Living Bread

By Lisa Greey –

Today is the feast of “Corpus Christi,” which means the body and blood of Christ.  It always follows the Feast of the Holy Trinity, which we celebrated last Sunday!  Corpus Christi was instituted as a solemnity, or holy day, in the 13th century and it commemorates when Christ instituted the sacrament of Holy Communion.  The tradition began that the Blessed Sacrament was processed in a monstrance, which holds the consecrated host, throughout the towns and villages as faithful Catholics sang hymns in reverence.  Some parishes have brought back this tradition and actually, this Sunday at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City they will have a procession with the Blessed Sacrament following the 5:30 mass.  These processions remind us that we are transformed by receiving the body and blood of Christ at mass, and then we proclaim that reality through the procession of the Blessed Sacrament in the streets.  If you are able, try to attend a mass this Sunday that includes a Corpus Christi procession so you can participate in this beautiful tradition of the Church!

In the first reading today, Moses speaks to the Israelites who have been wandering in the desert for forty years.  Can you image wandering the desert for that long?  He reminds them how God provided “mana … in order to show you that not by bread alone does one live, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of the Lord.”  The people were hungry and thirsty, with nothing in sight to satiate their needs, and God provided mana, a type of bread, and water from a rock.  This event was a foreshadowing.  A foreshadowing is something that indicates or prefigures another event.  God’s provision of bread and water in the Old Testament prefigures Christ’s institution of the Eucharist in the New Testament.  Can you think of a time when God provided for your needs?  Perhaps you weren’t hungry or thirsty, but were you struggling with loneliness and he sent a friend to comfort you?  Were you stressed about exams and you got a good grade?   Moses reminded the Israelites that God’s provision for their physical needs was meant to show them, and us, that he also provides for our spiritual needs.  How can we be more aware of God’s provision in our lives?  How can God’s provision for our physical needs deepen our spiritual life?

The gospel reading today from John 6 is known as the “Bread of Life discourse” because Jesus lays the foundation for our understanding and belief that the bread and wine offered by the priest at mass becomes the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.  Jesus tells the Jews, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and Drink his blood you do not have life within you.”  He speaks the same truth to us today.  We must reverently and often partake in the Eucharist which is the true source of our life.  We get caught up in so many other things, thinking they are the source of our life – sports, being popular, dating, grades.  Yet Christ tells us today that in order to “remain in him” we must receive him in the Eucharist.  In doing so we participate in the life of the Trinity, that never-ending, unfailing exchange of love that empowers us to go forth and live our lives for Christ.  In order to “live forever” with Christ, we must receive him, reverence him and adore him in the Blessed Sacrament.  Let today remind us, so we do not take the Eucharist for granted, that Holy Communion is a beautiful gift from God, a sign of his tremendous love for us.

“When you have received Him, stir up your heart to do Him homage; speak to Him about your spiritual life, gazing upon Him in your soul where He is present for your happiness; welcome Him as warmly as possible, and behave outwardly in such a way that your actions may give proof to all of His Presence.”

– St. Francis de Sales