CATHOLIC HOMILY: SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST (YEAR A)

CATHOLIC HOMILY: SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST (YEAR A)

HOMILY THEME: THE BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST: OUR LIFE, OUR STRENGTH, OUR ALL

BY: Rev. Fr. Jacob Aondover ATSU

HOMILY: READINGS: DEUTERONOMY 8:2-3.14b-16a, PSALM 147, 1 CORINTHIANS 10:16-17, JOHN 6:51-58

Dearly beloved brothers and sisters in Christ let me welcome you to this great celebration, the solemnity of ‘Corpus Christi’ which is celebrated sixty days after Easter.
OUR PRAYER TODAY: that all communicants appreciate what they consume – the Body of Christ and approach it as such.

✓•That we become more of Christ as we partake of his one Bread and Chalice.
✓•That non communicants, through dutiful efforts and commitment be admitted to communion.
✓•That there be an increase in the devotion to the Eucharist and an accompanying reverence of it. Amen.

Today we celebrate our belief in the body and blood of Jesus Christ as given to us under the forms of bread and wine. It emphasizes the joy of the institution of the Eucharist which the Catechism of the Catholic Church No. 1322 and Vatican II document – Lumen Gentium No. 11 says is the source and summit of the Christian life. The Christian life is essentially a spiritual life, so, we may rightly say; the Eucharist is the source and summit of Christian spirituality too.

Source and Summit as used in relation to the Eucharist means at least two things. Firstly, that Christian spirituality flows from the Eucharist as its source (base), the way light streams forth from the sun; and secondly, that the Christian spirituality is supremely realized in and ordered to the Eucharist as its (summit) highpiont – to that which all of our actions should ultimately be directed. Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, Christian spirituality, then, is a two-way street. It leads us from the Eucharist as our starting point out into the world of daily life and takes us back home to the Eucharist after our sojourn in the world.

Today therefore we celebrate our faith, our life, our way and our salvation. We see the being of Christ in the Eucharist, a being that came as a bridge bringing God to us and taking us to God. We see in the Eucharist, Christ, who saves and sustains our lives in this world and leads us back to himself enhancing our saving.

Just as the Israelites needed manna from God to be saved from death through starvation in the wilderness (a foreshadowing of the Eucharist), so too, Christ’s body saves the Christian on his journey through life to eternity. Just as neither the Israelites nor their fathers never fully understood all about the manna, so too do we now; we may not fully grasp the mystery of the Christ’s body and Blood, yet it’s the Zenith, apex or the highest echelon of our Christian life. Of this Eucharist, we must participate says St. Paul, and when we do so, we share in very being of Christ, his body and blood.

The Eucharist is heaven brought to earth, divinity drawn nearest to humanity; it is life blown into our dead bodies, light cast onto our darkened hearts. Moreover, the Eucharist, Christ’s flesh is our assurance of eternal life for the soul that is fed on it lives forever and Christ raises same soul triumphantly leading it into heaven.

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