St James Catholic Church

Today we come to both celebrate and receive the Body and Blood of Christ. In doing so, as we hear St. Paul say in our second reading, we proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes again. Yes, we proclaim Jesus’ death on the cross, difficult as it was to accept at the time, and still painful to consider, for it led to his triumph over sin and death. The Body and Blood of Christ, which we receive and celebrate today is our path to new life, to life in him.

Saint Paul’s description of the Eucharist in his letter to the Corinthians is remarkably similar to one we could write today. The words are nearly the same as what we hear in each eucharistic prayer, including the memorial acclamation. When it comes to the celebration of the Mass, we have at least one thing in common with Paul: none of us were present at the Last Supper and yet we all can describe it so very well. This is the power of ritual. When this letter was written about twenty years or so after the death and resurrection of Jesus, the ritual of the Eucharist was well established. Nearly two thousand years later, we still celebrate the Eucharist in a similar way and he is still present in his Body and Blood every single time.

In the Gospel, it was reasonable for the disciples to think that it      would be impossible to provide food for the entire crowd of over five thousand. All they have are five loaves and two fish. Not even one percent of that crowd would be satisfied with such little food. But on this day the crowd learns the abundance of Gods generosity. We may be overwhelmed by the few resources we have to address such huge needs: hunger, malnutrition, disease, poverty, homelessness in poorer countries especially, but also right here in our nation and even in our communities. May this Gospel remind us that when we become the body of Christ we can see miracles happen.

Love, Peace, Joy,

Fr. Bob