Christified by the Eucharist 

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

Sunday, June 6, 2021

Today, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. We celebrate “the source and summit of Christian life.” Today’s Gospel (Mark 14:12-16, 22-26) is about the institution of the Eucharist by Jesus himself. Mark says that while Jesus and his disciples were eating, Jesus takes bread, says the blessing, breaks it, gives it to his them and says, “Take it; this is my body.” After that, he takes a cup filled with wine, gives thanks, and gives it to his disciples to drink. When they have all drank, Jesus says to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many.” The Church’s age-long insistence in the Real Presence of Christ Jesus in Eucharist is hinged on this Gospel. Catholics who do not believe in the Real Presence are rejecting the words of the Lord; they are rejecting the most fundamental truth of our faith, and they are not paying enough attention to the “source and summit of the Christian life.” If the Eucharist is merely a symbol, why do we give such reverence, such adoration, such worship, and such honor to it? If the Eucharist is merely a symbol and a sign, that’s not enough for me. At Mass, I want to receive the Lord, not a symbol. 

Now, if you are wondering why we are particularly celebrating the Eucharist today since each time we gather at Mass, we celebrate it, it is because today’s solemnity offers us a unique opportunity to give God collective thanks for Jesus’ abiding presence with us in the Eucharist. It also offers us an opportunity to understand the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ and to reexamine our attitudes towards this sacrament of life. 

But why did Jesus give us this Sacrament in the first place? First, Jesus promises to be with us until the end of time (Matt. 28:20). In the Eucharist, he gives us a visible sign and an effective means of being present to us. Jesus makes himself present to us and provides us the opportunity of making ourselves present to him. Secondly, Jesus says that he has come so that we may have life and have it more abundantly (Jn. 10:10). In the Eucharist, Jesus provides a tangible means of communicating this life to us so that we can be fully alive at every level— spiritual, physical and emotional. Thirdly, life is a journey and we need not only the material food but also the spiritual food as well to make it. We need nourishment. We need sustenance. We need refreshment. We need a refill. No other food can offer and guarantee us all these but the Body of Christ. Moreover, Jesus knows the brunt of this journey of life. He lived it himself. So, he journeys with us. He goes before us and offers himself to us as our nourishment and support. Through the priests of the Church, the Lord continues to say, “Give them something to eat” (Luke 9:17). The food we earnestly need to continue to travel on this journey is the Eucharist, the Body of Jesus Christ, broken and offered to us. In the Eucharist, Jesus feeds us; he gives us the finest food for the journey. Because life is a journey, we need the spiritual food to walk it and make it. 

Is the Eucharist a symbol? No! Is it a sign? No! It is Jesus of Nazareth. The same Jesus who was born by Mary, who went about doing good, who was strongly opposed by the Pharisees and chief priests, who healed the sick, raised the dead, preached powerfully God’s love and plan for the human race, the same Jesus who was crucified, who died and is now risen is supremely present in the Eucharist. He is personally and actively present in what we receive at Mass. During consecration, the substance of the bread and wine changes and become the Body and Blood of the Lord. Believe this message not merely because I am saying it but because Jesus says so. The Eucharist is the means by which we are Christified. In both body and soul, in both mind and heart, we are Christified by the Eucharist. Our lowly body is Christified and is prepared for heaven by our contact with the Reality of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist. If Jesus spoke symbolically, he would have said so. The Eucharist is the heavenly food that enables us to participate in the love between the Father and the Son. In the Eucharist, the sacrifice of Christ Jesus is made fully present, and his sacrifice is the fullest expression of love of the Father and the Son for the human race. In the Eucharist, the believer encounters the Jesus of Nazareth who suffered, was crucified, died and risen. In his homily on the Solemnity of Corpus Christi in 2001, Pope John Paul II asserts that, “Christ who died and rose for us is really present in the Holy Eucharist. In the consecrated Bread and Wine, the same Jesus of the Gospel remains with us whom the disciples met and followed, whom they saw crucified and risen, whose wounds Thomas touched, exclaiming prostrate in adoration: “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28)”

Sister and brothers, are you still looking for Jesus? Are you like some of the Greeks who came to Philip and asked, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus?” (John 12:20-21), I invite you to the breaking of the Bread (Mass). Remember, it was only when Jesus broke the bread before his two disciples who traveled to Emmaus that they were able to recognize that the stranger who joined them during their journey was no other person but the Risen Lord himself. According to  St.Pope John Paul II, “In the breaking of the bread, the eyes of those who seek him with a sincere heart are opened. In the Eucharist, the intuition of the heart recognizes Jesus and his unmistakable love lived “to the end.” (Jn. 13:1)”