Bishop Paolo's Homily for Corpus Christi: "Jesus calls us to be His Body in the world"

Abu Dhabi.

On Sunday 11 June 2023, Catholics all over the world celebrated the feast of "Corpus Christi", (the Body and Blood of the Lord). On this day, we honour in a special way the gift of Jesus to us in the Eucharist. Bishop Paolo Martinelli, Apostolic Vicar of Southern Arabia, led the celebration of the Feast during his pastoral visit to the Cathedral Parish of St. Joseph's in Abu Dhabi. Below is the text of his homily:

‘I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever, and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.’ With these words, Jesus in the Gospel of John describes the mystery of the Eucharist. Indeed, today we celebrate the solemnity of the Body and Blood of the Lord, which is the thanksgiving of Jesus to the Father for our salvation.

Jesus, to describe the Eucharist, starts from a daily need and experience that we all have: bread. Jesus had fed the crowds shortly before, and everyone wanted to proclaim him king. But Jesus hid and went to Capernaum, on the other side of the lake. But that crowd had been looking for him until they found him in the synagogue. At this point, Jesus changes the tone of his discourse. People came looking for him because he gave them bread. Here Jesus now speaks of another bread, of living bread. He goes so far as to describe himself as bread from heaven. This bread does not feed the flesh and its appetite, but the need for love that we carry in our hearts.

Jesus offers people this strong image: his body given and the living bread from heaven that gives eternal life. In fact, what is eternal life? It is not only the life after this earthly life. Eternal life is God's life, which is communicated to us from today and forever. Eternity begins when we recognize God's love for us. Heaven begins when we let ourselves be loved by God to the point of forgiveness of sins. We thus discover that sacred scripture uses the word "body of Christ" with different and fundamental meanings
for us.

First of all, the body of Christ is his physical body. Jesus is the Son of God who became a man and took on a body like ours. A body that is thirsty and hungry that needs to rest and move. Through his body, the Eternal Son of the Father became visible. People could meet him, be touched by him, and feel a healing force come out of him. The body of Jesus was then subjected to the humiliation of passion, and he was scourged. His head was pierced with a crown of thorns. Then his body was nailed to the cross and pierced with a spear. He died for everyone. Then that same body appeared resurrected before his disciples. This body ascended to heaven introducing human reality into the divine life.

But sacred scripture uses the expression body of Christ also to indicate the Eucharist. It is Jesus himself who, taking up the image of bread that we heard in the Gospel, breaks the bread and pours out the chalice, identifying his body and blood with them. Since Jesus instituted the sacrament of the Eucharist at the last supper, we call the body of Christ his physical body and the bread and wine consecrated on the altar. The Eucharist is the sacrament of love. When we celebrate Holy Mass, we do not simply remember the gift that Jesus made in the past of his body and blood for our salvation.

We celebrate the memorial of our redemption. Jesus truly makes himself present in bread and wine and still gives himself to us today as living bread that comes down from heaven so that we may have true life, eternal life.

When the priest, or the extraordinary minister of the Eucharist, distributes communion, he pronounces the expression: the body of Christ. And the faithful answer amen. That is, I believe that this bread is Christ who gives himself in his body to me today, here and now. Love can never be just something of the past. Christ loves us here and now. His love is faithful. For this reason, in the Eucharist, Jesus renews his gift for us.

But precisely from the letter to the Corinthians, we discover that the expression body of Christ also indicates another reality. The Body of Christ is the Church, and the body of Christ is us: “The fact that there is only one loaf means that, though there are many of us, we form a single body because we all have a share in this one loaf”. Here is the great surprise that concerns us all: we welcome the body of Christ in the sacrament of the Eucharist to become more and more his body in the world every day. Our mission is to be the Body of Christ in the world, a sign of his gift for everyone. We, too, are called to be bread broken for the life of the world.

Finally, as St. Paul says, we are many but form one body. Think how valid these words are for us here in Abu Dhabi. How many communities are there in this parish? We come from different nations and cultures; we have different traditions and languages. Jesus has called us to be his body in the world, a sign of his love for the whole world. We can be a sign only if, by participating in the one bread, we are indeed one body. In this sense, the Eucharist is the sacrament of unity in the Church. We ask that
this unity be expressed in our daily lives.

Saint Joseph, the Patron of this parish, supports us on the way, keeps us united with Jesus, and makes us witness the joy of the gospel, the joy of being loved and loving.