Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ Year C

Genesis 14:18-20

Ps. 110:1,2,3,4

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Luke 9:11b-17

I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes. (1 Cor 11:23-26)

Reading the words of St. Paul, we are reminded of the importance of memory. At every Eucharistic celebration, Holy Mass, we remember and repeat what Jesus himself did at the Last Supper.

However, this kind of remembrance is more than just looking back on the past. The biblical “remembering” is entering the same event in a mysterious way! Needless to say, this is my body, this is my blood, is part of the Hebrew phraseology that means person. In other words, it is me. Compare Matthew 16:17, where Jesus tells Simon it was not a human being, flesh and blood, but his heavenly Father who revealed it to him. Jesus is present in the Eucharist! We stand in His presence! Let us not forget this, but remember it every time we enter a Catholic church!

In the Eucharist, we experience His presence, for it is through the Eucharistic celebration that we become partakers of his divine life in a special way (2 Pt 1:4). As St. Justin the Martyr says, the Eucharist transforms our flesh and blood. 

Just as Jesus Christ our Savior was made flesh through the Word of God, and took on flesh and blood for our salvation, so too (we have been taught that) through the word of prayer that comes from him, the food over which the thanksgiving has been spoken becomes the Flesh and Blood of the incarnate Jesus, in order to nourish and transform our flesh and blood. (Justin the Martyr, Apology, I, 66: PG 6, 428-429)

We receive Jesus in the Eucharist so our bodies, souls, hearts, our whole being, may be transformed into his likeness. This is the second thing to remember whenever we participate in the Eucharist. 

He empowers us to live the same life of agape as he did. But before he sends us out to imitate his love, patience, long-suffering, forgiving … he wants us to experience his closeness, patience with me personally … Therefore, it is very important that we allow him to touch our hearts. We do so when we remain silent before him … when we do not run away after Communion as if I got my order from my preferred fast food. To experience his transforming presence, I need to stop, share my thoughts, desires, fears and dreams with him. Once I do so, I need to listen to him. He speaks through his Word, through the Liturgy of the Church, through my conscience, and through other people.

Let’s practice this. The best way is to come 15 minutes earlier to church and share our hearts with him. He is gracious and will give us the experience of his presence. Then we are empowered with joy and ease to imitate his lifestyle. 

Finally, when we celebrate and receive the Eucharist, we proclaim his life-creating death. Part of this proclamation – and we often forget it – is to make others share it. How? Celebrating the Eucharist, we bring them in through prayer. Notice what the intentions are within the celebration of the Eucharist and especially in the Eucharistic prayer. The Byzantine liturgy makes it specific in this way: Remembering, therefore, this saving command and all that has come to pass in our behalf, the cross, the tomb, the resurrection on the third day, the ascension into heaven, the sitting at the right hand, and the second coming in glory, we offer you your own from your own, for all (persons and needs) always and everywhere. As we come to celebrate, we are invited to bring others and their needs to the altar as well. 

2025 is a Jubilee Year and its central focus is pilgrims of hope. Pope Francis wrote an encyclical letter Dilexit nos – He loved us (cf. Rom 8:37). St. Paul says this of Christ in order to make us realize that nothing can ever separate us from that love (Rom 8:39). This is the foundation of our hope! God became one of us and never ever leaves us for he is Emmanuel (Mt 2:23 & Is 7:14). God is with us; he walks among us. 

In Jesus, God the Father fulfilled his promise in a special, unexpected way: I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt (Lev 26:11-13). Jesus reaffirms this promise when he says to his disciple, Behold, I am with you until the end of ages (Mt 28:20). The Eucharist is a visible sign of it!