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HOMILIES

25. Homily - Sunday, June 14, 2020

Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ - Year A (Jn 6, 51-58)

“As I live because of the Father, you will live because of me.”

“As I live because of the Father, you will live because of me,” Jesus says to us.

Jesus is humble, much humbler than we are. He who is God, he lives because of the Father. His
life is to live by the Father.

We, on the other hand, as God’s creatures with our limitations, are not God. We are loved by
God, but we are not God ourselves. Jesus offers us God’s life, and He calls us to live through
him. But often, we are reluctant to receive it, and we need time to let Jesus Christ live in us.

How do we live by Jesus Christ?

The first thing that comes to my mind is prayer! When we pray, we open our heart to the grace
of Jesus, to the grace of the Lord.

Then there is the Word of God. By meditating on Sacred Scripture and reading it slowly and
calmly, we can open our heart to the grace of God. This is how we can live! We live through
Jesus Christ, we live by the Word of God.

But there is also the Eucharist. The Eucharist, without excluding other ways by which Jesus
Christ is present, is his presence par excellence! “This is my body, given up for you, this is my
blood, poured out for you.”

This is my body, this is my blood.
Jesus Christ is present in the Blessed Sacrament of his body and his blood. Jesus, crucified
and was resurrected, is indeed present. “This is my body, given up.” The mystery of the cross
that is present in this word, and at the same time, the risen Jesus Christ is present as the new
covenant.

When we are before the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist, we are before Jesus Christ,
crucified and risen. We are before him, in his personal presence. We are called to receive him,
to enter into communion with him, to be in communion with his presence so that he may live
in us. In living in us, he transforms us so that by his grace we live by him, by his love, by his
peace, by his mercy, we may fully live through Jesus Christ.
(cont’d)

Collection of texts by the Most Rev. Christian Lépine 191