Year C / Ordinary Time / Week 9 / Corpus Christi
Readings: Genesis 14.18-20 / Ps 110. 1, 2, 3, 4 (R/v 4b) / 1 Corinthians 11.23-26 / Luke 9.11b-17
When I was a boy, I accompanied my grandmother to a procession around our church. It seemed very long and very tiring; the heat and humidity didn’t help. I remember the bright yellow canopy swinging above the priest as he carried the Blessed Sacrament. Incense was rising upwards and chants filled the air. Most of all, I remember Mama bending low, pointing at the Blessed Sacrament and whispering, “Ssssh, Jesus is here; He’s with us.”
Mama and I had gathered for a feast day. We celebrate it today - the Solemnity of Corpus Christi or in English, the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.
Many churches no longer have such processions. Yet we celebrate the real presence of Jesus – His body and His blood – in the Eucharist every time we gather for Mass. St Paul declares this in the second reading: “every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are proclaiming His death.”
Today’s gospel reading enriches our understanding of Jesus’ real presence in the Eucharist even more.
It is the story of Jesus multiplying the five loaves and two fish. Recognising the crowds were hungry and wanting to feed them but not having enough provisions, Jesus took the little they had, blessed them and gave them to feed all. Everyone ate. Everyone was satisfied. And much more was left over.
Jesus’ action reminds us that God values small things and the ordinary people who offer them. They are never worthless. They are valuable. They are blessings that meet people’s needs, bring about goodness and make everyone happy. The world tells us otherwise. It claims the bigger, the more expensive, the most gratifying are the only sure way to satisfy and be happy.
Five loaves and two fish. For Jesus, these are small and simple yet enough to multiply and feed the crowds. Good enough to accomplish God’s promise to satisfy the people. Very good indeed because they reveal God’s love for us — not because we need to be fed but because God wants to feed us. Such is God’s generosity: it is always excessively good. With faith we see in Jesus’ action of taking, blessing, breaking, and giving the bread and fish to all something more. We see and know His own self-giving on the Cross once and now in every Eucharist now.
Through Jesus, with Jesus and in Jesus, God holds back nothing from us. Everything God has, God gives us for our wellbeing and joy, and especially for our salvation. Yes, behold Him, the Lamb of God, Him who takes away the sins of the world, Him who you and I receive in the palm of our hands at Communion.
If God gives Himself so completely to us, do we give all of ourselves to Him, freely, selflessly? Or, do we hold ourselves back?
When we do hold back, our conscience pricks. We know it. We’ll struggle with our selfishness. We’ll feel guilty for ignoring God and others. Simply put, we’ll know we are less than Christian. Today’s readings challenge us to give — give of ourselves more wholeheartedly, more totally to God, as God gave Himself to us in and through Jesus.
I believe we want to give ourselves to God because we’ve experienced God’s love, even His saving action in our lives. We are all trying to do this self-giving well. Another, better reason is this: we must give ourselves to God so He can do for us what God did through Jesus. That is, for God to use us to reveal himself to everyone, especially, as Pope Leo emphasises to “those who are in need of our charity, our presence, our readiness to dialogue and our love.”*
Isn’t God already doing this through the little love we give, the little knowledge we pass on, the little advice we contribute, the little possessions we share, even the little time we make for one another? Of course, we can and should do more but the little we give is in fact good enough for God. He uses it to labour for the good of many. This is how the miracle of the five loaves and two fish comes alive again in our lives, and through us for others. And this happens whenever we give God permission to use us for His good and the good of everyone.
Today’s celebration of Corpus Christi offers us this hope. That Jesus in the Eucharist transforms us to become one body, even more, a total self-giving to God and for all people. If our attitude coming to Mass is to fulfil our Sunday obligation, we won’t appreciate this. We will, if we understand that God draws us here to become what we receive in the Eucharist — the Body of Christ for others.
How is this possible? Because God takes the simplest of gifts we can offer — our very selves, however bruised and stained we are by sin or saintly and hope-filled we are by grace—and blesses us in order to give us to one another through Jesus, with Jesus and in Jesus. We’re given as the goodness of God for the world. Good enough to feed one another’s needs and raise our hopes.
This happens each time we come to Eucharist and dare to give a bit more of ourselves to God and for all who reach out to us. When we do, you and I will grow in Christ-like self-giving for others. And, this is how the Eucharist nourishes us to live the Christian life fully.
This is why our celebration of Corpus Christi cannot be just for one day a year. It must be a daily celebration of Jesus in the Eucharist. Each time we do, we’ll embrace the saving mystery of the Body and Blood of Christ. It saves by transforming us into God’s miracle of love for family, friends, colleagues and strangers, and even here, for each other as fellow Christians.
Through the Eucharist, then, we become God’s bread for others – blessed, broken and given to the world. And just as the crowd received the five loaves and two fish and ate to their satisfaction, may all who encounter the Christian love we have and share recognise God's goodness and feel Jesus' presence in their lives. Then they will be satisfied too. And in that moment, maybe, just maybe, they’ll repeat what my grandmother once said, “Ssssh, Jesus is here; He’s with us”
* Pope Leo XIV, Urbi et Orbi, 8 May 2025
Preached at the Church of the Sacred Heart
Photo: godongphoto | Shutterstock
Readings: Genesis 14.18-20 / Ps 110. 1, 2, 3, 4 (R/v 4b) / 1 Corinthians 11.23-26 / Luke 9.11b-17
When I was a boy, I accompanied my grandmother to a procession around our church. It seemed very long and very tiring; the heat and humidity didn’t help. I remember the bright yellow canopy swinging above the priest as he carried the Blessed Sacrament. Incense was rising upwards and chants filled the air. Most of all, I remember Mama bending low, pointing at the Blessed Sacrament and whispering, “Ssssh, Jesus is here; He’s with us.”
Mama and I had gathered for a feast day. We celebrate it today - the Solemnity of Corpus Christi or in English, the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.
Many churches no longer have such processions. Yet we celebrate the real presence of Jesus – His body and His blood – in the Eucharist every time we gather for Mass. St Paul declares this in the second reading: “every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are proclaiming His death.”
Today’s gospel reading enriches our understanding of Jesus’ real presence in the Eucharist even more.
It is the story of Jesus multiplying the five loaves and two fish. Recognising the crowds were hungry and wanting to feed them but not having enough provisions, Jesus took the little they had, blessed them and gave them to feed all. Everyone ate. Everyone was satisfied. And much more was left over.
Jesus’ action reminds us that God values small things and the ordinary people who offer them. They are never worthless. They are valuable. They are blessings that meet people’s needs, bring about goodness and make everyone happy. The world tells us otherwise. It claims the bigger, the more expensive, the most gratifying are the only sure way to satisfy and be happy.
Five loaves and two fish. For Jesus, these are small and simple yet enough to multiply and feed the crowds. Good enough to accomplish God’s promise to satisfy the people. Very good indeed because they reveal God’s love for us — not because we need to be fed but because God wants to feed us. Such is God’s generosity: it is always excessively good. With faith we see in Jesus’ action of taking, blessing, breaking, and giving the bread and fish to all something more. We see and know His own self-giving on the Cross once and now in every Eucharist now.
Through Jesus, with Jesus and in Jesus, God holds back nothing from us. Everything God has, God gives us for our wellbeing and joy, and especially for our salvation. Yes, behold Him, the Lamb of God, Him who takes away the sins of the world, Him who you and I receive in the palm of our hands at Communion.
If God gives Himself so completely to us, do we give all of ourselves to Him, freely, selflessly? Or, do we hold ourselves back?
When we do hold back, our conscience pricks. We know it. We’ll struggle with our selfishness. We’ll feel guilty for ignoring God and others. Simply put, we’ll know we are less than Christian. Today’s readings challenge us to give — give of ourselves more wholeheartedly, more totally to God, as God gave Himself to us in and through Jesus.
I believe we want to give ourselves to God because we’ve experienced God’s love, even His saving action in our lives. We are all trying to do this self-giving well. Another, better reason is this: we must give ourselves to God so He can do for us what God did through Jesus. That is, for God to use us to reveal himself to everyone, especially, as Pope Leo emphasises to “those who are in need of our charity, our presence, our readiness to dialogue and our love.”*
Isn’t God already doing this through the little love we give, the little knowledge we pass on, the little advice we contribute, the little possessions we share, even the little time we make for one another? Of course, we can and should do more but the little we give is in fact good enough for God. He uses it to labour for the good of many. This is how the miracle of the five loaves and two fish comes alive again in our lives, and through us for others. And this happens whenever we give God permission to use us for His good and the good of everyone.
Today’s celebration of Corpus Christi offers us this hope. That Jesus in the Eucharist transforms us to become one body, even more, a total self-giving to God and for all people. If our attitude coming to Mass is to fulfil our Sunday obligation, we won’t appreciate this. We will, if we understand that God draws us here to become what we receive in the Eucharist — the Body of Christ for others.
How is this possible? Because God takes the simplest of gifts we can offer — our very selves, however bruised and stained we are by sin or saintly and hope-filled we are by grace—and blesses us in order to give us to one another through Jesus, with Jesus and in Jesus. We’re given as the goodness of God for the world. Good enough to feed one another’s needs and raise our hopes.
This happens each time we come to Eucharist and dare to give a bit more of ourselves to God and for all who reach out to us. When we do, you and I will grow in Christ-like self-giving for others. And, this is how the Eucharist nourishes us to live the Christian life fully.
This is why our celebration of Corpus Christi cannot be just for one day a year. It must be a daily celebration of Jesus in the Eucharist. Each time we do, we’ll embrace the saving mystery of the Body and Blood of Christ. It saves by transforming us into God’s miracle of love for family, friends, colleagues and strangers, and even here, for each other as fellow Christians.
Through the Eucharist, then, we become God’s bread for others – blessed, broken and given to the world. And just as the crowd received the five loaves and two fish and ate to their satisfaction, may all who encounter the Christian love we have and share recognise God's goodness and feel Jesus' presence in their lives. Then they will be satisfied too. And in that moment, maybe, just maybe, they’ll repeat what my grandmother once said, “Ssssh, Jesus is here; He’s with us”
* Pope Leo XIV, Urbi et Orbi, 8 May 2025
Preached at the Church of the Sacred Heart
Photo: godongphoto | Shutterstock
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