SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST, YEAR A: HOMILY BY FR. JUSTIN ADIELE

THEME: THE EUCHARISTIC CHURCH; THE BODY OF CHRIST

INTRODUCTION:

It was St. Juliana of Cornillon, an Augustinian Nun who driven by her great love and reverence for the Holy Eucharist, desired that someday there would be a special Feast day dedicated to the Blessed Sacrament. One day, she had a vision of the Church in full moon with one dark spot. The Lord appeared to her and explained to her that the dark spot on the moon stands for what disturbs her; that missing special feast in honor of the Holy Eucharist. The Lord then charged her to work towards the establishment of that great feast in the life of the Church. St. Juliana made the Saviour’s wish known to the Church authorities, and within half a century, coupled with other factors as dwindling reverence for the Eucharist, in 1264, Pope Urban IV instituted the feast of “Corpus Christi” on the Sunday following the Trinity Sunday. He also authorized a procession to be held in parish churches in honor of the Blessed Sacrament. Any Church without the Eucharist has even a larger dark spot or vacuum seeking to be erased or filled as the case may be.

THE FIRST READING (DEUT. 8: 2–3. 14–16)

The first reading prefigured the Eucharist, but is not the Eucharist. In the forty years travel in the wilderness to the Promised Land, the Israelites where fed and sustained by God by a food (manna) which they did not know, nor did their fathers know. Even though at a point they grew tired of the manna and rebelled; yet that did not removed the fact that the daily manna saved them from dying. This is the aspect where the manna prefigured the Eucharist. The Eucharist may not be tasty or desired by many as choice food; it’s regularity in our daily spiritual life menu as recommended by the Church, is what sustains us in our spiritual journey. Many may have grown tired of the daily Eucharistic menu in the Church, but like the Israelites in the wilderness, we are left with no other choice but the Eucharist to survive our journey.

THE SECOND READING (1 COR. 10: 16–17)

In the second reading, St. Paul reaffirmed what Christ said in the gospel reading today, that the Eucharist is truly a participation in the body and body of Christ which unites and nourishes us in Christ and unto a common destination.

THE GOSPEL READING (JN. 6: 51–58)

In the gospel reading, Jesus unequivocally proclaimed his flesh and blood which he was to institute at the last supper in the form of the of the Eucharistic Bread and Wine as the food for eternal life. Like the manna of old, Jesus left us no other choice food except his body and blood, which unless we partake of it, we will have no life in us.

CONCLUSION

Since after the institution of the Eucharist, the gathering of the Apostles or the disciples was essentially characterized by the communal breaking and sharing of the Eucharistic Bread and Wine. In fact, the Eucharist became the epicenter of all their spiritual gathering and their identity. This is why the saying goes; “The Eucharist makes the Church and the Church makes the Eucharist.” It is around the Eucharist that the entire Christian life revolves. We are the Eucharistic Church. The Eucharist is the New Testament manna which many still do not know what it is and its real value in our spiritual journey. We are lucky to find ourselves in the Eucharistic Church; the Catholic Church; the Body of Christ. Christ himself sustains us through the Eucharist as he promised; and seals us with the Blessed assurance of eternal/heavenly life. Let us continue to revere, hunger and receive the Eucharist, and we shall never be cut off from Christ here and here after.

Happy Sunday!

Fr. Justin