We are the Body of Christ
The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ
This Sunday we celebrate the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, that is, the Body and blood of Christ. As I meditate on this feast, I think of all the hunger in our world. However, I’m not referring just to the physical hunger but to the spiritual and emotional hunger the world is suffering.
In today’s gospel taken from John, Jesus makes a clear and strong statement: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; who ever eats this bread will live for ever and” he continues “whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.” When Jesus goes back to the Father, He fulfills two promises one of the Holy Spirit and the other one is that he will remain with us as he says in the last paragraph of the gospel of Matthew: “Know that I will be with you always.” So, how is Jesus always present in his Church?
Well according to the Catholic Catechism of the Catholic Church, Jesus is present in four different ways: He is present first and most importantly in the Eucharist which according to the same catechism “Is the source and summit” of our sacramental life. Jesus is also present in the Word we proclaim from the bible. He is also present in the person of the priest the “Alter Christus” or “the other Christ.”
Finally we Christ is present in all of us. Yes we are and form the body of Christ a community of faith, hope and unity, In fact, when we gather together for the Eucharist is not just “us” the ones who are present in the consecration but the whole universal church along with all the saints and angels our faithful departed everybody is united of that moment of the consecration. There is no time no space just that sublime moment of Jesus being incarnated once again to be among us to let us know of His eternal love for us and invited us to live out that love with our brothers and sisters who form the Body of Christ.
Fr. Abel Loera,
Pastor
Readings for the Week
Monday: 2Pt 1:2-7; Mk 12:1-12
Tuesday: 2 Pt 3:12-15a, 17-18 Mk 12:13-17
Wednesday: 2 Tm 1:1-3, 6-12 Mk 12:18-27
Thursday: 2 Tm 2:5:8-15, Mk 12:28-34
Friday: Hos 11:1, 3-4, 8c-9, Eph 3:8-12, 14-19, Jn 19:31-37
Saturday: 2 Tm 4:1-8, Lk 2:41-51
Sunday: Gn 3:9-15, 2 Cor 4:13—5:1, Mk 3:20-35
Saints & Special Observances
Sunday: The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ;
Monday: Ninth Week in Ordinary Time;
Tuesday: Saint Boniface, Bishop and Martyr
Wednesday: Saint Norbert, Bishop
Friday: The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
Saturday: The Immaculate Heart of the Virgin Mary