‘YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT’: OBEYING THE DOCTOR’S PRESCRIPTION HOMILY FOR THE SOLEMNITY OF THE BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST Rev. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

Health conscious people are familiar with this saying which forms the central topic of our Homily. Have you ever fallen sick; and thereupon visited a medical practitioner? What was the doctor’s advice to you? Was there any concern about your eating habit? Did he prescribe to you particular diets to be followed for speedy recovery? The diet we take in has a most important connection with our health status. To enjoy good health, particular diets are necessary. Tell me what you and I will tell you what you are, what you do and how you act. People who do hard jobs are inclined to eating heavy foods. People in search of fitness and slim fit pay attention to their diet. Someone who works tirelessly during the day may be inclined to taking coffee every morning for agility. A clinical nutritionist has once been quoted to have said: everything you eat becomes a part of not only your inner being, but the outer fabric of your body as well. The healthier the foods are that you consume, the better your skin looks. However, beyond health and the look of your skin, the food you eat has a bearing on your state of mind and health. We must eat to stay healthy and alive, even though we shall still experience physical death. However, there is a meal that assures holistic healthiness and t hat has the capacity to transform physical death into eternal life with God.
Today, the Church celebrates the solemnity of Corpus et Sanguis Christi (The Body and Blood of Christ); a feast which exposes to us the meal that takes care of our entire being. A Priest, after having presented a wonderful academic paper to some students got an unexpected question: why are you a Catholic? The Priest surprised at the question, gazed fiercely on the student and answered: Because of the Eucharist. For sure, this is a feast which makes us truly Catholics. This is a feast that reminds us of Christ’s invitation to come, take and eat. In this invitation to take and eat is an establishment of a covenant between us and Christ, in such a way that the food which is His body and blood inaugurates a new covenant of adherence to Him. Today’s readings make this vivid. The tradition of offering to close friends bread and wine as we see in Melchizedek’s action towards Abraham in the first reading (Gen. 14: 18-20) is made more spiritual and divine by Christ in the second reading (1 Cor. 11:23-26), who offers to the apostles His body and blood in the forms of bread and wine. He furthermore insists that they do this in remembrance of him, to share this with His future followers for a continuous partaking of this meal that nourishes the soul and the body. Hence, whenever the apostles (or their authoritative representatives) perform this action with the same species used by Christ, and uttering the words of Christ, the bread and wine completely transforms into the body and blood of Christ. A word that explains this mystery is transubstantiation. This points to the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, where-in at the words of consecration, the bread and wine cease to be what they are and are substantially transformed into the body and blood of Christ in such a way that what is now received at communion is the body and blood of Christ, not the bread and wine. The body and blood of Christ with His soul and divinity, and therefore the whole Christ is truly, actually (really), substantially contained in the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist. Yes, that is the mystery we celebrate.
Remember, you are what you eat. So, if you partake of this body and blood of Christ, you become Christ-like. He offers us Himself and assures us in John 6: 51 (cf. Alleluia verse) that if anyone eats this bread that is his body, he/she lives forever. Christ constantly provides us with every material aid for our bodies and spiritual aid for our souls. In the Gospel, we still saw this effort he made to quench the momentary hunger of his listeners numbering more than 5,000 (cf. Luke 9: 11b-17). Beyond this offer which only quenches hunger momentarily, there is another offer which quenches hunger perpetually and leads you to eternal life. To remain spiritually healthy, we must take and eat the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Just as material food is a necessity for man, this food that sees both for the matter as well as for the spirit is all the more necessary. The body and blood of Christ nourishes our bodies and our souls. It makes for integral salvation. One of the prayers every priest says before the reception of this Most Holy body and blood of Christ make this all the more appreciable: may the receiving of your body and blood Lord Jesus Christ, not bring me to judgement and condemnation, but through your loving mercy be for me protection in mind and body and a healing remedy.  We have many lessons to learn from this solemnity.
1. The body and blood of Christ helps us to avoid condemnation, hence, assuring our safety into eternal life. This body and blood protects our cognitive faculty, restores our physical body, and heals our spiritual soul. We must take and eat this body and blood, as Christ, the chief doctor of our souls has prescribed for us. That is the tablet for our salvation. We must follow the Doctor’s prescription. We already know the natural consequences of not following the prescriptions of the medical practitioners here on earth: sickness is prolonged as the cure is delayed, and not assured, until it eventually leads to expiration/death. So too, there are consequences of not following the prescription of the Master and Supreme Medical Practitioner, Jesus Christ: our souls which continue to search for God experience hunger, grow weary and gets dry; all these turn into spiritual slot as material well being is not even assured, until it eventually leads to eternal damnation.
2. Some Christians ridicule and are filled with disbelief on what we celebrate today. At this point, join me and ask: Am I in the camp of those filled with disbelief about the feast we celebrate today? Have I acted in any way that undermines the sacredness of this feast? Very importantly, have I doubted that it is actually Christ that I receive whenever I go for communion? Most importantly, how can I apply the lessons learnt from this feast for my day to day human interaction? Firstly, we must realize that the Eucharist is alive. Since Christ is truly, really, substantially present in the Eucharist, then He is alive and present in the world. Then, the host we receive is not a thing nor bread, but a person; for He is alive. Receiving Him with this awareness, we become more fully alive, so that we can repeat Paul’s words: it is no longer I who live but Christ now lives in me (Gal. 2:20). Christ is indeed the living bread (cf. John 6:51.57), not dead; eating this bread makes one alive forever.
3. We must also learn that Christ gives Himself to us in the sacramental form perceptible by humans. Whatever is received is received according to the mode of the receiver. What the sacramental forms of bread and wine signify and make real is the Christ who is a living, personal presence. And approaching Him is an experience of faith. Hence, Christ real presence is an offer of grace, and we must tap from the immensity of this divine favour. The Eucharistic meal thus signifies both Christ’s gift of himself and the individual’s response of faith; only so can we together talk of the Church’s response of herself. It is on this basis that the Eucharist becomes for us the sacrament of unity, with the Church and with Christ, “because there is one bread we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread (1 Cor. 10:17).
4. This is the special day when Catholics all over the world show their love for Christ in the Real Presence by honouring Him in a public manner by procession, but due to our Nigerian weather condition, ours comes on the day of the feast of Christ the King. It is also a wonderful moment to show our love for our neighbours by bringing Our Lord and Saviour closer to them. The Eucharist provides the unction for your function as a Christian. Come, take and eat, it is really Christ; and make sure that the Christ whom you welcome transforms your life in such a way that you see the necessity to show love in this our age filled with desperation and rancour. As Christ gives us wholly himself in the Eucharist for the life of the world, we must learn to make ourselves present and to give ourselves wholly for the suffering humanity. The injunction to take and eat by Christ and the Church is not just limited to our passive acceptance. We must extend it in our active practice by allowing others to take and eat us; by emptying ourselves in love for the good of the others. That is a practical way of glorifying the Lord. If we but paused for a moment to reflect attentively what takes place in this sacrament we celebrate, I am sure that the thought of Christ’s love for us would transform the coldness of our hearts into a fire of love and gratitude. Dear friends, my prayer for all of us today is that Christ’s Body and blood will never bring us condemnation but health in mind and body, leading us through this life into the kingdom of heaven which is our ultimate home. Amen. Do have a blessed week ahead. GOD BLESS YOU.