Corpus Christi Year A

Deuteronomy 8:2–3, 14b–16a

Psalm 147:12–13, 14–15, 19–20

1 Corinthians 10:16–17

John 6:51–58


The Church in the United States is calling for a Eucharistic Revival. Every diocese and parish are called to a renewal of faith in the Holy Eucharist and to the responsibility to grow in understanding and witness. Families, too, are invited to find ways to restore the Eucharist to the center of their lives.

Eucharist is the sacrament of unity. In the Catholic Church this means many things, but three primary aspects of the unity include the following: 

First, the communion of saints. “Holy Things to the Holy!” is part of some Eastern Rite liturgies.  We are one with God and all the saints, through the sacramental life, especially the Eucharist, tasting the food of eternity. Heaven and earth are connected by the sacramental reality.

Second, we believe that the Eucharist is much more than an earthly symbol of something. Our faith tells us that Jesus Christ is Present in His Risen Body, Which has ascended into glory. The One Who lived our life, suffered, died and was buried. The Eucharist, as the memorial of the Paschal Mystery, IS Jesus. He is Present, as we say, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. This belief is sacramental: the sign (bread or wine) that gives us the Reality of Jesus Himself as Food.

Catholics and many other branches of the Church have this faith, though they may express it differently. Jesus Himself teaches this: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world. … 

“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.”

Third, the Eucharist is known as “the repeatable sacrament of initiation.” Every time we say “Amen” as we receive the Eucharist, we are affirming our status as baptized sons and daughters of God the Father, as brothers and sisters of Jesus who have been anointed by the Holy Spirit that God has poured out on us.  

We are saying “yes” to being members of the Catholic Church and sharing the one faith with the whole communion of saints. This last point is the primary reason Catholics do not accept an invitation to share in the symbolic meals that other denominations celebrate; we have a different belief.  

It is also the reason we do not do “open communion” as some other denominations of differing beliefs might do. We commit to live our faith and be witnesses of the truth.

Participation in the Eucharist is an act of faith in these realities. As St. Paul says, “Brothers and sisters: The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.” We are one.

Many parishes and dioceses today are renewing the practice of having a public Eucharistic Procession to share our faith in a visible way in our neighborhoods. It is gratifying to see families walk together across the generations. Let us renew and share our faith in Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.

The Sequence for Corpus Christi expresses many beautiful aspects of the Eucharist.

Come then, good shepherd, bread divine,

Still show to us thy mercy sign;

Oh, feed us still, still keep us thine;

So may we see thy glories shine

In fields of immortality;

O thou, the wisest, mightiest, best,

Our present food, our future rest,

Come, make us each thy chosen guest,

Co-heirs of thine, and comrades blest

With saints whose dwelling is with thee. Amen. Alleluia.