From our Pastor’s Desk

Dear Family:

This day of the Solemnity of Most Body and Blood of Christ, also known as the Feast of Corpus Christi, the church is celebrating the real presence of Christ which comprises the Body and Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ in the elements of the Eucharist, bread, and wine. The real presence of Christ in the veil of bread and wine helps to guide and lead us to the eternal rest. This is same presence of God in the veil of manna in the old testament that nourished and led the chosen people into the land of rest, the promise land.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus gives the Bread of Life discourse to His disciples. It was not a symbolic teaching when He told His listeners that He is the bread of life and He offers His body to be eaten. Then, it was hard to accept. Jesus was accused of turning them into cannibals by asking them to do so.

Now, we are able to accept it, for we receive Jesus’ Body in the Eucharist. But we should not be misled. Jesus meant to give Himself for our salvation. It entails, not merely receiving Him physically, but accepting His friendship and Lordship. It was God’s ultimate expression of His love for us. This is the reason and meaning of today’s solemnity. Our profession of the reality and truth of Jesus’ Body and Blood in the Eucharist is our expression and recognition of God’s love.

This living bread is the same Word of God of John, chapter one. He is living and active (Heb.6:4). The word that is living is from heaven. He is the Son of the living God. Wherever He enters, there is life in its fullness. The same word of God at God’s command became Manna in the desert. From all indications, the word of God effects the bread and wine to become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. This Word of God is the second person of the Trinity who has two natures, human and divine. He is the highest form of God’s real presence on earth. Jesus’ intention is to instruct the people Who He is.

In Jesus’ pronouncement: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world,” He established His divinity and want us to share in it as he humbled Himself to share in our humanity. He offers us immortality with His flesh.

The Jews were unable to understand the teaching of Jesus Christ about Himself and divinity. The Jews disputed among themselves saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat and blood to drink. They misunderstood Jesus as a result of their mind set. They were listening to Him not to change their way of living. They were listening to find fault instead of listening to learn. The reign of Mosaic law which is not perfect was more important and preferable than the reign of Jesus Christ who had come to perfect all things. In the books of Leviticus 7:10-14 and Deuteronomy 12:16 the Jews were instructed not to eat meat with blood or to drink blood. They were preoccupied with earthly thoughts and did not recognize the spiritual significance of Jesus’ teaching. Many of us are still in the position of the Jews, doubting the real presence and divinity of Jesus Christ.

The first reading today recounts what God has done to us. From freeing our ancestors from the slavery in Egypt, to providing them with food, manna from heaven, water to quench their thirst, saving them from the serpents while journeying in the desert, to their arrival at the Promise Land. The Israelites were mistaken in thinking and feeling they were forsaken after leaving Egypt.

In the second reading today St. Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, asks the early Christians if the cup they blessed and the bread they broke were not participation in Jesus’ Body and Blood? Participation here means friendship with the Lord. When we are invited to sit at table with Him, to break bread and bless the cup of wine, we establish a close relationship with Him. And as He said in the washing of the feet, we are His friends and, for Jesus, a friend is willing to give His life for his friend. Indeed, at the proper time, Jesus died on the cross for us, His friends. Such is the kind of friendship Jesus had for us. Remember, too, that since creation, we were created in God’s image and likeness. That is another testimony to how much God loves us and who we are to Him.

And the friendship of Jesus does not end there. His love for us continues in the Eucharist. God is so consistent. He sent His Son to personally attend to our salvation. In Spirit, He continues to be with us. Thus, we believe that in the Eucharist, the bread and wine become His Body and Blood and are not mere symbols. God, in the Spirit, and in Jesus Christ, offers Himself to us to be eaten and drunk.

It is a sustained offering of love. The question is, do we respond to Him with love? If we do, we have to begin by receiving Him in faith at His table. It is for this reason that we are required to confess and be reconciled to God before we receive Him in communion. For how can we receive Him and relate with Him as a friend if we are in sin? True and authentic respect to the celebration and reception of the Eucharist needs a reconciled soul. Jesus promised life for those who will eat His flesh, transforming us into the Holy People of God. While on earth, He lives in us, making us His mobile tabernacle. May God grant us the grace to receive Him worthily so that his real presence will abide in us and manifest in all our endeavors.

We rejoice and are thankful for this feast and reality. We thank God for His everlasting and unconditional love. He did it in Jesus Christ. He sustained it in the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, the Eucharist. This is the Sacrament that keeps us as One Body, One Spirit, One Family!

Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Katharine Drexel, Saint Michael the Archangel, St. José Gregorio Hernández, Pope Saint Pius X, St. Teresa of Avila, and St. Charbel, pray for us.

Yours in Christ!
Fr. Omar