Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

Today we celebrate the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ.  This feast causes us to reflect on the powerful gift of the Eucharist.  This gift of Christ’s Body and Blood is given to us to nurture our faith and transform our hearts and lives.  We are fed each week so that we can feed others.
 
The Gospel today is often referred to as “the feeding of the 5,000” and is a very familiar one.  The depth of Jesus’ love for all people is shown forth and made manifest in this Gospel.   Jesus teaches, he heals, and loves deeply the multitude!  Jesus embraces this huge assembly of people, He meets all their needs and literally feeds them.  Through his life, death, and resurrection he gives us everything we need!
 
As great as this demonstration of love that Jesus has, there is another important message in this Gospel, a message beyond Jesus’ abounding love and generosity.  We hear in the beginning of this Gospel
 
Jesus spoke to the crowds about the kingdom of God,
and he healed those who needed to be cured.
As the day was drawing to a close,
the Twelve approached him and said,
"Dismiss the crowd
so that they can go to the surrounding villages and farms
and find lodging and provisions;
for we are in a deserted place here.
He said to them, " Give them some food yourselves.""
 
They key verse is “Give them some food yourselves.” Jesus tells the apostles plainly and directly to feed his people!  They cannot ignore or dismiss them, rather they need to  feed them, to care for them! The attitude of the apostles in this Gospel,  is that they want to send the crowd away.    In one way we might say that the apostles are being practical, when they want to dismiss the crowd, they were concerned with the crowd’s well-being.  But in another way, they were taking the easy way out, they were being dismissive of the crowds.  They themselves were most likely tired, they wanted to spend time with Jesus alone.  And who could blame them?  They simply couldn’t imagine what else could be done.  They didn’t consider the power Jesus wanted them to see within themselves, the power that God had given them.
 
Jesus, knowing that He needed the apostles to lead God’s people after He was no longer with them physically,  knew that He needed to  push them, challenge them.  He wanted them to be able to envision a new reality – a reality were all are fed,  and what we have is shared. Jesus, in essence, was saying to them and to us today:  if you love me, you will feed my people!  Not only will you feed them, you will love them care for them. You will find the strength to trust God and trust yourselves to love and journey with them amidst their hardships and pain. This gospel completes this scene, the apostles with Jesus’ help feed the multitude from the little they had. And not only that, they have a great abundance left over after all were fed!  If we allow it, with our meager gifts, God can call us to feed His people and accomplish great things! Let the Eucharist embolden us, allow us to step out of our comfort zone, to use our gifts to teach, heal, and feed all of God’s people.
 
 
 
I know I am like the disciples, it is difficult to imagine how we are called to reach out to others when it seems so impossible, when we don’t have enough skills, money, or food to help. It is easy for us to act like the disciples’ initial reaction. To just say that everyone should take care of themselves; to dismiss the crowd, to ignore what doesn’t impact us directly.  Don’t we all have this same reaction to some extent?  It seems daunting, so we don’t attend to the needs of others. The danger is that we dismiss them because we can’t envision another reality. 
 
However, the Eucharist calls us to follow another path to create a new reality.  The way of Christ, the way of service, the way of sharing and giving the little that we have, the little that we are.  When we take the courage to share, what we have can become a treasure, if we trust in the power of God,  a God who is love,  a God that transcends poverty and will transform it with our sincere efforts.
 
 
Jesus challenged the disciples with the question: “Why do you not give them something to eat yourselves?” That question should haunt, all of us today.
 
Today there is enough food grown to feed everyone on this planet. “Why do you not give them something to eat yourselves?”
 
Today more than 60,000 people will die of hunger on this feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. Two-thirds of them will be children. “Why do you not give them something to eat yourselves?”
 
Today one in nine people worldwide are malnourished. “Why do you not give them something to eat yourselves?”
 
Today One-third of the world’s children are significantly underweight. Why do you not give them something to eat yourselves?”
 
Today over 50% of children in the city of Rochester are living in poverty.  Why do you not give them something to eat yourselves?”
 
Jesus is our living bread. He wants all his people, the people of God to be fed, to be cared for, to be loved. The Eucharist, is a wondrous gift from the same God that sent the manna in the desert. The Eucharist should strengthen the determination of all, both rich and poor to do what it takes to eliminate poverty and hunger.
 
 
We become what we receive!  We are given the most precious gift of all each and every week – the body and blood of our Lord.  Indeed there is no more powerful gift than that.  The question then, is how are we letting the Eucharist transform our lives?  We all have been given gifts, perhaps this week we could all spend some time in prayer, consider coming to adoration, listen to God’s voice in our lives. Take time out to see how God is calling you, like the disciples to help feed His people.  To build them up, to feed them in mind, body and spirit. How we are being transformed by the Eucharist?  What miracle, small or large, might God be calling you to do?