Body and Blood of Christ

THE BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST – C

(Gen 14:18-20; Ps 110; 1 Cor 11:23-26; Lk 9:11-17)

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Noted spiritual theologian Ron Rolheiser OMI recounts how a distraught young man accosted him in the sacristy after mass one Sunday. He had preached on the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan; how the Father had blessed Jesus on that occasion, and on the importance of parents blessing their children. 

The young man told Fr. Ron that he hated his homily and the whole celebration; that he was being sentenced the next day in court; that he had come to mass to somehow strengthen himself for that ordeal, and that he had never been blessed by anybody, nor seen as good by anyone, least of all his father – thus his lack of appreciation for the liturgy he had just experienced. 

Recently, a teacher shared with a visiting missionary how so many of the children at his school seemed to be yearning for a hug or some mark of affection from him. This made him wonder what was going on in their homes – why was there this tremendous need for that attention from a teacher?

Both these situations underline an acute social phenomenon in our modern society – a father hunger, and a hunger for love. Mother Theresa of Calcutta went so far as to say that the truly poor were not in India; they were in North America where a generation of youth are starved for genuine acceptance, affirmation, validation, affection – in short – love and blessings from their parents. 

That hunger can be articulated as the unmet needs that taint the lives of so many today – the need to be loved, to belong, and to be valued. One spiritual writer would express it as the need for love, belonging and connectedness. When these are missing, youth grow up with a devastating lack of security, which spins off into a multitude of painful emotions, negative attitudes, and ultimately, addiction as they succumb to the attraction of false gods of possession, prestige and power. 

The feast of the Body and Blood of Christ today addresses this issue. We are invited to believe in Jesus as the most complete answer to that hunger, as well as mandated to respond to that hunger as a church, the Body of Christ. 

The first reading provides the context for this message. Melchizedek, a mysterious personage, king and priest of God, blesses Abram with gifts of bread and wine to celebrate his victory over his enemies.

The psalm informs us that the Father (Lord) has sent Jesus (the risen Lord in the line of Melchizedek) to overcome all evil and reign over all creation. 

In the second reading to the Corinthians, St. Paul reminds us how Jesus instituted the Eucharist; how as both Lord and High Priest, the gifts of bread and wine he took, blessed, broke and shared were transformed into his Body and Blood for the forgiveness, healing and nourishment of the world. We are to do this in his memory, and when we do, we enter into vigil, into waiting for Jesus to come again in the fullness of his glory, when all his enemies have been “delivered into his hand” as we read in the first reading. 

The Liturgy of the Wor plunges us into the heart of the gospel, where much is at play. First, Jesus is speaking to the crowds about the Kingdom of God, and healing those who are ill. This is a microcosm of the Eucharist: Jesus teaching is the Liturgy of the Word, and Jesus healing is the Liturgy of the Eucharist. We also learn that this miracle of the loaves, and by extension, the miracle of the Eucharist, is central to the Kingdom of God. 

The people are hungry, symbolic of that existential hunger for love in our world today. There is great irony in the disciples’ attempt to send the people away. They do not realize that they are in the presence of the Bread of Life, and when Jesus is present, there is no need to go anywhere else. As Peter would later say, “To whom shall we go?” That is the right question, and the right answer within the question. 

Then Jesus gives them (and us as his Body the Church) a direct command and mandate – “You give them something to eat!” The meagre resources they bring forth (five loaves and two fish) suggest that when we place our faith in Jesus (as they did by their humble obedience in sitting the people), Jesus multiplies our limited resources and works marvels through them. 

Many is the pastoral worker or clergy person who has realized with awe that a change or healing that happened in a person to whom they were ministering was brought about not by their ministry, but by the Holy Spirit working through their humble efforts. 

The fact that there were twelve baskets of fragments left over has a double connotation. Not only is Jesus the one who can more than fulfill our deepest human needs, he is also the Messiah who has come to fulfill the deepest aspirations of the Jewish religion and nation, if they would only accept him. 

What we are left with, as a worshipping community of disciples of Jesus, is his mandate – “You give them something to eat.” We are mandated to be Jesus for the world, to be bread of life for the world, to pour out on this wounded and hungry world the love that Jesus has for it. Once again, Mother Theresa of Calcutta set the tone when she exclaimed – send me your unwanted and unloved youth; send me the children that you do not want to bring into the world, and I will love them and take care of them! 

The outpouring of caring, generosity and compassion of the nation towards the evacuees from the Fort McMurray wildfire is an example of what we are capable of as a nation. Can we spread that caring and compassion to those less respectable and less socially acceptable, such as the homeless in our cities?

The men’s and women’s wellness retreats held at the Star of the North Retreat Center in St. Albert, Alberta each spring for inner city residents who are struggling with poverty, mental issues, addictions and alienation is an example of that kind of love that Jesus is asking of us as his disciples. Funds are raised and teams come together to offer the best of their resources to give these wounded men and women a healing experience of being loved and cared for. 

The Eucharist is in its own way a re-enactment of the ministry of Jesus described at the outset of this gospel – teaching and healing. We are nourished by his Word, and healed by receiving his Body and Blood. 

May our celebration empower us to live out the Eucharistic mandate he has given us – to be the bread of life for the world.