Corpus Christi | Body & Blood of Christ | 11 June 2023 Homily

 

My dear friends today we celebrate the solemnity of The Body and Blood of Christ also known as Corpus Christi. This feast has its origin in the visions of Saint Juliana of Liège way back in the 11th century. Today’s feast of Corpus Christi is intended to make us value and appreciate the presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. 

Recently when I was interacting with a group of youth, I asked them what they felt about the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. Much to my surprise, though they believed in the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist it was a Symbolic Presence that they believed in and not the Real Presence. And this precisely is the teaching and belief of the Catholic Church – We believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.  

So how does one understand the bread and wine which are completely natural things being transformed into the body and blood of Christ? To do this we need to know about two important concepts used in philosophy – Substance and Accidents.

Just to simplify, I would like to use the example of a red chair. The accidents of the chair are external things – its colour, size etc. Accidents can be easily changed. I can paint the chair yellow anytime. The Substance or essence on the other hand refers to the properties that give an object its basic identity, it defines what it fundamentally is. A chair is in substance or essence different from a table. I can’t so easily make a table into a chair, can I?

In the Eucharist, the accidents of the host are its material i.e. wheat, the white colour, the round shape, similarly for the wine it is the liquid form, red colour, taste etc. As substances before consecration, they are only a simple wafer and ordinary red wine.

In the Church's theological understanding, in the act of consecration during the Eucharist, the "substance" of the bread and wine is changed by the power of the Holy Spirit into the "substance" of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. At the same time, the "accidents" or appearances of bread and wine remain the same. What appears to be bread and wine is now the Body and Blood of Christ, at the level of "substance" or deepest reality. This change at the level of substance from bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ is called "transubstantiation." According to the Catholic faith, we can speak of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist because this transubstantiation has occurred (cf. Catechism, no. 1376).

There are occasions when the accidents of the bread and wine have also changed. Look up Eucharistic miracles on the internet after you see this video. Let us now reflect on the readings of the day. In the 1st reading taken from the book of Deuteronomy, we hear a heartfelt invitation addressed to the people of Israel. They are asked to keep the commandments and to remember their history—a history in which God humbled Israel in the wilderness—and a history in which he fed the Israelites manna. God began feeding the Israelites manna when they complained of hunger to Moses. The emphasis is on the fact that while food and water are necessary for the sustenance of life, nothing is more necessary than the word of God. So while we may be involved in a lot of good charitable works our motivation will soon wither or get diverted unless we are fed and strengthened by the word of God. Our first duty is to be fed by and to feed others on the word of God. For the Israelites, the greatest temptation of prosperity was that they would become focused on material things and forget Yahweh, who made their prosperity possible. They would remember their own victories—and forget Yahweh’s role. We are not very different from the Israelites, are we? When things are going our way, we take all the credit and conveniently forget God, and the moment when things begin to go awry we are quick to blame God.

The second reading taken from St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians is set in the context of Paul’s counsel to avoid idolatry. The Greek word used for sharing is ‘koinonia’ which means fellowship or sharing. Paul used koinonia to speak of the fellowship that Christians enjoy with Christ. Paul emphasises that our participation in the Eucharist puts us into a deep fellowship with Christ and his Passion. It reminds us that Christ suffered death on the cross for our benefit—that he shed his blood for us. When we eat the bread and drink the wine, that act unites us. We become one body of believers, as Christ intends us to be.

In the gospel taken from John, John explains the significance of the feeding of the 5000, by including a discourse about the bread of life. Jesus contrasts the manna in the wilderness which their ancestors ate with himself, the true and living bread. Jesus was the true manna sent down from heaven.

I believe that at some point we must have thought why do we need to attend the Eucharist every Sunday? Isn’t it just a ritual? Suppose you do not eat any food for one day. Surely you would feel weak but you’ll be able to manage. But what happens when you do not eat for two, three, four days? Your health will begin to deteriorate rapidly. Our spiritual life is similar. We need spiritual nourishment regularly to be able to live a good life. The strength to do good comes from God not from our own selves. In the Eucharist, Christ becomes our food and our drink. New food for a new life is what we receive.

There is also another important aspect of the Eucharist. The Eucharist is not a bread that can be eaten alone. It is bread broken and shared with the community. Pope Francis highlights this point beautifully in Amoris Laetitia: “We must not forget that “the ‘mysticism’ of the sacrament has a social character”. When those who receive it turn a blind eye to the poor and suffering, or consent to various forms of division, contempt and inequality, the Eucharist is received unworthily.”

We are invited this Sunday to introspect our attitude towards the Eucharist. I pray that we may all grow in reverence towards the Eucharist and also fulfil its missionary dimension to love and serve the Lord by loving our serving one another. May God bless us all.