YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT; FOLLOWING DOCTOR'S ORDERS

HOMILY FOR THE SOLEMNITY OF THE BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST

Rev. Fr. 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 habits? Did he prescribe to you a particular diet to be followed for a speedy recovery? The diet we take in has a most important connection with our health status. To enjoy good health, a particular diet is necessary. Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are, what you do and how you act. People who do hard jobs are inclined to eat heavy foods. People in search of fitness and weight loss 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. It is also true that the healthier the foods, the better the skin. And again, the food one consumes has a great bearing on one’s state of mind and health. The truth is that we need physical food to stay healthy and alive, but it has its limitation: it does not overwhelm physical death. However, there is a meal that assures holistic health and even is able to conquer physical death. It is the spiritual food for the body and soul.

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. There was once this priest who 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 is an establishment of a covenant between us and Christ and inaugurates a new covenant of adherence to Him.

Today’s readings make this vivid. There is a long tradition of offering bread and wine to close friends. Bread 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 form 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 transform into the body and blood of Christ. A word that explains this mystery is transubstantiation. This word is used to explain 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 that what is now received at communion is the body and blood of Christ, and no longer 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; we become what we have eaten. 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, he quenches the momentary hunger of his listeners numbering more than 5,000 (cf. Luke 9: 11b-17) so as to direct them to hunger for the food that endures - His body and Blood. This incidence could be understood also as a foreshadow of the Eucharistic meal  on the night before he was to suffer. He taught and fed them. Is this not what we do at Mass: the liturgy of the Word and the liturgy of the Eucharist? To remain spiritually healthy then, and to receive the full benefit of the Holy Mass, the consumption of the body and blood of Jesus Christ becomes very necessary. Just as material food is a necessity for man, this spiritual food for the body and the soul is all the more necessary. The body and blood of Christ nourishes our bodies and our souls. It provides an 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 indeed 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 need to 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 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 get dry; all these might lead to spiritual sloth and at last eternal damnation. Far be that from us.

2. Some Christians ridicule us and are filled with disbelief at what we celebrate today. We may want to consider some personal questions: Am I filled with disbelief about the real presence? Do I act to undermine the sacredness of the Holy Eucharist? Do I really believe that it is actually Christ that I receive whenever I go for communion?  The Eucharist is alive. Since Christ is truly, really, substantially present in the Eucharist, then He is alive and present in the world. It implies that the communion 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’s 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). The act of communion is an act of faith for when the minister says “the body/blood of Christ, the communicant’s amen is a profession in the presence of the saving Christ. Body and blood, soul and divinity, who now gives life to the believer. May be now, we might no longer want to forget to say ‘Amen’ as we receive Christ; not of course the sort that goes through the roof.

4. This can also be a special day when Catholics in many parts of the world show their love for Christ in the Real Presence by honouring Him in a public manner in procession. It is then 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 our function as Christians. Come, take and eat, it is really Christ. 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 should not be made passive. It ought to go active by allowing others to take and eat us; that is, 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. May Christ’s Body and blood 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.