Gen 14:18-20; Ps 109(110); 1 Cor 11:23-26; Lk 9:11-17
Food for the Soul
Dear friends, today we celebrate the Solemnity of Corpus Christ (the Body and Blood of Christ), the Sacrament of the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the center of Christian life. It is the food for our soul on its journey back to the Creator, which was established by Jesus himself, to keep us nourished until the heavenly banquet with him. This feast emphasizes Christ’s REAL PRESENCE in the Eucharist Sacrament (CCC 1374). To understand this feast, let us first explain what a Sacrament is. A sacrament is the visible sign of invisible grace. This means that what we perceive through our physical senses is a sign and symbol of that ultimate reality and grace that we can only perceive through faith. For example, it is not the water that is poured on our heads that washes away our sins, but the invisible grace of God symbolized in the water.
Jesus established seven sacraments to either impart or increase grace in our lives. Jesus himself is the Sacrament of God the Father in the world. “Jesus said to Phillip, ‘Whoever has seen me has seen the Father’” (Jn 14:9). Jesus came to manifest the true face of God the Father that the prophet was not able to.
The establishment of the Sacrament of the Eucharist was not a single event but rather a continuous process that Jesus undertook from the very beginning of his ministry. His first miracle in Cana of Galilee was feeding people by transforming water into wine (Jh 2:7-9). On many occasions, Jesus fed the people with physical bread but tried to explain to them about the everlasting bread that he was to give them (Mt 14:13-21; Mt 15:29-39; Jn 6). Finally, when his time came, Jesus called his disciples together, and as they were at the table, he gave them the Eucharist that would be his presence in their midst when he would no longer be physically with them (Matthew 26:26–28; Mark 14:22–24; Luke 22:17–20, 1 Cor 11:23-25), He then commanded them to do this in his memory. Thus, in the second reading today, St. Paul reiterates that every time we eat the bread and drink the cup, we proclaim his death.
The figure of Melchizedek in the book of Genesis 14:18-20 is traditionally understood in Christian theology as a prefiguration of the Sacrament of the Eucharist. This interpretation is rooted in biblical typology, where events or persons in the Old Testament foreshadow realities fulfilled in the New Testament. He offered bread and wine to God as a priest. Jesus would use the same bread and wine as visible signs of his body and blood that he gave to be sacrificed for the sins of humanity.
During the preparation of the gifts, the priest raises the bread and says, “Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation, for through your goodness we have received the bread we offer you: fruit of the earth and work of human hands, it will become for us the bread of life. …the wine we offer you: fruit of the vine and work of human hands…” I would like us to underline “work of human hands” because he takes from what we offer to him and gives us back transformed into something gracious.
When Jesus fed the five thousand with bread, he did not command the bread to drop from the sky. He asked his disciples to give what they had. God has given each one certain potential, and therefore, we cannot go to Him empty-handed and expect Him to feed us from nothing. This is the meaning of the offerings we give to God, from the work of our hands. Do you give offerings to God? There is a saying in Swahili that says, “Mkono mtupu haulambwi”: empty hands cannot be licked.
As Christians, we believe that Christ is truly present in the species of bread and wine that we offer after the consecration prayer by the priest, who does so not in his own capacity but with the priesthood of Christ whom he personifies by the virtue of his ordination. It is Christ Himself who transforms bread and wine into His own body and blood. This can only be understood through faith.
Just the way our bodies need physical food to get strength every day, our souls also need daily nourishment to remain strong. If we do not feed our souls, they become weak and unable to produce spiritual fruit. Just as it is easy to notice someone who is physically starved, we can also easily tell when someone’s soul has not been fed. Do you feed your soul?
Dear friends, as we celebrate the solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, I invite you to make efforts to keep our souls and spirits well-fed.
Have a blessed feast.
Fr. Lawrence Muthee, SVD
SVD JAMBO KENTAN 