With Opened Bible
Corpus Christi
“He therefore let you be afflicted with hunger,
and then fed you with manna,
a food unknown to you and your fathers,
in order to show you that not by bread alone does one live,
but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of the LORD.”
This Sunday, as we gather to celebrate the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi), we are reminded of our shared faith and the importance of this special moment in our spiritual journey. This celebration continues Holy Thursday—the moment when Jesus instituted the Sacrament of the Eucharist to replace the Lamb and the unleavened bread prescribed by the Law of Moses (Exodus 12:1–17).
Indeed, celebrating Jesus—the Bread of Life—in the Sacrament of the Eucharist is a way of professing our faith in His redemptive sacrifice and his true presence among us, which opens the path to the Kingdom for us.
In preparation for this grace, Israel received a foretaste of this nourishment in the desert. They ate the manna, yet they died (John 6:49). In contrast, the Church received this mystery in the Lord's Supper, wherein His Body and Blood are offered so that the People of God may live and continue their journey toward the Kingdom: "This is my Body; this is my Blood" (Matthew 26:26–27). By offering Himself as food and drink, Jesus fulfilled the imagery of the Paschal Lamb, becoming our very Passover: "Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new batch, just as you are unleavened. For our Passover lamb has been sacrificed: Christ" (1 Corinthians 5:7). This revelation was proclaimed even before its fulfillment—by John in the desert: "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).
From the manna (which does not give life), we have passed to the True Bread of Life—Jesus, He who came down from heaven. His word enlightens and reassures us: "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." (John 6:51)
In the desert of our daily lives, the things of this earth can neither satisfy us nor make us happy. Thus, Jesus—the Bread of Life—is the nourishment we need to face the challenges of these times, sustaining us through His real presence in the Eucharist and His Word, which are the foundation of our faith.
