Sunday, June 19
The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ – Solemnity
Roman Ordinary calendar
St. Juliana Falconieri (1270-1340)
Book of Genesis 14,18-20.
In those days, Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine, and being a priest of God Most High, he blessed Abram with these words:
Blessed be Abram by God Most High, the creator of heaven and earth;
And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your foes into your hand.” Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
Psalms 110(109),1.2.3.4.
The LORD said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand
till I make your enemies your footstool.”
The scepter of your power the LORD will stretch forth from Zion:
“Rule in the midst of your enemies.”
“Yours is princely power in the day of your birth, in holy splendor;
before the daystar, like the dew, I have begotten you.”
The LORD has sworn, and he will not repent:
“You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.”
First Letter to the Corinthians 11,23-26.
Brothers and sisters: I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread,
and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 9,11b-17.
Jesus spoke to the crowds about the kingdom of God, and he healed those who needed to be cured.
As the day was drawing to a close, the Twelve approached him and said, “Dismiss the crowd so that they can go to the surrounding villages and farms and find lodging and provisions; for we are in a deserted place here.”
He said to them, “Give them some food yourselves.” They replied, “Five loaves and two fish are all we have, unless we ourselves go and buy food for all these people.”
Now the men there numbered about five thousand. Then he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of (about) fifty.”
They did so and made them all sit down.
Then taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing over them, broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.
They all ate and were satisfied. And when the leftover fragments were picked up, they filled twelve wicker baskets.
Saint Augustine (354-430)
Bishop of Hippo (North Africa) and Doctor of the Church
Sermon 272
“Be what you see, and receive what you are”
You see on God’s altar bread and a cup. That is what the evidence of your eyes tells you, but your faith requires you to believe that the bread is the body of Christ, the cup the blood of Christ. In these few words we can say perhaps all that faith demands. Faith, however, seeks understanding (…). How can bread be his body? And the cup, or rather what is in the cup, how can that be his blood ?
These things, my friends, are called sacraments, because our eyes see in them one thing, our understanding another. Our eyes see the material form; our understanding, its spiritual effect. If, then, you want to know what the body of Christ is, you must listen to what the Apostle tells the faithful: “Now you are the body of Christ, and individually you are members of it” (1 Cor 12:17). If that is so, it is the sacrament of yourselves that is placed on the Lord’s altar, and it is the sacrament of yourselves that you receive. You reply “Amen” to what you are, and thereby agree that such you are. You hear the words “The body of Christ” and you reply “Amen.” Be, then, a member of Christ’s body, so that your “Amen” may accord with the truth.
Yes, but why all this in bread? Here let us not advance any ideas of our own, but listen to what the Apostle says over and over again when speaking of this sacrament: “Because there is one loaf, we, though we are many, form one body” (1 Cor 10:17). Let your mind assimilate that and be glad, for there you will find unity, truth, piety, and love. He says, “one loaf”: and who this one loaf? “We, though we are many, form one body”. Now bear in mind that bread is not made of a single grain, but of many. Be, then, what you see, and receive what you are.
Catholicism Pure & Simple 
You must be logged in to post a comment.