Feast of the Body and blood of Christ, Year B – 2021
“A dream come true!”
We often hear this expression from someone who had been hoping for something and this very thing happens, or is given to the person.
The words are spoken spontaneously with jubilation.
This phrase came to me as I read today’s gospel text (Mk.14:12-16,22-26)
following the Alleluia verse (Jn.6:51) which says:
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven.
Whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
Jesus had spoken these words some years before on the day after he had fed the crowd having multiplied the loaves.
Of course, the people had come back the next day… for more!
But, the ‘more’ which they received what Jesus’ promise of another kind of bread –
the one he was now providing during this Last Supper.
We could say, in our usual way of speaking, that it was for Jesus ‘a dream come true’.
He wanted to share with us his love and his life, a life that would endure for ever.
He found the way to do precisely this in giving us the Eucharist
which is known as the sacrament of his real presence.
This is what we remember and what we celebrate today on this Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ.
We do so as well every time we take part in his offering of himself in the Eucharist.
A dream come true.
A promise realized.
A life enduring for ever.
A gift beyond what we could have imagined or hoped for!
Note: Another reflection on a different theme is available in French at:
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