On this Feast of Corpus Christi, we celebrate the most profound mystery of our faith: Jesus truly present in the Eucharist. Today's Gospel from Luke 9:11-17 offers us a beautiful preview of this gift, as Jesus feeds five thousand people with just five loaves and two fish. This miracle isn't just about multiplying food - it's about Jesus revealing His desire to nourish us completely, body and soul, in ways that defy our human understanding of limitation and scarcity.
The connection between this multiplication miracle and the Eucharist runs deeper than we might first realize. When Jesus took the loaves, blessed them, broke them, and gave them to the disciples to distribute, He was establishing a pattern that we recognize in every Mass. Take, bless, break, give - the same actions that transform simple bread and wine into His Body and Blood. The crowd that day received ordinary bread that satisfied their hunger, but we receive the Bread of Life Himself, who satisfies our deepest spiritual longings and unites us to His very essence.
What makes Corpus Christi so wonderfully compelling is how it reveals God's extravagant love through the most humble means. A piece of bread becomes the source of eternal life. A sip of wine becomes the chalice of salvation. Jesus doesn't just visit us occasionally or meet us halfway - He literally becomes our food, making Himself as available and essential as our daily bread. It's the ultimate act of divine hospitality, where God doesn't just invite us to the table but becomes the meal itself, ensuring that no one who seeks Him will ever go hungry.
This feast calls us to live eucharistically, carrying Christ's presence from the altar into our daily lives. Just as those twelve baskets of leftovers showed that God's abundance never runs out, we're invited to be agents of that same overflowing generosity. When we share our gifts - whether it's time, talents, or simply our presence - with the same spirit of blessing and breaking that Jesus showed, we participate in the ongoing miracle of multiplication. The Eucharist we receive isn't meant to be hoarded but shared, transforming us into people who feed others' hunger for meaning, connection, and hope. After all, we who have been fed by Love Himself can hardly help but become bread for a hungry world.
A Prayer for Corpus Christi
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, we adore You, truly present in the Blessed Sacrament. What You began with five loaves and two fish, You perfect in the Holy Eucharist - feeding not just our bodies, but our very souls with Your own Body and Blood. Lord Jesus, You make Yourself small enough to rest on our tongues, yet You remain the infinite God, ever present, who satisfies our every hunger. In Your great love, You become our food, our strength, our life. We praise You with all our hearts, beyond all understanding.
Grant us the grace to receive You with pure hearts, to recognize You with eyes of faith, and to be transformed by Your presence within us. Make us instruments of Your abundance, that we might share Your love as generously as You shared those miraculous loaves. Help us to feed the hungry, comfort the sorrowful, and bring Your peace to all we meet. Holy and Blessed Eucharist, be our strength for the journey, our hope in times of trial, and our joy in every season. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
©2025 James Dacey Jr.
