HOMILY FOR CORPUS CHRISTI, YEAR C:
WE ARE WHAT WE EAT
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the beautiful solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, in short, Corpus Christi. It is a joyous day of thanksgiving and adoration to the Real Presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist, who is brought out from the tabernacles to bless us, our streets, our cities, in rich and magnificent monstrances and to receive our worship and adoration.
Perhaps we have heard the saying: “We are what we eat“. It usually means that if we eat good, healthy food, we’ll be healthy and strong. If we eat junk food, well, we’ll feel like junk and our health would be compromised.
Today, on this beautiful feast of Corpus Christi, the Church reminds us of this simple truth in a much more profound way. We are what we eat. And as Catholics, we are called to be a people of the Eucharist.
Our Gospel today (Lk 9: 11-17) tells the familiar story of Jesus feeding a huge crowd of five thousand people with just five loaves of bread and two fish. Imagine the scene: the disciples are worried, the people are hungry, and the resources are ridiculously small. But what does Jesus do? He takes what little they have, blesses it, breaks it, and gives it to the disciples to distribute. And what happens? Everyone eats and is satisfied. There are even twelve baskets of leftovers!
- This miracle is more than just a history lesson about a massive picnic. It’s a powerful sign of what Jesus’ love does for us in every Mass.
- Wanting to be with us always, Jesus invented a way to be in union with his beloved. During the moment of consecration, that simple, unleavened bread, when the priest speaks the words of Christ, becomes the true Body of Christ (this miracle is called transubstantiation, that is, the change of substance from bread to the Body of Christ, and from wine to the Blood of Christ). It may still look like bread, feel like bread, and taste like bread, but it is no longer bread but really and truly Jesus Himself, in his Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity.
- As St. John Chrysostom tells us, “It is not man that causes the things offered to become the Body and Blood of Christ, but Christ Himself who was crucified for us.(Homily 1 on the Betrayal of Judas).”
In our second reading (1Cor 11), he reminds us of the very words of Jesus at the Last Supper: “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
- This wasn’t a suggestion; it was a command. A command to remember His incredible love for us, a love so great that He desired to remain with us in this most humble and intimate way.
So, what does this mean for us today? It means that when we come forward to receive Holy Communion, we are not just receiving a symbol or a reminder of Jesus. We are receiving Jesus Himself – His body, blood, soul, and divinity. We are taking the living God into our very beings.
- And if we are what we eat, then when we receive the Body of Christ, we are called to become the Body of Christ in the world. We are to take the love, the mercy, and the compassion of Jesus that we receive in the Eucharist and share it with a world that is hungry for Him.
There’s a true story, one that the man himself wrote about in his moving book, The Bells of Nagasaki, which illustrates the above idea. His name was Dr. Takashi Nagai.
- He was a Japanese radiologist and a convert to Catholicism who lived in Nagasaki. His wife, Midori, was a devout Catholic whose faith deeply inspired him. In 1945, when the atomic bomb was dropped on their city, Midori was killed instantly. Their home was destroyed. Dr. Nagai himself was gravely ill with leukemia and was further injured by the blast.
- In the midst of that unimaginable desolation, what did Dr. Nagai do? He dedicated his life to serving the other survivors. From a simple hut he built from the rubble, which he called ‘the hermitage of loving others’, he wrote books, inspired hope, and cared for the sick until his death in 1951.
- When asked how he could do it, his answer was rooted here, in what we celebrate today. His strength came from the Eucharist. He knew that the same Christ who suffered was present in the tabernacle and present in the suffering people around him. He received the Body of Christ and he became the Body of Christ for his devastated community.
Just as the disciples were commanded to distribute the bread to the hungry crowd, we, like Dr. Nagai, are commanded to go out from this Mass and “feed” those around us.
- Not just with physical food, though that is important, but with a kind word, a listening ear, a helping hand. We are to be the hands and feet of Christ in our homes, our workplaces, and our communities.
Dear brethren in Christ, the Eucharist is not a prize for the perfect, but food for the journey. It is the spiritual nourishment that gives us the strength to live as followers of Christ. St. Teresa of Calcutta once said, in a message to her priests that can be found in the collection of her writings, In the Heart of the World, “In the Eucharist, we have ‘the calming of our soul.’ The Holy Hour of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament is a great practice, because there you get the strength, the courage, the love that you need to serve the poorest of the poor.”
Pope Francis said: When “we go to the altar in procession to receive Communion –, in reality it’s Christ who comes to meet us to assimilate us to Himself. It’s an encounter with Jesus! To be nourished by the Eucharist means to let ourselves be changed into what we receive. Saint Augustine helps us to understand it, when he talks about the light he received in hearing Christ say: “I am the food of grownups. Grow and you will eat Me. And it won’t be you that transforms me into yourself, as the food of your flesh, but you will be transformed into Me” (Confessions VII, 10, 16: PL 32, 742).
Every time we go to Communion, we are more like Jesus, we are transformed more into Jesus. As the bread and the wine are transformed into the Body and Blood of the Lord, so all those that receive them with faith are transformed into a living Eucharist. To the priest who, distributing the Eucharist, says to you: “The Body of Christ,” you answer: “Amen,” namely, you recognize the grace and commitment entailed in becoming Body of Christ, because, when you receive the Eucharist you become Body of Christ. This is beautiful; it’s very beautiful. While uniting us to Christ, tearing us away from our egoisms, Communion opens us and unites us to all those that are one with Him. Behold the prodigy of Communion: we become what we receive!” (Pope Francis, General Audience, 21st of March 2018)
So today, as we adore our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, let us ask ourselves: When I receive the Body of Christ, am I allowing Him to transform me? Am I drawing strength from Him to become more like Him? Do I try to embody in my life the logic of the Eucharist which is that of loving self-giving, service and sacrifice for others?
Let our “Amen” when we receive Communion be a resounding “yes” to God. A “yes” to believing in His real presence. And a “yes” to our mission to take His love into a hungry and waiting world. Because in the end, we truly are what we eat. And we are called to be Christ for others.
A Blessed Sunday and week ahead!
Fr. Rolly Arjonillo.
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Thanks and God bless you and your loved ones! Fr. Rolly Arjonillo.
