JESUS AND THE LIFE HE GIVES

READINGS: CORPUS CHRISTI

Our internet and social media age has made it possible for the self-help industry to blossom, with a barrage of advice and information concerning just about any problem. From the best trick for losing weight to being happier in life, there are hundreds of experts dosing out contradicting advice on any issue under the face of the sun. This industry has prospered because many people are in search of the life they want. Sometimes, we wonder if this is all there is to life and if this is as good as it gets. Many are depressed, and many feel hopeless, for despite our best efforts, we sometimes continue to live less than fully alive. Despite the presence of family and friends, we still find no place in this world in which we really belong.

In the gospel of John, Jesus “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you have no life in you” (John 6:51-58).  This is a very serious statement that haunts and challenges our faith to the core, just as it challenged the crowd that heard Him say it. Yet, St. Ignatius of Loyola called the Eucharist, “the medicine of immortality”. So, wherever human hunger and thirst meet the body and blood of Jesus Christ, life and life eternal is inevitably engaged.

My friends, receiving the most precious Body and Blood of Christ is a one-stop solution for the hunger and thirst of the human heart. As the “medicine of immortality”, one dose of it does not cut it.  We need a steady dose of it to remain connected to the source of eternal salvation, for, in receiving the Eucharist, Jesus comes to live in us, and we in him. We consume his life, his love, his mercy, his forgiveness, his way of being, his compassion, his presence, his power, his riches, his wisdom, his strength, his honor, his glory, his blessings, His salvation, and his relationship with the Father, and He, in turn, changes our lives. In other words, we are eating and drinking our way into life and eternal life. No wonder,  when Christ asked the apostles, “Do you also wish to go away?”, after the crowd left him because of their lack of faith, Peter responded, “Lord, where shall we go, for you have the word of eternal life, and we have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”

The question that Christ asked the apostles is one that lingers for us today: Do we also want to abandon receiving the precious Body and Blood of Christ because this mystery is just too hard for us to understand, too radical, too life-changing, too out there? Are we looking for evidence that Holy Communion is truly the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ? If that be the case, we, indeed, have a great challenge of faith because the mystery of God is designed to satisfy those who trust and believe God to be faithful to His promises. Like the apostles, we need to trust that God’ word is truth, as Scripture says, “Every promise of God is yes in God and amen unto us, in Christ Jesus.” So, living our lives, as Christians, while at the same time doubting God, is not a fruitful combination. Life, my friends, is wider than logic. The Eucharist is designed to restore us to the right relationship with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, and with one another. It is a powerful tool that transforms us into experiencing the abundance of life that only Christ can give.  As St. Augustine said, “My heart is restless until it rests in Thee”. Happy Corpus Christi!