Scripture Reflections for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi

“don't think of heaven so much as a reward that anybody could enjoy, the good, the bad, the indifferent, think of it rather as a way of life that those who are adapted to it through grace can take in”

“We are not to be passive witnesses when God comes. We, too, are to offer ourselves to make Christ present as we leave mass in our personal ethics, our families, our communities, our world. We are to do this as communities and as Church.”

“Jesus had truly risen from the dead, but now the disciples experienced his bodily presence differently: it was the same person as before, but now his physical presence had changed”

“Thus the Eucharist is the mystery of Christ who comes to us broken in order to heal our broken lives so that we too can become broken to heal the brokenness of others”

“Wealth can shield us from memory of our reliance on God and one another”

“Yet so often we do not live, behave, or act in a way that would inspire our family members or co-workers to think “He lives in Christ, and Christ lives in him.””

“By the gift of hope, we navigate a world that is not yet as it should be”

“If we persevere in our present situation while reconciling when we do wrong and sharing, joining with Him through the Eucharist, He will give us the ability to love, and put us into situations where we can love more fully”

“Filled with the bread of life, we are called to be the Body of Christ in the world, sharing ourselves with others, like Jesus giving himself to us. We too are called to make sacrifices for others by sharing our bread with those in need.”

“The Eucharist is dynamic. It draws us together but in order to send us out.”

“A family meal is not only a chance to eat the food we need for physical sustenance, it also sustains the family as a family. It binds the family together and builds up the family; gives them a sense of communion as a family; even celebrates the family.”

“But the consequences of Incarnation are even more radical: Christ makes all his followers members of his Body, the Church, and gives us physical, bodily signs: the sacraments”

“The Eucharist, we now understand, creates the Church; the Church does not create the Eucharist. So the real presence is the sacrament of the unity of the Church and of the presence of the risen and glorified Jesus in our midst, in our world.”

“This presence of Christ to us is a presence so intimate that it is appropriate that it is signified and brought about through the consecration of food and drink. Just as food and drink nourish us and become part of us, so Christ nourishes us and becomes part of us too, living in us.”

“Christ the one Bread gives us the Spirit to make us one body, one spirit in him. We are caught up in the reconciling sacrifice which inspires us to honour each other as members of one body.”

“At the heart of John's reinterpretation of the manna story is an understanding of the importance of wilderness experiences in Jesus' life and the events in the life of the evangelist's community”

“What we want is eternal life. That's the promised land. That's the promised land. That's the life on high with God. What gets us through the desert journey there? What sustains us in that heavenly place? It's the supersubstantial bread.”

“when one receives the Eucharist one's body is indeed being nourished but what matters above all is the change that has taken place through the power of the living Word. This Word that enables us now to participate in Christ, to be one with him, to share his life.”

“part of the process of conversion is coming to a stance of complete reliance upon God and not upon ego”