Gospel Reflection for the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ

29 May – One Bread, One Body

In the gospels there are plenty of times when Jesus is with people eating and drinking and today’s gospel is no exception. As always, Jesus is concerned with people and their real needs. They are hungry, so he feeds them. He is gracious in his abundant giving. But he feeds them not only with food; he also feeds them at a much deeper level. He teaches them, he welcomes them and he heals them. He treats us the same way; when we gather to celebrate the Eucharist, Jesus welcomes us, he speaks to us and through his Body and Blood, we are nourished and we are healed.

The Eucharist is God’s greatest gifts to us. But it is not our right and we cannot demand it. Pope Francis reminds us of this when he says, ‘the Eucharist is not a prize for the perfect, but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak.’ That’s all of us and each of us!

Today, we are not only celebrating receiving the Body and Blood of Christ, we are called to remember that we are the Body of Christ, the Church. As St. Paul reminds us, ‘Now Christ’s body is yourselves, and each of you with a part to play in the whole.’ (1 Cor. 12.27). Today reminds and challenges to realise that we are the living Church, the Body of Christ, whose head is Jesus himself. Through our communion with Jesus and each other we are called to be living stones making a spiritual house.

St. Augustine, the great church writer said, ‘become what you receive.’ If we celebrate the Eucharist with each other and receive the Body and Blood of Christ, then we are called to be the Body of Christ, the Church today. And we are asked to be a missionary church. At the end every celebration of the Eucharist we are sent out with this great prayer of mission, let us go now to love and serve the Lord. If we share in the gift of Jesus’ Body and Blood, then we are also asked to share this with others when leave church. Today on this wonderful feast, may each of us be fed, nourished and healed through the Body and Blood of Christ.

• Michael Moore OMI