Homily
(2) Solemnity of Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ- Year A: Fr. Michael
Udoekpo
Readings:
Deut 8:2-3,14b-16a; Ps 147:12-15, 19-20; 1 Cor 10:16-17 and John 6:51-58
Christ, the life-giving Bread
On
this Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi), we celebrate
Christ the life-giving Bread. We contemplate Christ the source of life, whose
presence in our midst is real, and who accompanies us on our journeys.
This
same God accompanied the Israelite on their journeys. In moments of hunger he
provided manna for them in the wilderness. And when they were thirsty he
provided fresh drinking water for them, through the leadership of Moses.
The
first reading of today, though Moses’ mouth, summons everyone to remember God’s
provision, his goodness and his constant presence with us, on our journeys: “
Moses said to the people, remember how forty years now the Lord your God, has
directed all your journeying in the desert, so as to test you by affliction… he
afflicted you with hunger, and then fed you with manna, a food unknown to your
father…(Deut 8:2-3,14b-16a).
The
implication of this “hunger” “feeding”, “hunger” ‘feeding,” is that human beings does not live by material bread
and physical water alone, but by every words, and values that flows from Christ
Jesus.
The
Gospel reading of today, John 6:51-58, in a Eucharistic context points to bread
as the flesh of Christ, the wine as the blood of Christ the source of life.
Today’s gospel contrast Christ with the material manna the Israelite ate in the
desert. The wilderness’ manna did not stop the Israelites from dying in the
wilderness nor from further hunger. But whoever receives the sacrament of the new
covenant, and participate in the blood and the body of Christ is not only
blessed (1 Cor 10:16-17), but will live forever.
Two
things that we could learn from today’s solemnity, enveloped in the metaphors of
bread and wine, expressed in the readings include the facts that: (1) there are still all kinds of
hunger in the world- material and spiritual, in all parts of the world- Africa,
Asia, Europe, Americas etc. There still, many today, who cannot afford daily nor weekly bread. The world must work hard to bridge the gap between
the rich and the poor, the powerful and the weak, recently articulated in Pope
Francis’ Evangelii Gaudium; (2) human
beings do not live by materialism, secularism or on their human preconception of
divine revelation alone. Ordinarily bread are not enough.
But, rather, in Jesus who is the source life, through his gifts of
words and sacrament. We live by his gospel values of
prayer, unity, forgiveness, humility, charity, mercy, kindness, righteousness, compassion, being presence for
one another, listening to one another, and selfless love, need to be reread,
preach, and appreciated from the pages of the scriptures. Believers must also
endeavor to put into daily and constant practice Jesus’ values, words,
participation in the sacraments, and teachings as whole. This is the life-
giving bread needed to sustain us, and heal our broken world, today.
