From Pentecost to Corpus Christi: A Journey of Love
We end the Easter Season with Pentecost, last Sunday we celebrated the Trinity, and this Sunday will be the Feast of Corpus Christi. The liturgy helps us to know inwardly who God truly is, and the word that best expresses him always and in everything is LOVE. This Sunday’s Gospel tells us where the key to this traditional feast of the Body of the Lord is. The key is sharing, the key is the multiplication of the loaves, from what we have. Jesus is present there and we participate in his life by sharing what we have. It is the way to anticipate the model of society (kingdom of God), where fraternity and solidarity of all with all will reign.
Gospel of Luke: The Bread Shared is Multiplied
At that time, Jesus was speaking to the people about the kingdom and healing those in need of healing. The day was beginning to break. Then the Twelve came to him and said, “Send the people away; let them go to the surrounding villages and farms and get lodging and food, for we are out in the open. But he said to them,” You give them something to eat. They replied, “We have only five loaves and two fish; unless we are going to buy food for all these people.” For they were about five thousand men. Then he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” So they did, and arranged for them all to sit down. Then he took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing over them, broke them, and gave them to the disciples to serve to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and they gathered up what was left over, twelve basketfuls of broken pieces. Lk. 9, 11b-17
Real Presence of Christ: Mystery of Love Without Measure
Pope Leo XIV, formerly Bishop Robert Francis Prevost, gave a moving homily on the Solemnity of Corpus Christi in the year 2020, when he was Bishop of Chiclayo (Peru). Here is an excerpt from it:
On this day of the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, the Body and Blood of Christ, we want to recognize and celebrate Christ present among us. That is why we go out into the streets, to manifest our faith to the world, to bear witness and to reach out to everyone with the mystery of Christ’s Presence. It is true that there are various forms of the Presence of Jesus Christ in our midst, in the Church and in the world. Brothers, in the Eucharist, Christ is truly present among us – and by his Body and Blood, he makes us all Church – we are Church and we live in communion, united in Christ. The Church lives from the Eucharist. This truth does not merely express a daily experience of faith, but contains in synthesis the core of the mystery of the Church. The Church joyfully experiences how the Lord’s promise is continually realized in many ways: “Behold, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Mt 28:20); in the Holy Eucharist, through the transformation of the bread and wine into the Lord’s body and blood, she rejoices in this presence with a unique intensity (St. John Paul II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 1). This is the great mystery that we celebrate today. A great mystery, a mystery of mercy, a mystery of love. What more could Jesus do for us? Truly, in the Eucharist he shows us a love that goes “to the end” (Jn 13:1), a love that knows no measure. [St. John Paul II, ibid. n. 11.] God’s love knows no measure. St. Augustine says that “the measure of love is love without measure”. To love without limits – this is how God loves us, and this is how God calls us to live – to share his love with others. It is his love that calls us together, that unites us, that makes us one family, love that creates the Church, the communion of love.
The Eucharist in the life of St. Candida Maria de Jesus
The Eucharistic devotion of St. Candida Maria de Jesus was a constant throughout her life. 1marked by the difficulties and restrictions of her time. From a very young age, she experienced a deep desire to unite herself to Christ in Communion, but the pastoral mentality of that time limited frequent access to the Eucharist, and she too had to suffer this deprivation.
However, with the passage of time and thanks to the understanding of his spiritual director, Don Martin Barriola, he was able to obtain a license to receive communion every day, something truly exceptional in his historical context.
Already as foundress of the Daughters of Jesus, even in the midst of illnesses, travels and difficulties proper to her mission, her Eucharistic love was not extinguished. Mother manifested an immense desire to receive Christ in Communion, and suffered deeply when it was not possible. She would not forgive any sacrifice in order to participate in the Eucharist, because for her, the greatest pain was not being able to receive the Lord.
This intense longing had an essential reason: to be united to Christ. To hold him in her bosom, with all her heart and soul, and through the Eucharist, to recognize him as the God who is near, our hope and strength, our all. For this reason, their Eucharistic experience did not remain only in adoration, but was translated into the imitation of Jesus. Before receiving communion, she recommended a careful preparation of the heart, recollection and love, convinced that whoever receives Christ must resemble Him.
Her trajectory of Eucharistic love culminated in a touching way in her last illness, when, when asked if she wanted to receive the Lord, she answered with her whole soul:
“If I want to receive you, not once, but a thousand, but a thousand times, if I could at this moment.”
This is how St. Candida lived, with a heart always eager to meet Jesus in the Eucharist. Her testimony invites us to live this feast of Corpus Christi, recognizing the living and loving presence of Jesus among us.
How to Live Today this Feast of Corpus Christi?
Today we can also do the miracle of multiplication. What can you share with others? Perhaps your time, your listening, your prayer, your word of encouragement or a material good. We invite you to ask yourself:
- What do I have to share with my community?
- Where can I be bread for others?
- What needs to be multiplied in my environment?
- SPIRITUALITY OF THE MOTHER FOUNDER written by the Precapitular Commission on the Spirituality of the Institute. Special General Chapter – 1969 ↩︎
