My Seven-Minute-Homily
Solemnity of the Body and the Blood of Christ, Year C
Corpus Christ Sunday, year C
Book of Genesis 14.18-20; The First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians 11. 23-26
And the Gospel of St. Luke 9.11-17
Augustinian nun Juliana of Liège had a vision in which a glistening full moon appeared to her. The moon was perfect but for some hollow dark spots which she was told represented the absence of a feast of the Eucharist. This led to the celebration of the feast of the Body of Christ, Corpus Christi, which was introduced into the church Calendar in 1264.
This is the history of the feast of the Body and the blood of Christ comes about:
Why do we need to celebrate the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ every year and the Holy Eucharist every Sunday?
This is an opportunity to give thanks to God for Christ’s abiding presence with us which is made visible in the Eucharist. Jesus said “I am with you always!”
It is also an opportunity for us to seek a better understanding of the sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ and to order our attitude to it accordingly, since the Eucharist is a sacrament of life which, if misused, could bring about the opposite effect. As St Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “All who eat and drink in an unworthy manner, without discerning the Lord’s body eat and drink judgment against themselves. For this reason many of you are weak and ill, and some have died” (1 Corinthians 11:29-30).
It is also an opportunity to understand better the strong reason why Jesus multiplied five loaves and two fish in the dessert to feed five thousand men. These people followed Jesus to listen to his words. Jesus saw them and he had compassion on them. He cared very much for their life and their salvation. By the late afternoon, with five loaves and two fish, Jesus gave thanks to God the Father, blessed them and he broke them. He gave loaves and fish to his disciples so that in their turn they could provide to all people sitting on the grass in grouping
We are suggested to read some other passages from the Bible so that we would recognize the love of God to human when Jesus established the Holy Eucharist and ordered to “do this in memory of me” A closer reading of today's gospel or, better still, the whole of the Eucharistic discourse in John chapter sixth from which it is taken, provides useful answers. From the reading we find that there are two main reasons Jesus gave us this sacrament. Jesus promised to be with us until the end of time (Matthew 28:20). In the Eucharist he provides a visible sign and an effective means of him being present to us and us being present to him. As Jesus himself said, “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.” Jesus said that he came that we may have life and have it to the full (John 20:20). In the Eucharist he provides a visible means of communicating this life to us so that we can be fully alive both in this world and in the next. As Jesus said, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day” (John 6:53-54). The Jews that Jesus was addressing in John chapter sixth had gathered to ask him for more bread. Jesus promised to give them the sacramental bread and blood instead. But in their worldly frame of mind they could not understand or appreciate the sacrament. They disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Jesus reaffirmed that “My flesh is true food and my blood is true drink”
Jesus heard their complaint. Jesus could read their mind. But Jesus still kept his promises to establish the Holy Eucharist in order to give people his flesh and his blood as eternal food. Pope Benedict the Sixteenth in his Homily on the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ in the year 2006 explained understandably about the meaning of bread and wine in this way. The Pope said “Bread made of many grains contains also an event of union: the ground grain becoming bread is a process of unification. We ourselves, many as we are, must become one bread, one body, as St Paul says (cf. I Cor. 10: 17). In this way the sign of bread becomes both hope and fulfillment. In a very similar way the sign of wine speaks to us. However, while bread speaks of daily life, simplicity and pilgrimage, wine expresses the exquisiteness of creation: the feast of joy that God wants to offer to us at the end of time and that already now and always anticipates anew a foretaste through this sign.
On the feast of Corpus Christi we especially look at the sign of bread. It reminds us of the pilgrimage of Israel during the 40 years in the desert. The Host is our manna whereby the Lord nourishes us - it is truly the bread of heaven, through which he gives himself.”
Oremus: O Lord Jesus, you come to us again in Holy Communion. Thank you for the great gift of your presence. Teach us more and more about your love by giving yourself to us in the form of bread and wine. Teach us more and more about the meaning of communion that means to be united with one another Jesus Christ. Make us to renew our commitment to be faithful with you, our Savior. Amen
Father Great Rice
Solemnity of the Body and the Blood of Christ, Year C
Corpus Christ Sunday, year C
Book of Genesis 14.18-20; The First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians 11. 23-26
And the Gospel of St. Luke 9.11-17
Augustinian nun Juliana of Liège had a vision in which a glistening full moon appeared to her. The moon was perfect but for some hollow dark spots which she was told represented the absence of a feast of the Eucharist. This led to the celebration of the feast of the Body of Christ, Corpus Christi, which was introduced into the church Calendar in 1264.
This is the history of the feast of the Body and the blood of Christ comes about:
Why do we need to celebrate the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ every year and the Holy Eucharist every Sunday?
This is an opportunity to give thanks to God for Christ’s abiding presence with us which is made visible in the Eucharist. Jesus said “I am with you always!”
It is also an opportunity for us to seek a better understanding of the sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ and to order our attitude to it accordingly, since the Eucharist is a sacrament of life which, if misused, could bring about the opposite effect. As St Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “All who eat and drink in an unworthy manner, without discerning the Lord’s body eat and drink judgment against themselves. For this reason many of you are weak and ill, and some have died” (1 Corinthians 11:29-30).
It is also an opportunity to understand better the strong reason why Jesus multiplied five loaves and two fish in the dessert to feed five thousand men. These people followed Jesus to listen to his words. Jesus saw them and he had compassion on them. He cared very much for their life and their salvation. By the late afternoon, with five loaves and two fish, Jesus gave thanks to God the Father, blessed them and he broke them. He gave loaves and fish to his disciples so that in their turn they could provide to all people sitting on the grass in grouping
We are suggested to read some other passages from the Bible so that we would recognize the love of God to human when Jesus established the Holy Eucharist and ordered to “do this in memory of me” A closer reading of today's gospel or, better still, the whole of the Eucharistic discourse in John chapter sixth from which it is taken, provides useful answers. From the reading we find that there are two main reasons Jesus gave us this sacrament. Jesus promised to be with us until the end of time (Matthew 28:20). In the Eucharist he provides a visible sign and an effective means of him being present to us and us being present to him. As Jesus himself said, “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.” Jesus said that he came that we may have life and have it to the full (John 20:20). In the Eucharist he provides a visible means of communicating this life to us so that we can be fully alive both in this world and in the next. As Jesus said, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day” (John 6:53-54). The Jews that Jesus was addressing in John chapter sixth had gathered to ask him for more bread. Jesus promised to give them the sacramental bread and blood instead. But in their worldly frame of mind they could not understand or appreciate the sacrament. They disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Jesus reaffirmed that “My flesh is true food and my blood is true drink”
Jesus heard their complaint. Jesus could read their mind. But Jesus still kept his promises to establish the Holy Eucharist in order to give people his flesh and his blood as eternal food. Pope Benedict the Sixteenth in his Homily on the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ in the year 2006 explained understandably about the meaning of bread and wine in this way. The Pope said “Bread made of many grains contains also an event of union: the ground grain becoming bread is a process of unification. We ourselves, many as we are, must become one bread, one body, as St Paul says (cf. I Cor. 10: 17). In this way the sign of bread becomes both hope and fulfillment. In a very similar way the sign of wine speaks to us. However, while bread speaks of daily life, simplicity and pilgrimage, wine expresses the exquisiteness of creation: the feast of joy that God wants to offer to us at the end of time and that already now and always anticipates anew a foretaste through this sign.
On the feast of Corpus Christi we especially look at the sign of bread. It reminds us of the pilgrimage of Israel during the 40 years in the desert. The Host is our manna whereby the Lord nourishes us - it is truly the bread of heaven, through which he gives himself.”
Oremus: O Lord Jesus, you come to us again in Holy Communion. Thank you for the great gift of your presence. Teach us more and more about your love by giving yourself to us in the form of bread and wine. Teach us more and more about the meaning of communion that means to be united with one another Jesus Christ. Make us to renew our commitment to be faithful with you, our Savior. Amen
Father Great Rice