Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ
Feast of the Apostle Barnabas, companion of Paul in Antioch and in the first apostolic journey.

First Reading

Deuteronomy 8,2-3.14-16

Remember the long road by which Yahweh your God led you for forty years in the desert, to humble you, to test you and know your inmost heart -- whether you would keep his commandments or not. He humbled you, he made you feel hunger, he fed you with manna which neither you nor your ancestors had ever known, to make you understand that human beings live not on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of Yahweh. do not become proud of heart. Do not then forget Yahweh your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the place of slave-labour, who guided you through this vast and dreadful desert, a land of fiery snakes, scorpions, thirst; who in this waterless place brought you water out of the flinty rock; who in this desert fed you with manna unknown to your ancestors, to humble you and test you and so make your future the happier.

Psalmody

Psalm 147

Antiphon

How beautiful it is to sing to the Lord.

O praise the Lord, Jerusalem!
Zion, praise your God!

He has strengthened the bars of your gates,
he has blessed the children within you.

He established pace on your borders,
he feeds you with finest wheat.

He sends out his word to the earth
and swiftly runs his command.

He showers down snow white as wool,
he scatters hoar-frost like ashes.

He hurls down hailstones like crumbs.
The waters are frozen at his touch;

he sends forth his word and it melts them:
at the breath of his mouth the waters flow.

He makes his word known to Jacob,
to Israel his laws and decrees.

He has not dealt thus with other nations;
he has not taught them his decrees.

Second Reading

1 Corinthians 10,16-17

The blessing-cup, which we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ; and the loaf of bread which we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? And as there is one loaf, so we, although there are many of us, are one single body, for we all share in the one loaf.

Reading of the Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Yesterday I was buried with Christ,
today I rise with you who are risen.
With you I was crucified;
remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

John 6,1-17

After this, Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee -- or of Tiberias- and a large crowd followed him, impressed by the signs he had done in curing the sick. Jesus climbed the hillside and sat down there with his disciples. The time of the Jewish Passover was near. Looking up, Jesus saw the crowds approaching and said to Philip, 'Where can we buy some bread for these people to eat?' He said this only to put Philip to the test; he himself knew exactly what he was going to do. Philip answered, 'Two hundred denarii would not buy enough to give them a little piece each.' One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said, 'Here is a small boy with five barley loaves and two fish; but what is that among so many?' Jesus said to them, 'Make the people sit down.' There was plenty of grass there, and as many as five thousand men sat down. Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were sitting there; he then did the same with the fish, distributing as much as they wanted. When they had eaten enough he said to the disciples, 'Pick up the pieces left over, so that nothing is wasted.' So they picked them up and filled twelve large baskets with scraps left over from the meal of five barley loaves. Seeing the sign that he had done, the people said, 'This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.' Jesus, as he realised they were about to come and take him by force and make him king, fled back to the hills alone. That evening the disciples went down to the shore of the sea and got into a boat to make for Capernaum on the other side of the sea. It was getting dark by now and Jesus had still not rejoined them.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Yesterday I was buried with Christ,
today I rise with you who are risen.
With you I was crucified;
remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Homily

With the narration of the Last Supper that Paul writes to the Corinthians, this Sunday's liturgy reproposes those strong and concrete words: "This is my body," "This is my blood." Truly this is the mystery of faith. It is the mystery of a continuous and very special presence. In the Eucharist, Jesus is not only present (which is already a great thing) but is present as a "broken" body and "poured out" blood. In this sense the feast of Corpus Domini [the Body of the Lord) is the feast of a body that can show its wounds; the feast of a body from whose side pour "blood and water" as the apostle John notes. It is what the apostle says: the Lord became nourishment for men and women, so that we all could be transformed in one Body, that of Christ's and could have his same feelings. There is then a further consideration to be made, which is linked to the Gospel of the multiplication of the loaves. Our streets are traversed every day by "Corpus Christi" processions, even if they do not decorate the route or throw flowers (there are rather those who spread indifference, when not insults!). These are the processions of the poor, those at home, those who come from outside and the many who are far away from us. All of them are the "body of Christ," and they continue to walk the streets of our cities and the world without anyone taking care of them. The admonition of John Chrysostom seems decisive to me: "If you want to honour the body of Christ, do not disdain him when he is naked. Do not honour the Eucharistic Christ with silk vestments, while outside the temple you neglect this other Christ who is afflicted with cold and nakedness." Both are the real body of Christ. And Christ is not divided unless we divide him.