The body and blood of Christ, our strength in times of trial

Feast of the Body and Blood of Jesus

- 1st Reading: Deuteronomy 8,1–3. 14–16
- Dan 3
- 2nd Reading: 1 Corinthians 10,16–17
- Ev.: John 6,51–58

HOMILY

In the journey of existence, we constantly encounter trials. Sometimes it is difficult to accept, being innocent, certain sufferings. Are Christians ready to believe that the long march of the children of Israel in the desert was so that they would be put to the test? The first reading proves to us this immeasurable love of God who did not abandon Israel despite its poverty. It was in this school of trial that Israel understood that man does not live by bread alone but by everything that comes from the mouth of the Lord (Dt 8:23; Mt 4:4). And what comes from the mouth of God if not his Word who is made flesh?

Jesus is the true manna that takes our humanity to transform it. He is among us as a perfect sacrifice at a time when the trials of life and especially sins continue to take away our hope. It is in the sacrament of the Eucharist that he allows himself to be poured out in each of his disciples. For the Church never ceases to remind us that the sacrament is the visible sign symbolizing and producing a spiritual reality. Thus, by receiving communion, we receive Christ truly alive in his body and blood. Our lack of faith sometimes questions us, as in the desert, "Will this man give us flesh to eat?" (Jn 6:52; Num 11:4). We waste so much energy trying to obtain the precarious from Christ. One thing is real, as in the parable of the mustard seed (Mk 4:31), Christ manifested by the form of bread and wine, divinizes the disciple in the deep secret of faith sometimes without any spectacular transformation at first sight.

Christ's disciples are invited at every Eucharist to spiritually perceive their entire earthly life. For Christ insists: "It is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh profits nothing; the words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life." Jn 6:63. It is then that we can be able to experience the presence of God in our communities. Saint Paul exhorts us in these words: We are many, but we become one body, because there is one bread and we all partake of the same bread.
Happy Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ!

Abbot Jean-Marie KONDE from Bangui.