SUNDAY HOMILY OF THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST- CORPUS CHRISTI — YEAR A
HOMILY THEME: CORPUS CHRISTI
BY: Fr. Cajetan Anyanwu
Deut. 8:2-3, 14-16/ 1 Cor. 10:16-17/ John 6:51-58
On this Sunday the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. It’s Latin translation is Corpus Christi. The Holy Eucharist is Jesus, present in the form of consecrated bread and wine. The presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is real. During the Holy Mass, the priest consecrates bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus. The Catholic Church teaches and believes that during consecration the bread mysteriously changes into the body of Christ and the wine also changes into the blood of Christ. The appearances look the same as the original bread and wine but the elements change in substance and are transformed into the real body and real blood of Christ, this is called, Transubstantiation. Here is one of the Catholic teachings that differ significantly from the Protestant idea of “Consubstantiation”- which means that the bread and wine still remain in their original elements and co-exist with each other. For them, the bread and wine do not change into the real body and real blood of Christ.
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In the Holy Eucharist heaven and earth come together, God and human beings interact while the Holy Angels ascend and descend from heaven to earth uniting all things in Christ. Paul used this Eucharistic interaction between heave and earth analogically when he said: “The blessing-cup that we bless is a communion with the blood of Christ, and the bread that we break is a communion with the body of Christ” (1 Cor. 10:16-17).
Jesus himself emphasized his real presence in the Eucharist when he said: “I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever, and that bread I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world” Jn. 6: 51-58). In another place he said, ” I tell you most solemnly, if you do not eat the flesh of the son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in you… He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood, lives in me and I live in him.” In many such passages of the Scripture, Jesus refers to himself as the “bread of life.” The real presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist is true and certain. May we all adore Christ in the Blessed Eucharist and we shall live and not die. Happy Sunday and God bless you all, amen.
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