Corpus Christi Blog

Corpus Christi Feast Day

06-23-2019HomiliesFr. Chad King

Happy Feast day everyone. Today, we the celebrate Feast of Corpus Christi- the Body of Christ. The belief that the Bread and Wine is transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ and given to us to consume so that Jesus can dwell in us and us in Him- and that we, as His members, can become the Body of Christ. Indeed, for us as a parish, our names sake, the Eucharist, the Body of Christ is the source of our growth into the Corpus Christi we are meant to be.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church calls the Eucharist the “Source and Summit of the Christian life”. The Eucharist, which is Jesus, is the source and summit of the Christian life. The Eucharist is not a thing, not just a belief that we as Catholics have, no, the Eucharist is a Person, it is the Body and Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ- it is the life and love of Jesus given to us.

Notice also that the Church doesn’t says the Eucharist is the source of the Catholic life, but of the Christian life. The Catholic belief of the Real Presence the Eucharist is a revealed truth by Jesus in the Scriptures and handed on through the Apostles. This truth was believed by every Christian from the beginning of the Church to around year 1517 and the Protestant Reformation.

And today 502 years later, there are many Christians, including some Catholics, who believe that one Christian denomination is as good as the other, and it doesn’t matter which one goes to as long as they believe in Jesus Christ. But that can’t be true, because Jesus gave Himself in the Eucharist to His One Church, and all that Jesus said is either true or He and all His teachings are a lie.

Now, Jesus is certainly active in every Protestant denomination, but He is only fully, truly, and substantially Present in the one Catholic Church he started. Sadly, today only the Catholic Church still holds the Eucharist to be true that Jesus reveals throughout the Scriptures. And what’s worse yet, a study a few years ago testified that 40% of Sunday Catholics- those who regularly go to Mass on Sundays- 40% don’t believe in the Eucharist!

My brothers and sisters, this truth of the Holy Eucharist is the main reason I am a Catholic priest, it is the reason I am so blessed to be Pastor here of the parish of Corpus Christi. And if that statistic is right, if 40% of practicing Catholics wrongly believe they can still be Catholic but not believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, then let it not be so here in this parish. Because our very identity as Catholics, our identity as a parish, is wrapped up in the truth of the Holy Eucharist- the source and summit of our Christian life.

Now I fully admit, it is hard to believe in the Real Presence, it is easy to think it is just ordinary bread and wine, and that what we do in Communion is just a meaningful symbol of our faith. Indeed, it is hard to believe because it looks and tastes like bread and wine. But in an attempt to increase our faith in the Holy Eucharist, let me share how our Gospel today reveals that it being just ordinary bread has never- and I mean never been the belief, beginning with the original people of God- the Jews.

Our Gospel today of Luke’s version of miracle of the Jesus multiplying the bread and feeding of the 5000 gives us subtle clues that what these Jews believed Jesus was doing was very special, as it was both a foreshadowing and a recalling. This feeding of the 5000 was a foreshadowing of what Jesus would do a little bit later during the Last Supper- when as our Gospel and the Last Supper testifies- Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave the bread- those 4 verbs are the exact 4 verbs used at the Last Supper when Jesus declared the bread to be His Body and the wine to be His Blood. As it is the same 4 verbs used at every Mass- because what we do is exactly what Jesus started and commanded His Church to do.

But also, for the Jews witnessing this miracle, what Jesus was doing was a definite recalling of a previous miracle- a previous miracle that also was anything but ordinary bread. Luke gives us the details that Jesus, His Apostles, and the many followers were in a “deserted place”- in other words they were in the desert or wilderness area. Thus, the feeding with bread in the desert would have definitely made the Jews recall the miracle of the Manna that their ancestors witnessed.

But another intentional point Luke makes is that Jesus told the Apostles to help the followers sit in groups of 50- something the Book of Exodus also describes that Moses did to the Israelites. In other words, Luke is telling his readers to watch how Jesus becomes the new Moses and does similar miracles as Moses did. Therefore, it is clear Luke is having the Jews recall the miracle of the Manna so that they can see Jesus’ miracle of the feeding of the 5000 as a fulfillment of the Moses and the Manna. And so, it is important for us to recall and understand what the Jews believed about the Manna because it is a clear foreshadowing of and will help us believe in the Holy Eucharist.

The miracle of the Manna was when the Israelites complained to Moses when they got hungry on their journey through the desert. And God told Moses to tell the people that He would give them food- bread in the morning and flesh in the evening- every day for them to eat on their journey through the desert to the Promised Land. So first, notice that the miracle was a miracle of bread and flesh, and it was what God gave miraculously through Moses, just as the Eucharist is the bread that is transformed into the flesh of Jesus- a miracle given by God through the priest.

Also recall that the Israelites did not recognize the Manna, they had, just as we, have to ask, “what is it”. And notice how God answered calling it ‘Bread from Heaven’. It is not ordinary earthly bread, but it is Bread from Heaven, which Scripture also calls the Panim Angelicus- the Bread of the Angels. The book of Exodus describes the Manna as ‘white wafers that tasted like honey’. It tasted like honey because it literally is a foretaste of the Promised Land- which the Jews believed would be ‘a land flowing with milk and honey’.

And so, God gave the Jews the miracle of manna every day of their journey until the day they entered into the Promised Land, and then the manna ceased. So it is for us, Jesus gives us Himself in the Eucharist until we reach our Promised Land of Heaven where we will dwell in God and He in us for all eternity. Indeed, just as it was for the Israelites with the Manna, so the Eucharist is the source of our sustenance to our Promised Land.

Finally, recall also that the Manna was also stored for safe keeping- and Scripture says it was stored in a ‘golden urn’ that was kept in the ‘tabernacle of the Holy of Holies’. Gee does that sound familiar- a golden urn kept in the tabernacle. The manna is not ordinary bread, but it is Holy- because it was kept in the Tabernacle, likewise the Eucharist is not ordinary because it is kept in the Tabernacle. Also, what I also find fascinating is Exodus 16 says that the Manna was kept not just to be eaten of later, but so that “generations could look upon it”. Therefore, for us also, the Eucharist is given not only to be eaten, but also to be “looked upon for generations to come”, in other words, to be ‘adored’. Friends, the Catholic Church is not making this up, it is not a coincidence, because the Eucharist is the fulfillment of the Manna.

Friends, if we don’t know what Scripture says about the Manna of the Old Testament, we will have a harder time believing in Jesus and the Eucharist of the New Testament; but understanding the belief about the Manna helps us to believe in the Eucharist. And notice the belief in the Eucharist is not what the Church made up, but what Jesus has revealed throughout the Scriptures and given to His Catholic Church.

As I said, sadly the only Christian denomination which still believes Jesus’ teaching in Scripture is the Church Jesus founded. If it is hard for you to believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, if you are part of the 40%, then I ask you and our fallen away loved ones to think about one last point.

Every Christian believes in the Holy Trinity, which we celebrated last week, because the truth is clearly revealed in Scripture. Likewise, every Christian believes in the Resurrection, because it is clearly revealed in Scripture. Most Christians believe in the supernatural change through ordinary water in the Sacrament of baptism. Therefore, every Christian should also believe the truth that ordinary bread and wine is supernaturally changed into the Body and Blood of Christ- as Jesus said.

Likewise, Jesus says, “I will not leave you orphaned, but I will remain with you until the end of time” (Jn 14:18). Indeed, Jesus has not left us, because the Risen Jesus is mysteriously still Present- Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the Holy Eucharist. If you have a hard time understanding this truth, then I encourage you to read what the Scriptures reveal- perhaps start with John chapter 6- which un-coincidently begins with the miracle of feeding of the 5000. But also read the Catechism, and other resources on Church teaching to understand why the Church believes what she does.

But besides the intellectual formation, it is essential that all of us come to know the truth of Jesus’ Presence in the depth of our hearts through experiencing Him in Adoration. Jesus has so much love waiting for us when we come to Him heart to heart in Adoration. In a book I am currently praying through, Jesus calls the Blessed Sacrament- ‘the Sacrament of His love’. And says, “Adoration is the wordless confession of His Divinity”. I repeat, “Adoration is the wordless confession of His Divinity”.

So, I ask you, if you believe Jesus is the Divine Son of God, then I implore you to regularly confess that truth by regularly spending time in Adoration. After all, it is ‘the Source and Summit of our Christian life’.

BACK TO LIST