FEAST OF CORPUS CHRISTI (THE BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST)

In Jesus all become one!

At Easter we celebrated our faith in the one Lord, Jesus Christ the Savior. At Pentecost, we professed our faith in one Holy Spirit, Lord and Life-giver. On Trinity Sunday, we proclaimed the face of the One God - one in the unity of three Persons. Today Feast of Corpus Christi, we rejoice in the One Body of Christ. As receive this one Body, we also become that one body.

What is this one body of Christ? First, this body is the Person of Christ himself we meet in the sacrament, in every Mass and in every tabernacle around the world.  At times we wonder why the priest holds up a huge bread while we receive a small version of it.  Does the priest have a bigger appetite? Is his sacramental meal more special? No! The priest uses a big host for all of us to see that our celebration is centered on “one” bread that will become through the Holy Spirit, the one Body of Christ. Later the one bread, now the Body of Christ, is broken into pieces and distributed to all. Some priests, though, eat everything!!!

The bread becomes the Lord to remind us that God will do everything to come near to us, to help us, to save us, to bring us close to him. In the gospel, Jesus was so desirous of feeding the hungry crowd that he performed a miracle. On the cross, he gave his own body to feed sinful humanity. At Mass, he continues his gesture of nourishing us with his own life!

What happens when we receive him in Communion? Because we receive one body, do you know that we also become one body? We become brothers and sisters; no longer strangers but one community. This is the second meaning of the body of Christ – it is a living people, living disciples, all of us today.

The bread is one. The body is one. Jesus is one. You and i are one in him. Now it becomes clear that the call of God is for us to be one. And isn’t this the very desire of every human heart? We all want to be one.

At the airport I watched some Filipino overseas workers desperately try to call their loved ones before they get on the plane. Many were crying as they spoke to their spouses, parents and children. Though going away far away, their hearts are one with those they are leaving behind.

In the family of God it is a sin to destroy oneness and community. But how many of us are guilty of the acts that destroy oneness? We resort to gossip, selfishness, defamation, betrayal, competition, envy and hatred of our neighbor. When we do these things we harm our own faith because we betray our calling to be one.

In the gospel, Jesus told his apostles to serve the hungry crowd, to give the people food. That is a mandate to go around and distribute the bread and fish, symbols of friendship and kindness. All must start serving the cause of unity instead of destroying unity.

Today let this be our prayer: that we may be united to Jesus always in the Eucharist; that we may be united to each other in love and service.