This is My Body...This is My Blood

Dear parishioners,

We celebrate this weekend the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ. We confess our faith in the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist. This faith has its foundation in the words of Christ, who said, “Take and eat; this is my body" (Matthew 26:26). We believe that Christ, who is God, can truly transform bread into his body because nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1:37). If God could create the world out of nothing, we believe that he is certainly able to transform what already exists - bread and wine, into something they previously were not - the body and blood of Christ. The bread and wine, mere elements of the earth, and works of human labor, are transformed, by the power of the Holy Spirit, into the body and blood of Christ. This happens when the priest calls down the Holy Spirit (epiklesis) upon the gifts on the altar. We too who offer ourselves along with the bread and wine, are transformed into the Body of Christ. Each one of us who have been baptized is a member of that Body of Christ, the Church. Every time we receive the Eucharist we are united with Christ, and we are thus commissioned to go into the world to become bread broken for the life of the world. We bring Christ’s presence to everyone.

This solemnity affords us a fresh opportunity to adore the Lord present in the Eucharist. Christianity teaches that there is only One God, and this one God is the object of worship. To worship what is not God is to be guilty of idolatry. We worship the Eucharist because we believe that it is truly Christ, and Christ is God. The Eucharist is not mere bread and wine. Our faith in the Eucharist rests solidly on the credibility of the one who said, “This is my body… This is my blood.” This faith has been handed on from the early Church until now. We have the following testimony of St. Justin Martyr, who lived in the second century,

“For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Savior, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh.”

As the church in the United States begins the parish phase of the Eucharistic Revival, I urge everyone to continue to deepen their faith in our Eucharistic Lord by assisting at Mass, not just weekly but daily, if possible. Many Catholics do not yet know the benefits of going to Mass on other days other than Sunday. For many of our parishioners, the Holy Mass is still not part of their spirituality. It is my prayer that they will come to a deeper love for Christ and try to spend more time with him. I have found great spiritual consolation spending time in adoration before the Lord in the Eucharist. I have received great insights and resolutions of difficult situations just by sitting or kneeling before the Lord in the Eucharist whether enclosed in the tabernacle or exposed in Eucharistic adoration. Please try it; it works.

May Jesus bless you, and may Our Lady protect you!
Fr. Julius Okojie