June 23, 2019
Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ
1st Reading: Gen. 14:18-20
2nd Reading: 1 Cor 11:23-26 Gospel: Luke 9:11b-17
Jesus welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing. Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here.” He replied, “You give them something to eat.” They answered, “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all this crowd.” (About five thousand men were there.)
But he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” The disciples did so, and everyone sat down. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
The image of bread coming down from heaven triggered in the Jews sacred memories of the experience of their ancestors in the desert where God fed them with bread from heaven for forty years. When Jesus said, “I am the bread come down from heaven”, the Jews recognized in that statement an ambitious claim of connectivity with Yahweh who sent all that manna to their ancestors in the desert.
With this claim of connection to Yahweh came the arrogation of the power to turn his body and blood into food. This sounded preposterous to the Jews. “How can this man give us flesh to eat?” The Jews protested. But Jesus stood by his statement and even promised that he will raise up on the last day those who will eat his body and drink his blood.
If they only believed that Jesus came down from Yahweh, it would not have been difficult for them to believe that indeed he was the bread of life. Jesus already manifested his power over his body when he walked over the waters. He also showed power over bread when he multiplied bread in the desert. With his power over his body and power over bread, it was not impossible for him to exercise the same power to make his body the real bread of life. This they could not accept because in the first place they did not believe in him.
To accept the teaching of the Body and Blood requires faith in Jesus. We renew this faith each time we celebrate Mass. May the Masses we celebrate trigger in us sacred memories of a God nourishing our souls as he nourished the chosen people in the desert. –(Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M.
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