This Is My Body, This Is My Blood (Gen. 14:18-20/Ps.110/1Cor.11:23-26/Lk.9:11-17)


Today we celebrate the feast of the body and blood of Christ. It is a feast that reminds us of the love that Christ has for us which made Him give us the gift of His Body and Blood as food for us to eat and drink and in doing so often we will be proclaiming the Lord's death until He comes again.

The body of Jesus is real food and His blood is real drink for us and when we eat it and drink it worthily we shall be satisfied and it will give us the strength to persevere till the end.

In the gospel reading of today we witness one of the miracles of Jesus that was captured in all the four gospels: the feeding of the five thousand. The way Jesus took, blessed, broke and gave them the bread matches the Eucharistic pattern of the last supper. Jesus gave us His body to be broken and His blood to be shed and at the last supper with His disciples He told them to be doing it in His remembrance. This is the reason, when we celebrate the sacrifice of the mass it becomes a celebration unto the re-enactment of the Calvary event and the Eucharist is confected. Therefore, whenever we celebrate the mass we are fulfilling Jesus' command and also partaking in the new covenant of his body and blood.

Today's feast calls for sober reflection on how we treat the body and blood of Christ by way of reception, value and adoration. If we do not value the body and blood of Christ we will not be eager to receive Jesus in our hearts. If we receive the body and blood of Christ worthily we will have life, but if we receive Him unworthily, it is death and pain.

We must begin to prepare ourselves well before the reception of the Holy Communion by going to confession and being in the state of grace. The body and blood of Christ gives life, strength, protects and heals. It leads us unto salvation and in the end we will live forever in his presence in heaven. We must prepare well internally and externally in order to be able to receive the body and blood of Christ in a worthy and holy manner. When we stay away from receiving the body and blood of Christ because of sin, laziness and unpreparedness we are actually doing ourselves a lot of harm than good. If in the course of following Jesus we fall into sin, we should rise up immediately and return back to God through the sacrament of reconciliation, confess our sins and make amends so that when we approach the table of the Lord's supper we will be worthy to partake of the heavenly food of the body and blood of Christ.

Let Us Pray: Lord Jesus, thank you for the gift of your body and blood to us, help me to value this gift and make me less unworthy to partake of this spiritual food in order to have life. Amen.

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