by Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ and Director, CREDI
On Thursday (May 26), our Church celebrated Corpus Christi, proclaiming the truth of our faith that Jesus is present – body, blood, soul and divinity, in the Holy Eucharist – under the appearances of bread and wine.
The Real Presence of Our Lord in the Eucharist is truly a gift for which we should be thankful. It is significant that in T&T and in many other countries, there is a public procession in which the Blessed Sacrament is carried by a priest or Bishop in a monstrance – a clear sign that Jesus came to save everyone. This public profession of our faith should lead us to continue walking with the Lord daily, and to live as Christ wants us to live.
Humility is one of the virtues that we should embrace if Christ lives in us. I remember how humble Pope Francis was, when he made a decision that he would not lead the Eucharistic procession in Rome on Corpus Christi 2014 but would go by car from Mass to the square in front of St Mary Major, so that, as Fr Frederico Lombardi, Vatican spokesperson said, “in accordance with the spirit of the celebration, the attention of the faithful would remain focused on the Blessed Sacrament” and not on the Pope.
If we keep our focus on the Lord, we are more likely to BE what we are – a Eucharistic people.
Blessed Teresa’s words are instructive. She said: “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. This is what Jesus meant when He said, ‘Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect’.”
Today’s Gospel (Lk 9:11-17), the Miracle of the loaves, reminds us of our role as sowers of hope, love, justice, mercy and peace. Without questioning Jesus, the Apostles did as He asked them and distributed the five loaves and two fish among the 5,000 who were gathered in Bethsaida to listen to Jesus. The ‘Bread of Life’ nourishes us and should spur us on to feed/ bring ‘life’ to others.
During this Holy Year of Mercy, let the Eucharist lead us to fill the hunger of those who live on the margins in our communities; to reach out to those in need.
This is not a time for selfishness, individualism, and moral relativism. Recently, I appeared on a television programme to discuss Archbishop Harris’ petition seeking freedom for some of the 2,235 prisoners who are languishing in Remand Yard for periods that are longer than the maximum period they would have served had they been tried, found guilty and imprisoned.
After the programme, I received a call from an angry individual who obviously did not understand the reasoning behind the petition. As far as he was concerned, “Dey look fuh dat, so leave dem in dey!”
It is time we start reflecting on how ethnicity and class influence how we view others in our society. St John Chrysostom is right. We cannot honour the body of Christ inside the church if we neglect Him outside, where He is cold and ill-clad (see Mt25:34).
A few days before Pentecost Sunday, Pope Francis reminded us that if we do not let the Holy Spirit guide our lives, we risk becoming ‘armchair’ Christians.
He said, “There are still many Christians today who are unaware of how the Holy Spirit ‘moves the church’. He’s the one who works in the Church, in our hearts; he is the one who makes each Christian unique, but united together as one family of God… It’s the Holy Spirit who ‘opens the doors and invites us to bear witness to Jesus’. However, Christians risk reducing the faith to a code of ethics when they do not live out the mission of the Holy Spirit…Christians can’t limit themselves just to following the Ten Commandments ‘and nothing more’, which leads to ‘casuistry and a cold morality’…The Christian life ‘isn’t ethics. It is an encounter with Jesus Christ,’ and it’s the Holy Spirit who ‘brings me to this encounter with Jesus Christ’” (www.thetablet.co.uk).
As co-workers in God’s service, we are called to reflection and action to build His Kingdom.
