The Body and Blood of Christ Year A

Deuteronomy 8:2-3,14-16
1 Corinthians 10:16-17
John 6:51-58

Let the Body and Blood of Christ define and transform us.

My dear brothers and sister, this week’s Feast of Body and Blood of Christ invites to become more conscious of the Eucharist. Why is this important to our faith life? So, each time we come to mass, we partake in the Eucharist. Let us ask ourselves: When was the last time, I contemplate on the significance of what I am doing? When was the last time, I am conscious that I am consuming the Body and Blood of Jesus? These thoughts often do not cross our mind. And even if I do, how conscious am I on the transformational effects of the Eucharist on me? And if I don’t, then the Eucharist cannot transform me for the better.

The truth is, we are often too pre-occupied with our commitments in life, our problems, and so on. Without exception, all of us have challenges in life – whether it is financial, health, relationship matters or some other challenges. And it is not only us, but as we look around, many people around us have their own challenges as well. Hence, it is not just us having challenges. In many of such cases, we are often in positions to help others – by offering our time, our money or even just a comforting hug or a smile.

In the First Reading, we recall the challenges faced by the Israelites in the wilderness. The Reading explains how God used the challenges and sufferings to help the people grow in faith. “He humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” (verse 3) Like the people then, we sometimes look at our challenges and lament that God has given us more than we can bear. If we are thinking like that, let St Paul reminds us by his words to the Corinthians, in the preceding text to this week’s Second Reading, “God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.” (1 Cor 10:13) A case in point is the Israelites in the First Reading. We read in the First Reading, “He made water flow for you from flint rock, and fed you in the wilderness with manna that your ancestors did not know”. (verse 15-16)

But the notion of God feeding the people with bread and drink goes beyond God solving their problems by quenching their physical hunger and thirst. There is a deeper symbolic meaning to our faith life. In truth, our life on earth bears great resemblance to the Israelites in the wilderness. Like them, we are journeying through the desert, often enduring hardships, often not know what awaits us and or when the journey will come to an end. God’s feeding of the people in the wilderness came as a great relief to the people. Like the Israelites, God is also doing the same for us. Before Jesus embarked upon the journey of His Passion, Jesus too gave us bread and drink. In the Gospel this week, Jesus proclaimed, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (verse 51) St Paul affirmed in the Second Reading, “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ?” (verse 16) But the Body and Blood of Christ are much more than just physical food and drink. There are many level of contemplation we can undertake on the Eucharist. This week, let us explore two of these.

Firstly, when Jesus gave His Body and Blood to us, it is an invitation. Having partake in the Eucharist, we become a part of Jesus and Jesus a part of us. As we read in this Gospel this week, “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.” (verse 56) In other words, we and the Eucharist becomes one. “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.” (verse 17)

Secondly, having become the body of Christ, we are called to do for others what Jesus does for us. “For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.” (Jn 13:15) So we reflect: Do I do what Jesus did? Do I will the good of others to the point that I give a part of myself to them? We have seen one such self-giving example in the Gospel when a widow gave all she had to the temple. Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.” (Mk 12:43-44). In our life too, we sometimes witness such self-giving sacrifice, for example, when a mother gives up her career to raise her child; or a philanthropist like Chuck Feeney giving up all his fortune to charities. We are called to do the same. This is what it means to be one with Jesus in the Eucharist.

So my brothers and sisters, let us reflect: Have I allowed the Eucharist to form me into a part of Christ? Do the above examples inspire me to do the same? My dear friends, this is our Eucharistic journey. When we can answer “Yes” to all the preceding question, then our undertaking of self-giving sacrifices to others will come naturally – including to strangers. Let this our contemplation on this Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. Amen.