We often allow ourselves to get stuck inside of the present moment without being able to see what may lie beyond. I believe this Gospel sums that fact up well through the feeding of the multitude that was present. We might conclude that Christ saw their physical need to be nourished and therefore put the apostles in motion to take care of their physical needs. This of course is true, but Christ was not only concerned about their physical health through His desire for them to be fed. Christ also had the desire to give their souls the spiritual nourishment necessary to live their life of faith. We on this Solemnity of Corpus Christi are reminded of the importance of the Body and Blood of Christ. The Holy Eucharist should not leave us stuck inside of the present moment, but instead make us realize that we are entering into something very profound within the life of faith. Not only do our bodies receive nourishment through the Eucharist, but our souls also receive the nourishment necessary to live the life of faith.
If we analyze anything that lives we know that it must receive the nourishment that is proper to it. A plant is living and thus must receive water and the sun in order to stay alive. Animals must also eat and drink or in time they will die due to a lack of nourishment. Humans are able to take things farther because we can decide for ourselves what we will eat or what we will not eat. No matter our development of tastes we to must eat and drink or in time we will perish from a lack of nourishment. Christ is taking this further inside of our Gospel because our soul needs to receive nourishment as well. We cannot walk through our life only caring about our physical needs, but also must be concerned with our spiritual well being. We must be concerned with giving nourishment to our souls in order that we may continue to journey along this path of faith. To allow ourselves to truly enter into the life of faith through proper preparation to receiving the Eucharist can assist us in giving life to our souls through spiritual nourishment.
On the Evening of the Last Supper Christ took bread in His sacred hands and looking up to Heaven said the blessing. He then distributed the Eucharist not saying take this bread and wine, but by saying this in my body and blood. This statement of faith sums up the foundation of our faith. Without the Eucharist holding us together here on earth as one body of faith we would be lost inside of the plethora of religious opinions which exist inside of the world. The Eucharist is the reminder that this is the Church that was instituted not by man, but by Christ Himself. Christ understood that His time upon this earth was quickly coming to an end. He knew that He would soon be crucified upon the cross to bring salvation into our lives. With His knowledge that these events were going to unfold He did not want leave us alone, but extended the Eucharist into our lives. Christ through this gesture was able to see not only our physical need for bodily nourishment, but was also able to give us spiritual nourishment.
The Second Vatican Council refers to the Eucharist as the source and summit of our faith. This means that the very life of the Church rotates around Christ's Body and Blood. The Church can never cease to distinguish itself with the Eucharist because to do so would cause ourselves to become disconnected from Christ. All of us here must reflect upon the status of the Holy Eucharist in our lives and within our families. Do we always allow the Eucharist to be the center of our lives or do we come here nonchalant and expecting to receive something because it is what everyone else does? The fact that we are not receiving mere bread and wine, but instead are receiving the very Body and Blood of Christ should call us all to a deeper devotion. This devotion should spread out from the Eucharist that we receive into the very way that we react within the world. To receive the Eucharist always calls us back to Christ in order that we may be continuously nourished spiritually.
We must ask ourselves how we can continue to grow in our devotion to the Eucharist each day. This parish is very blessed with perpetual adoration which is the perfect opportunity to find peace and quiet within this loud world in order to place ourselves in the midst of the quiet of Christ. Christ is truly present inside of the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, but through our many excuses to why we have no time to spend here we must question our faith inside of the Eucharist. To just enter the Blessed Sacrament chapel or this Church where Christ is present and to spend a few minutes in prayer is the perfect way to begin to foster this devotion to the Eucharist. To realize that our parish offers Perpetual Adoration and is always in need of more adorers and to answer that call with the sacrifice of our time could begin to unlock our hearts to grow in the splendor of God. Sunday at 3pm we will have the opportunity to partake in a Eucharistic Procession where we will make a public witness of our faith and the importance that the Eucharist plays in our lives. May this time be a time of renewal for all of us that we may continually nourish our souls spiritually.
If we can follow after the words of the Second Vatican Council and allow the Eucharist to become the source and the summit of our lives we will allow the Eucharist to be placed at life's center. We will allow ourselves to rotate around the Eucharist as this planet rotates around the sun. Without the sun this planet was be lost and so is our lives without the Eucharist. With the Eucharist placed at life's center we will find the never ending challenge towards conversion. May we allow ourselves to be spiritually fed this day by the Body and Blood of Christ and may we react to its reception by our devotion and daily conversion. May we no longer allow ourselves to be stuck inside of the present moment, but realize the Eucharist transcends time and place and gives hope to our lives through its worthy reception,
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