The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

Last week we celebrated the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity; a mystery that we cannot fully comprehend. But what God has revealed to us about the Trinity is the perfect, sacrificial love that exists between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This perfect love forms the perfect family; a family they wish us to be part of. This week we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. This solemnity is at the very heart of our faith. As Catholics, we believe that the Eucharist is the actual body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus. We believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. The bread we receive at our communion meal does not simply contain Jesus. It is Jesus. The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Catholic faith. Our faith begins in the Eucharist, flows from the Eucharist, and is brought to perfection through the Eucharist.

In today’s gospel we hear about the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and the fish. This miracle gives us a glimpse into how Jesus planned to offer his body and his blood for us to eat. At the last supper, Jesus showed the disciples how to take bread and wine, the sacrificial offering of Melchizedek the priest, and transform it into his body and blood. Jesus gave the disciples his authority to perform this miracle and this authority has been given to every Catholic priest throughout time. This allows us to stay connected with Jesus, both physically and spiritually, until the end of time. Being connected to Christ means that we get to share in the perfect, sacrificial love that exists in the Trinity. Sacrificial love knows no limits. Like the loaves and the fish, it is multiplied whenever it is shared.

We all are made in the image and likeness of the Trinity. We all are made in the image and likeness of sacrificial love. For love to exist there has to be a choice and when our first parents chose love of self over love of God sin entered the world and the image of God was veiled within us. We have been given this life to reclaim the image that we were created in. We have been given this life to learn to love the way God loves. We consume earthly food so the body can nourish and repair itself. We consume the Eucharist so that he can nourish and repair our souls. You have heard the old saying, “You are what you eat.” That is precisely what we hope happens when we consume the Eucharist.

Jesus started the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fish. The people kept the miracle alive by sharing with others that which they had received. If they had hoarded the miracle for themselves the miracle would have ceased. In the miracle of the Eucharist, Jesus uses simple bread and wine to multiply his physical presence so that he can be everywhere all at once and feed us with his body and blood. Like with the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fish, the miracle of the Eucharist is not meant to be something we hoard for ourselves, but for us to share with the world. We are to carry Christ, living within us, from this Mass to the nations.

The Eucharist is sacrificial love itself. Let the light of that love fill you completely and let the joy that love produces radiate through you to all who see you today.