HOMILY
Corpus Christi Sunday – June 11, 2023
Today as a Church – we celebrate the Feast of the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus – Corpus Christi Sunday – a day that calls us to reflect upon the gift of God given to us in the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist – and a day that captures the essence of who we are as Christians and of all that we are called to be as disciples of Jesus.
And on this particular Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Jesus, we join with Catholics from every diocese throughout our land to continue a time of Eucharistic Revival that we began a year ago and that will culminate in the summer of 2024 with a national Eucharistic Congress.
During this season of revival, we have been given the opportunity to contemplate and proclaim with a deeper resolve the doctrine of the Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist – a belief that has sustained countless numbers of Catholic Christians for two millennia – and a belief that so many of you have affirmed with me throughout the past year as we’ve gathered in prayer on numerous occasions in the presence of our Eucharistic Lord, particularly during the season of Lent. May our continued prayer during this time of revival enable us all to reclaim our devotion to this sublime gift of God through the truth of our Church’s teaching, the beauty of our Catholic worship and the goodness of lives of service that flow from the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
In the “bread of life” discourse that we hear today from John’s gospel, Jesus’ revelations concerning his Messianic ministry take on a Eucharistic theme. The image of Jesus as “bread from heaven” echoes two dimensions of the same Old Testament image: the wisdom of God’s Law nourishing all who accept it and God’s blessing of manna to feed the journeying Israelites. As such, brothers and sisters, every hope that we express in God’s promise of eternal life and every good that emerges from us have their origins in the Eucharist – “the living bread come down from heaven.”
And so, our hearts should indeed well up in praise of God for the sublime gift of his life-sustaining presence, found in the simple gifts of bread and wine. Likewise, our spirits should claim the promise of Jesus to strengthen us for the journey of faith that we are called to live with and for a broken world.
In reflecting upon the Eucharist a year ago on this very Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Jesus, Pope Francis reminded us that “in the Body and Blood of Christ, we find Jesus’ presence, his life given for each of us. He not only gives us help to go forward, but he gives us himself — he makes himself our travelling companion, he enters into our affairs, he visits us when we are lonely, giving us back a sense of enthusiasm. … The Lord gives meaning to our life, to our darkness, our doubts. … For in the warmth of his presence, our lives change. Without him, everything would truly be grey. So in adoring the Body and Blood of Christ, let us ask him with our heart: ‘Lord, give me the daily bread to go forward, Lord, satisfy me with your presence!’”
Yet, in addition to receiving the bread of life for our salvation, it is clear that the Lord not only calls us to be citizens of Heaven. At the same time, he also takes into account the journey we have to face here on earth. Pope Francis went on to say, “Sometimes there is the risk of confining the Eucharist to a vague, distant dimension, perhaps bright and perfumed with incense, but distant from the straits of everyday life. In reality, however, the Lord takes all our needs to heart, beginning with the most basic. … Our Eucharistic adoration comes alive when we take care of our neighbor like Jesus does. There is hunger for food around us, but also for companionship; there is hunger for consolation, friendship, good humor; there is hunger for attention, there is hunger to be evangelized. We find this in the Eucharistic Bread – Christ’s attention to our needs and the invitation to do the same toward those who are beside us.” The Holy Father concluded, “We need to eat but we also need to feed others.”
It’s clear to see, then, that the gift of the Eucharist comes with an important “string” attached: it must be shared. In sharing the body of Christ, we become the body of Christ. If we partake of the “one bread,” as Saint Paul proclaims in our second reading, we must be willing to become Eucharist for others – to make the love of Christ real for all. In this sacramental encounter with the Risen One, we are called to become what we have received: to become Eucharist for one another as Christ is Eucharist for us.
So when God’s people assemble in faith as we do today, yes, we are called to recreate the ritual meal of the Last Supper. But we are also called to do something else. Recall the words of the great Saint Augustine that I’ve shared countless times during the course of our Eucharistic Revival: “Become the mystery you celebrate.” … Become the broken Christ whose life was poured forth for those that he loved. … Become the loving, compassionate Christ who multiplied loaves and fish and fed the hungry multitudes, satisfying not only their physical needs, but their desire to be nourished by the God.
Receive Christ, the living bread that sustains us on our journey of faith and so become Christ in loving service to one another. … Become Christ for your husband/your wife. Become Christ for your mother/your father; your son/your daughter. Become Christ for your neighbor and for the stranger. Become Christ for the unborn child. Become Christ for the hungry poor. Become Christ for those whom we have relegated to the margins of our world because of our own self-righteousness. Become Christ for the immigrant. Become Christ for the forgotten. … Become the Christ whom you adore and whom you worship.
Brothers and sisters, the great sacrament of the Eucharist that we celebrate this day is both a gift to be cherished and a responsibility to be embraced by all who seek to follow the Lord Jesus with sincerity of heart. May our prayer on this great day of thanksgiving embody these simple words: As we receive the gift of Christ in the Eucharist to sustain us on our journey life, may we, in turn, become Christ for others to enable them to walk with us on the same journey to the Kingdom of God. Amen.