Corpus Christi 2025

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Today we celebrate one of the most profound

and beautiful solemnities in the Church year, the Solemnity and Most Holy Body

and Blood of Christ, Corpus Christi.

On this day, the Church invites us to reflect deeply on a mystery so intimate,

so holy, that we sometimes forget its radical nature, that Jesus is truly present

in the Eucharist, body, blood, soul, and divinity.

This is not a symbol, it's not a ritual reminder, it is Jesus himself here to

nourish us, to unite us, to dwell within us.

Our first reading introduces us to a mysterious figure, Melchizedek,

king of Salem and priest of God Most High.

He brings out bread and wine and blesses Abram.

That's all we know, just a few lines, but these few lines are loaded with meaning.

Melchizedek is both king and priest, and he offers bread and wine long before

Moses, long before the temple, long before the Last Supper.

It's a prophetic foreshadowing.

Psalm 110 declares, you are a priest forever in the line of Melchizedek,

and that line is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, our eternal high priest.

He doesn't offer animals, he offers himself and just like Melchizedek he gives

bread and wine now transformed into his body and blood.

It's familiar but let's not gloss over it this is my body that is for you this

cup is the new covenant in my blood,

not a metaphor he doesn't say this represents my body he says this is my body

and then he says do this in remembrance of me.

Now, that word remembrance in Greek, anamnesis, means not just remembering,

and importantly for our Mass, it also means making present.

And every time we celebrate the Eucharist, we're not reenacting a past event.

We're actually entering into it. We're standing at the foot of the cross,

receiving the fruit of Jesus' sacrifice.

Every Mass is a proclamation of the Lord's death, participation in His sacrifice,

and a foretaste of the heavenly banquet.

In the gospel, Jesus faces a hungry crowd, 5,000 people. And it just, it says 5,000 men.

So with the men, with the women and children, it was a much more vast number.

And the disciples say, dismiss them. We don't have enough.

But Jesus replies, give them some food yourselves.

And they, all they have is five loaves and two fish, but they bring them to Jesus.

And what does he do? He takes the bread, he blesses it, and he gives it to his people.

And they all ate and were satisfied. Even more, there were 12 baskets of leftovers.

When I was raising five kids, I was trying to get my wife to do this. It never worked.

This miracle is more than generosity. It's a sign. It's a preparation and a promise.

A sign pointing to the Eucharist, where Jesus feeds not just 5,000,

but the entire church across time and space.

Now today, if you listen closely, which you had to because it was quite long,

you may have noticed something special, something we don't always hear at every Mass, the sequence.

And before the gospel, we heard a long poetic hymn, Lauda Sion Salvatorem,

Praise O Zion, Your Savior.

So what is the sequence?

It's an ancient hymn sung on major feasts three times a year,

Easter, Pentecost, and today, and his purpose to prayer our hearts for the gospel

with beauty, truth, and awe.

If you couldn't understand the words as they were being chanted,

wonderful job by the choir, go back today and read it and see. It's written by St.

Thomas Aquinas, who is a master of theology, a lover of the Eucharist.

It teaches us. Christ is truly present.

The Eucharist unites us. And this sacrament forgives and heals.

From the sequence, This is the truth each Christian learns. Bread into his flesh

he turns, to his precious blood the wine.

These words remind us the Eucharist is a mystery of faith, not to be dissected

but adored not to be merely understood but received with love,

again from the sequence good shepherd, true bread have mercy on us, feed us defend us,

grant us the vision of your glory in the land of the living.

So what's this mean for you and me?

Jesus is truly present when you come to the altar you receive Jesus himself

The Eucharist unites us One body, one church,

united in Christ And we're sent Mass means mission We don't just receive, but we go forth.

Be what you receive. Be Christ's love in the world.

And today we'll continue after the prayer after communion with a Eucharistic procession.

And this is where we take the Lord whom we've received and bring him out into

the world, a public witness that we believe.

Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist.

So as we walk behind the blessed sacrament, please join us. let it be a time

of adoration, gratitude, and mission.

Let us follow him and carry his love beyond these walls.

So today, come to this altar with awe, with hunger, and with hope.

And let us remember, this is not bread and wine. This is the body and blood

of Christ, the gift that feeds forever.

And let us go forth to be his body for a world that's starving for love. Amen.