1

Corpus Christi, June 22, 2014. Year A

You are what you eat! Weve all heard that saying many times.

Does that mean if we eat too many hamburgers well turn into the hamburglar?
I do know if we eat too many carrots our skin turns orange so maybe its a dietary warning.

But some people suggest that this is a religious idea rather than a dietary one.

We believe, that the bread and wine of the Eucharist are changed into the body and blood of Jesus so does
this mean that maybe the phrase You are what you eat is Catholic?

Today Jesus tells us that unless we eat his flesh and drink his blood we will not have life within us. This was an
incredibly hard teaching for the people, a teaching that most couldnt accept, so much so that many walked
away and quit following him. How could they eat his flesh, how could they drink his blood they werent
cannibals?

During his public ministry, so much of Jesus teachings revolved around food and drink. This was the
sustenance of life that the people understood, without food and drink life would surely come to an end. Jesus
gave us many examples about food, the water from the Samaritan woman at the well, the multiplication of
the loaves and fishes, the wine at the wedding feast in Cana, and most importantly the bread and wine at the
last supper. He knew that people could relate to food. Is it any different now? Sharing meals is one of the
most important and enjoyable things that we do.

So how does food relate to eating his flesh and drinking his blood? Jesus was asking us to become very close
and personal with him. He was teaching us about the Eucharist and Transubstantiation, when at the last
supper he said Take and eat, this is my body, take and drink this is my blood, and here at the hands of Father
_______________ today Jesus will become present, Body, Blood Soul and Divinity, and we will come forward
just as he said to eat his flesh!

The Eucharist is an act of service; it is Jesus washing the feet of his disciples, and it is us washing each others
feet. Through Baptism we became the body of Christ, Jesus is the head and we are his body. We are one. Do
we always act as one? During the consecration Jesus becomes present on the altar but we dont receive him
immediately. Before we come forward to receive, the communion rite, like the penitential rite at the
beginning of Mass, gives us another chance to prepare ourselves, another chance to ask for forgiveness.
Together we say the Lords Prayer and we ask God to: Forgive us our trespasses and then we ask God for
the strength and courage to Forgive those who trespass against us. Then we shake hands, not just a
symbolic hand shake, not a hello how do you do handshake, but an offering of the peace of Christ to each
other, to get ourselves in line with each other, to forgive each other and to rejoice in our differences.

By this act we show God and each other that we are one people one body of Christ. Now we are prepared and
can truly come forward to receive Jesus who is the spiritual food that we need to sustain us until we return to
receive him again.



2

Mother Theresa tells us: In each of our lives Jesus comes as the Bread of Life - to be eaten, to be consumed
by us. This is how He loves us. Then Jesus comes in our human life as the hungry one, the other, hoping to be
fed with the Bread of our life, our hearts by loving, and our hands by serving. In loving and serving, we prove
that we have been created in the likeness of God, for God is Love and when we love we are like God.
Pope Francis says in the Eucharist, the Lord communicates "a love so great that He feeds us with Himself,"
with a "selfless love, always available to every hungry person in need," which gives us renewed strength, "To
live and experience the faith.
Transubstantiation gives us the flesh and blood of our Risen Living Lord to eat and to drink in this most Holy Eucharist.
How much more close and personal can we, the body of Christ come to Jesus and to each other than this? This was
what Jesus was trying to teach them and this is what he continues to teach us. We are a Eucharistic people, we are all
one in him and the Eucharist makes us one with each other.
Like Mother Theresa just said, when we receive the Eucharist we are strengthened to go out into the world and bring
Christ to everyone. Jesus will soon be in us as the hungry one, and he will be ready for us to bring him to others. We
just need to open our hearts to him who we are about to receive, and when we leave here today we need to go forth
glorifying him by our lives and our service, with as Pope Francis says a renewed strength to live and experience the faith,
and this weekend so many of us will do just that as we go to feed the hungry at St. Marys.
In a few minutes, Jesus will be here, present on the altar, and we will come forward to greet him as he gives himself to
us. What a gift, Jesus full of love, coming personally to us! We will hold Jesus our Lord and Savior in our very own
hands! In these hands! May we greet him lovingly and may our AMEN ring out with joy. Yes Lord we believe!
Jesus may this most Holy Eucharist transform us into you who we received at our baptism. May we become more like
you in love and service to everyone! May we become truly united as one body!

And today, as we receive you in the Eucharist, may we become what we eat!