this Sunday’s reflection, please click on the link below...