Today we celebrate the beautiful feast of Corpus Christi, when we give thanks to God for the gift of the Eucharist – the Body and Blood of Christ given freely to us. Today’s readings ask us some really important questions. In the First Reading we hear Moses challenging the people of Israel to remember how God guided them through the wilderness feeding them with the miraculous manna – literally bread from heaven, which they woke up to every morning like dew on the ground. The problem is that now their lives are getting more comfortable they are starting to forget all that God has done for them. We could say that as they get richer their memories get poorer! It’s a big theme in the Old Testament – the people often ask/beg God to remember them in their times of suffering, while God asks them to remember him in their times of prosperity!

There is something similar in the Gospel. Jesus has fed the huge crowd with just five loaves and two fish. The next day they come to him again, hoping for more of the same food. But instead Jesus speaks to them of an entirely different kind of food – the food of his own body and blood – “the living bread which has come down from heaven.” He is clearly speaking of what we now understand to be the Eucharist, and his language would have been really shocking for this Jewish audience. He very graphically speaks of the need to eat his flesh and drink his blood as our food for the journey to eternal life, just as the people of Israel ate manna in the desert.

What challenges do we face in our own day? Pope Leo has just published his inspired/inspiring encyclical: Magnifica Humanitas – on safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence. He proposes a “path of Christian life” for our modern digital age, in which the Eucharist can be a compass for us. In a world increasingly dominated by algorithms and unseen forces, our centre needs to be Jesus Christ. Our faith calls us back to real bonds of connection – flesh and blood contact with God and with each other. Lives of compassion, self-giving and deep communion with God and each other – all this we learn at ‘the school of the Eucharist’.



With blessings & prayers from Fr Richard, Fr Ephrem & all the parish team
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