The Bread of Communion: Corpus Christi
Sermon by Emmanuel Suntheni OSB – The Body and Blood Of Christ – Corpus Christi
Sermon And Christian Act In The Word
Theme: Living Eucharistic Life! The Bread of Communion! The Body and Blood of Christ!
Point of Reflection: Does the Eucharist transform my life and help me to relate well with my family, community and those I encounter daily? The feast of the Body and Blood of Christ focuses on God’s nurturing presence among his people. God nourishes his people on the journey towards eternity in numerous ways. However, this nourishment finds its fullest expression in the enduring presence of his Son in the midst of the community of the faithful. As Christians are we nourished?
First Reading: Deuteronomy 8:2–3, 14–16
Psalm: Psalm 147:12–15, 19–20
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 10:16–17
Gospel: John 6:51–58
Sermon (Reflection): In all three readings for today’s feast, the divine nourishment relates to community, communion and union.
In the first reading of today, the Israelites first experienced God’s guiding and sustaining presence on the journey from Egypt to the Promised Land. After exiting Egypt and crossing the Sea of Reeds, the people entered the desert where they faced thirst and starvation. But the Lord quickly manifested his concern by miraculously giving them bread from heaven, the “manna” (cf. Exodus 16). This nourishment was a visible sign of God’s presence, and ceased only when the Israelites entered the Promised Land and, “ate the crops of the land of Canaan” (Cf. Joshua 5:12).
The people’s passage through the inhospitable and empty land was possible only because they were nourished by the bread supplied by God. At the end of this difficult journey, just before crossing the river Jordan, Moses reminded the people about this undeniable fact, and exhorted them never to forget it, saying, “remember the long way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, … then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted”
However, manna was not simply a food to satisfy physical hunger. The whole experience of being nourished by God, was meant to teach the people to trust in God’s presence, and cling to God as the sole giver and protector of their very existence. This message was conveyed through a command that the Israelites could gather only as much manna as they needed for a single day. It could not be stored or kept for the future. In this way, the people had to learn to obey God’s word, and trust that he would provide for them day after day. In the words of Moses, they had to accept that “one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” As Christians, what are we living on?
In the second reading of today, St Paul turned his attention to Christian meals. He reminded the Corinthians that during their common meals they participate in the Lord ’s Supper, and this celebration made them a community. He taught them this truth in the poignant words, “because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.” The community-making aspect of the Christian meal is apparent here.
St Paul strongly emphasized that table fellowship is not just about eating food, but about “sharing in the blood of Christ” and “in the body of Christ”. Repeating it twice, Paul wanted the Corinthians to be keenly aware of the unique character of this meal, which joins them to Christ, and, through Christ, to God. Being nourished by Christ’s body cannot be confused with any other type of meal or banquet celebrated in whatever other context. Coming together, and reenacting Jesus last meal with the disciples constitutes a sacred Christian rite which unites believers with their Risen Lord. It is not a simple remembering of what happened in the past, but an act of bringing Jesus into the midst of the community, and making present what happened at that crucial moment in salvation history.
It makes believers sharers in Christ’s sacrifice, and partakers in the salvation which it accomplished. As such, the sacred meal, which today we call “the Eucharist”, stands, next to faith, at the very core of Christian existence.
The Gospel passage of today is also dominated by the imagery and language of a meal and eating. It begins with Jesus performing a sign, thus, feeding of a large crowd gathered at the shore of the Sea of Galilee with only five barley loaves and two fish. On the following day, the very same people, excited by such a feast, enthusiastically followed Jesus to Capernaum, perhaps hoping for yet another free meal. This was an opportunity for Jesus to instruct them on the deeper meaning of his mission in the world.
Jesus began by explaining what kind of food he provides. First, he pointed out that the people should “not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life” (Cf. John 6:27). His Jewish hearers then recalled the gift of manna with which God fed their ancestors in the desert. In response, Jesus explained clearly that he spoke not about manna, but about himself as “the living bread which has come down from heaven”. The gift of manna which the Israelites enjoyed prefigured Jesus, who becomes the new manna nourishing not the body, but the soul for eternal life.
The insistence by Jesus on the eating of the bread, which he identified as his “flesh”, created understandable doubts and confusion among the Jews, who exclaimed, “how can this man give us his flesh to eat?” Jesus moved to dispel the confusion, explaining that “eating his flesh and drinking his blood” is a symbolic way of saying that a person must become one with him. Adding the words, “those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.” This union is achieved by faith in Jesus, and the outcome of such faith is eternal life, as he expressed, stating, “Whoever eats me will live because of me”.
The first Christians, reflecting on these words, came to understand that the Eucharistic community meal, the “breaking of the bread”, unites them to Jesus, and, through him, to God.
This union would continue beyond death and into eternal life. Manna in the desert sustained mortal bodies of the Israelites. Union with Jesus sustains the immortal souls of believers in the journey towards eternity. The key to this journey is being continually joined with Jesus, and sustained by eating his body, and drinking his blood, in the course of the Eucharistic celebration of the community of the faithful.
Christian Act in Word of God “Living Eucharistic life”
This Sunday’s theme invites us to reflect on our faith in the meaning of the Eucharist for us today. The core message from the readings of today is about Christ’s self-gift to us. He gave us his Body and Blood so that we may have eternal life, which comes as a result of communion with himself and the Father. It is challenging to grasp with our minds what Jesus meant when saying, “my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.” But when he said, “do this in remembrance of me”, he clearly indicated that we should continue to reenact his actions and ponder the meaning of this great mystery.
In the Catholic community we respond to Jesus’ command in the context of the Eucharist, considering it the highest form of prayer. The word Eucharist means thanksgiving; we thank God for the sacrifice of His only begotten Son. During the prayer of consecration, which repeats the words of Jesus himself, ordinary bread and wine are transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ, thus, the Blessed Sacrament. Receiving Jesus in this manner we are filled with his presence. He nourishes our souls in a truly mystical manner, forming a deep union between himself and us. That union will eventually bring us to life beyond death.
Since the body and blood of Christ are irrevocably connected with Jesus’ passion, when receiving the Eucharist, we must be keenly aware that we are connecting ourselves to what happened on the cross. There, God’s love for humanity was manifested in the fullest manner as Jesus’ death meant life for those who will believe in him.
By consuming Jesus’ broken body and drinking his blood we are opening ourselves to God’s salvation!
However, we must also be keenly aware that this salvation came not because of some magical act, but through the sacrifice of someone’s life. Consuming this sacrifice we are, therefore, obliging ourselves to imitate and to live out that sacrifice in some manner. Therefore, the Eucharist is not only a thanksgiving to God, and a reminder of Jesus’ passion, but an act of choosing a way of life on our part.
As Christians, we need to live Eucharistic life. To live the Eucharist life on earth is to live like Jesus, and he certainly and willingly faced his death courageously and willingly.
Where do we find strength and power for such a life? Jesus was empowered by his Father. We, in turn, are empowered by Jesus. In the Eucharist which we receive, and in the Eucharistic gatherings which we attend in our community, we are empowered by God’s grace, and by our fellow Christians. Understood and approached in this manner, the Eucharist attains its true character as the heart of Christian life, as the strength for the journey, as the communion with Jesus and others; it becomes the true bread of communion.
Let us partake in the bread which is within our reach with clarity as to its meaning and purpose. May we all live a Eucharistic life.
Action: I will prepare myself well before receiving the Eucharist and spend a few minutes in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, we thank you for offering your Only Begotten Son, as a sacrificial Lamb, who takes away the sins of the world. We glorify your Name and give you Honour and Adoration, for the precious gift of the Real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Help us to become what we consume and radiate the graces we receive to all humanity. May we all live Eucharistic life daily. We ask you to keep us in communion with our Heavenly Father, we ask this in the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
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