Corpus Christi C.  June 10, 2007.   Our Lady of Grace 7:30, 11:30, 6PM.

We live in a world of great abundance, yet there are malnourished people in our own country and starving people in other parts of the world.  We have all seen the bloated stomachs of starving children and the blank faces of adults made dull by hunger. There is no doubt that we have the technology needed to feed all the world’s poor.  Noticing that there are hungry people around us is not enough.  Jesus calls us to do something about it.

The disciples of Jesus knew that the crowd had been following after Jesus for a long time.  It was very clear to them that the crowd was hungry and needed food.  When the disciples approached Jesus and asked him to send the crowd away so that they could go into the neighboring towns and villages to buy food, Jesus said an amazing thing, “Give them some food yourselves.”  There were more than five thousand people in the crowd.  All the disciples had was five loaves of bread and two fish.  In this wonderful miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fish Jesus teaches us a great truth.  In fact, we never seem to have enough of anything.  Yet, when we give what we have with good and generous hearts God multiplies what we have and somehow it becomes enough.  Have you ever thought to yourself that you didn’t have enough hours in the day, enough money in the bank or enough food in the refrigerator to do what has to be done?   My own experience is that while I never have as much as I want, I almost always have as much as I need if I face the situation with a faith-filled and generous heart.  Very, very often God multiplies the efforts of those who believe.  An attitude of faith and trust goes a long way toward multiplying what we have and shrinking what we think we need.  Trusting God makes life more enjoyable and life’s blessing more abundant.

Having said this, there are certainly situations in which we need the care and the help of others.  The bread that Jesus wants to give us is not only the ordinary bread that is our daily food.  The bread that Jesus gives us is the heavenly bread that has the power to change our hearts and transform our world.  The miracle of the multiplication of the loaves prepares us for a new kind of heavenly bread designed to nourish and change the whole human race.

Very soon after the birth of the Church on Pentecost St. Paul said to the Corinthians, ‘For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes. Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord.” (I Corinthians 11: 23-27)  

Three Gospels record the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper.  The Gospel of John assures us that we must take the words of Jesus “This is my Body” literally and not symbolically. From the very birth of the Church Christians have believed that participation in the Eucharist was a real participation in the life-giving death of the Lord and a real and literal communion with the Body and Blood of Christ.  All Christian Churches that date back to the Apostles continue to share this belief.

Jesus said, “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.”  The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us (his) flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.  Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. …Then many of his disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” ….As a result of this, many (of) his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.  Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?” Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”  (John 6:51-68)

If Jesus wanted his words to be interpreted as poetic or symbolic he would have told his listeners that they were misunderstanding what he was saying.  He allowed them to take what he was saying literally and then walk away because he meant what he was saying literally.  When many of his followers stopped following him because they were not willing to accept literally that his Body was real food and his Blood was real drink Jesus did not change what he was saying.  He merely turned to Peter and the others and said, “Do you want to leave me too?”   Belief in the Eucharist as the real presence of Jesus under the appearance of bread and wine is so important that Jesus is willing to have his disciples walk away from him if they are not willing to accept this teaching.

The deepest hungers of the human mind and the human heart are not for ordinary food.  Men and women hunger for communion with God, for spiritual food that will make them loving and strong, and for loving relationships with one another.  The Eucharist is God’s answer to the deepest longings and needs of our hearts.  When Jesus said, “Do this in memory of me.” he gave us the great gift that can completely transform our lives and bring us deep joy.  For the Eucharist to be powerful in our lives we must believe that it is truly the Body and Blood of Jesus, we must receive the Eucharist with living faith in the presence of Jesus, and we must prepare for the Eucharist by being in God’s grace and prayerfully participating in the Mass, and by seeking to live a good and holy life after Mass in imitation of Jesus who is our food and drink.

The Eucharist is a priceless and powerful gift given to those who hunger for God and for deeper relationships with one another.  For the gift of the Eucharist we give God thanks and praise.