This simple consecration

Father Kerry Prendiville
Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi)
June 22, 2025

Today as we celebrate the Solemnity of the Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Corpus Christi, in a special way we are commemorating the mystery of the Trinity in the life of the Apostles in the life of the Eucharistic Church. We hear in this brief Gospel passage some of the history, in fact, of that passage of faith from the Old Testament to Gospel times.

In our first reading today, Melchizedek, the priest of Salem took bread, and he offered it, the bread and wine, being a priest of God most high, he blessed Abram and then gave him these loaves and this wine to consume. The ancient blessing of Melchizedek is remembered even now in our Eucharistic Prayers. 

Jesus, when he broke the loaves and gave the fish, did so in a way we remember as Eucharistic — Eucharistic in that he blessed, he broke, and he gave. It’s not a coincidence that he did the very same thing at the Last Supper when he would take the ancient symbols of the Passover feast and say, “This is my body. This is my blood.”

That simple consecration is remembered in the letter of Paul to the Corinthians when he said, “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.”

This is the Lord doing something amazing in order to remind us he will be with us always until the end of the world. Think about this and this passage from the Gospel — this is the co-eternal son Jesus Christ. He is the one who is there present at creation but now present at a Pascal feast and also present on the mount when he gave this teaching to his Apostles. He said to them, and this is so important for us as we live out our own Eucharist. He said to them looking out over all those hungry and needy people, “Give them something to eat yourselves.” 

It was beyond their imagination that they could do something like that, but they did. And having done it they had a surplus and abundance leftover. The Eucharist, brothers and sisters, we share every Sunday is a sign of God’s abundant love for us and a sign of his new covenant in his Body and Blood. When we receive it at church, we receive the Eucharist in our own homes brought to us when we’re ill or homebound, we receive it in our hospitals, receiving it as a healing gift, a nourishment for our journey on the road. We’re receiving it just as hungry people who spent all day listening to Jesus preach on the side of that mountain received it. They received it with joy, and they received it for nourishment. 

So, brothers and sisters, let us remember that nourishment. It is meant for us to take this Eucharist, go forth with it, and serve in Christ’s name.