(Luke 9:11b-17)

Food multiplied because it is distributed: A call not to be satisfied

Vatican II did not say a single word about the many forms of Eucharistic devotion.

In order to help us fully understand the Person of Christ, the Council Fathers were well aware that Jesus did not leave behind a statue or a relic. He preferred to express himself in a gesture that challenges us.

In the Jewish world, every family gathered around the table in the evening, and the breaking of bread was the most significant moment of their experience of conviviality (and of the memory of giving oneself to others).

The only bread was broken and shared among all the family members - but even a hungry poor person could come to the door, which was not to be locked.

Bread and wine, products that had absorbed the energies of heaven and earth, were perceived with spiritual sensitivity - gifts from the Creator for the life and joy of humanity.

In that culture, bread is a staple food. But our life is only complete if there is also an element of celebration: wine.

Even today, bread is not cut with a knife, out of respect for its sacredness: it is only broken. It contains concrete existence.

This is why Jesus chose the Banquet as a sign of his Person, his life, his word, his risky undertaking, given as food.

During family meals, bread and wine were not perceived as manna, that is, as natural and raw products. Nor was it simply a matter of eating to regain strength.

All the varied contributions of the household were also present in the wheat and grapes.

Around the table, each person saw in the bread and wine the fruit of their labour: clearing the land, ploughing, sowing, reaping, pruning, harvesting and pressing.

Women saw in bread the fruit of their labour in grinding, kneading and baking. Even children could remember something of their own, because the little ones helped to fetch water (if not from wells, then from a spring).

Dinner was a celebration of harmony. The table was a place where young people were taught to perceive existence in unity, rather than in indifference.

Gratitude for God's gifts and awareness of one's own contribution, which had (truly) achieved its goal in a spirit of synergy and communion.

Contributions, resources and abilities were offered in service to the life of all.

In the Eucharistic gesture, Jesus says: the new heavens and earth do not correspond to the world in which everyone rushes to reap for themselves or their circle, in order to grab the maximum amount of resources.

His Kingdom? Everyone is invited and brothers in harmony, no one is master or ruler - destined to stand before or above (even if quicker than others) even in Heaven.

Even the Apostles - called by Jesus to be with him but still remaining at a safe distance from him (cf. Lk 9:10, 12) - are not the owners of the Bread, but those who must offer it to all (vv. 13, 16), to create abundance where there is none.

To enliven meetings on the theme of the Eucharist and to internalise how there has been an evolution in the Catholic Church's understanding of the effectiveness of the Sign, I like to compare two great works of art.

Raphael, in his so-called Disputation of the Sacrament, depicts a sacred and static world. Today we would say (at first glance) that it is almost plasticised.

It is an environment that seems entirely predictable and characterised by a specific social, cultural and spiritual model, where everyone is placed according to their origins, position, status and spiritual rank.

Arcabas, a French artist who recently passed away, paints a picture that seems devoid of a protagonist: as if cut out, or (better) focused on the simple gesture. In other words, the decorative trappings are irrelevant to this proposal of life.

In the work of the contemporary painter, we see the sobriety of a person and a well-centred missionary spirit (which scratches, but makes us lose our heads much more than beautiful scripts); because in the world of Love, the best is yet to come.

We are challenged.

Arcabas illustrates a simply laid table: a plate that is certainly not from the best collection, a glass of wine without frills, a tablecloth simply laid on the table and characterised by its folds (not even ironed) that recall everyday life.

And above all, the normal gesture of breaking bread, step by step, with its crumbs that are neither fluffy nor white. The Eucharistic Banquet is not for the afterlife - who knows when that will be.

(For almost a thousand years, the Catholic Church celebrated with daily bread, as the Orthodox Church still does. As evidence, we still have very large trays, now reduced to small plates).

In the passage from Luke, Jesus causes consternation. He does not agree with the idea that everyone should fend for themselves; he does not even like the idea of almsgiving (vv. 12-13).

He tells his followers to make the crowd lie down (v.14 Greek text) as lords and free people did on solemn occasions.

He wants and insists that the apostles serve first (vv. 13, 16), not other slaves.

Perhaps most astonishing is that he does not require any of those present to perform preventive acts of purification, as was customary in traditional religiosity.

Before the meal, it was customary to perform ablutions: a sort of ceremony that emphasised a sacred separation between the pure and the impure.

(Christ does not even like the paths of each person to be subject to external observers, experts who impose abstract principles and a dehumanising rhythm that is not commensurate with the person).

The apostles' only task is to distribute the Food - to be broken up, sifted and assimilated in order to build a new Kingdom - not to make preventive X-rays, let alone interested ones.

The absolute and non-negotiable criterion is the fullness of life of the last to arrive; the opposite would be (truly) a valley of tears, tinged with dissatisfaction and discontent.

In religion, we have a long list of requirements to observe in order to present ourselves before God.

On the path of Faith, it is the gratuitous encounter with the Lord that makes us grow, making us pure without conditions.

Even in the Disputation of the Sacrament, the person closest to the altar (almost identifying with it) is St. Francis, crouching below the level of the table. He too is a veteran.

The gaze of the alter Christus towards the outside meets and draws the attention of two young men on our left, halfway into the perspective, also crouched down and overwhelmed by figures of high spiritual rank.

The moral: the Eucharist is not a reward for the righteous, but (where and how we are) a call to real conviviality. An evergreen reminder not to be satisfied.

(Jn 13:1-15)

Complete Trust: the emblematic Action that creates pure people

Let us introduce the meaning of the Lord's washing of the feet, an emblematic gesture that the Synoptic Gospels evoke in the Breaking of Bread.

In ancient Israel, the patriarchal family, the clan and the community were the basis of social coexistence.

They guaranteed the transmission of the identity of the people and ensured protection for the afflicted.

Defending the clan was also a concrete way of confirming the First Covenant.

But at the time of Jesus, Galilee suffered both from the segregation dictated by the politics of Herod Antipas and from the oppression of official religiosity.

The spineless collaboration of the ruler had increased the number of homeless and unemployed people.

The political and economic situation forced people to focus on material and individual problems or those of their immediate family.

At one time, the identity that bound the clan and the community together guaranteed an internal solidarity, expressed in the defence and assistance given to the less fortunate members of the people.

Now this fraternal bond was weakened, rigid, almost contradicted, partly because of the harsh attitude of the religious authorities, who were fundamentalist and lovers of a pedantic purism that was opposed to mixing with the less well-off classes.

The law (written and oral) ended up being used not to promote the acceptance of the marginalised and needy, but to accentuate divisions and ghettoisation.

This situation was leading to the collapse of the most vulnerable sections of the population.

In short, traditional devotion - which loved the alliance between throne and altar - instead of strengthening the sense of community, was used to accentuate hierarchies; as a weapon that legitimised a whole mentality of exclusion (and confirmed the imperial logic of divide and rule).

Jesus, on the other hand, wants to return to the Father's Dream: the unavoidable dream of brotherhood, the only seal on the history of salvation.

According to a happy expression of Origen, the Eucharist is the ever-open wound in Christ's side; but Vatican II did not say a single word about the many forms of Eucharistic devotion.

In order to help us fully understand his Person, the Council Fathers were well aware that Jesus did not leave a statue or a relic. He preferred to express himself in a gesture that challenges us.

In the Jewish world, every family gathered around the table in the evening, and breaking bread was the most significant moment of their experience of conviviality (and memory of giving oneself to others).

The only bread was broken and shared among all the family members - but even a hungry poor person could come to the door, which was not to be locked.

Bread and wine, products that had assimilated the energies of heaven and earth, were recognised with spiritual sensitivity as gifts from the Creator for the life and joy of humanity.

In that culture, bread is a staple food. But our life is only complete if there is also an element of celebration: wine.

Even today, bread is not cut with a knife, out of respect for its sacredness: it is only broken. It contains concrete existence.

This is why Jesus chose the Banquet as a sign of his Person, his life, his word, his risky undertaking and new happiness, given as food.

During family meals, bread and wine were not perceived as manna, that is, as natural and raw products. Nor was it simply a matter of eating to regain strength.

The wheat and grapes also brought together all the varied contributions of the household.

Around the table, each person saw in the bread and wine the fruit of their labour: clearing the land, ploughing, sowing, reaping, pruning, harvesting and pressing.

Women saw their labour in the bread: grinding, kneading, baking. Even children could remember something of their own, because the little ones lent a hand (e.g. drawing water).

Dinner was a celebration of harmony. The table was a place where young people were taught to perceive existence in unity, rather than in indifference.

This was done with gratitude for God's gifts and an awareness of their own contribution, which had (truly) achieved its goal, in a spirit of synergy and communion.

Contributions, resources and abilities were offered in service to the life of all.

In the Eucharistic gesture, Jesus says: the new heavens and the new earth do not correspond to the world in which everyone rushes to reap for themselves or their circle, in order to grab the maximum resources.

His Kingdom? Everyone is invited and brothers in harmony, no one is master or ruler - destined to stand before or above (even if quicker than others) even in Heaven.

Even the Apostles - called by Jesus to be with him but still remaining at a safe distance from him (cf. e.g. Lk 9:10, 12) - are not the owners of the Bread, but those who must offer it to all (vv. 13,16), to create abundance where there is none.

To enliven meetings on the theme of the Eucharist and to internalise how there has been a decisive evolution in the Catholic Church itself in understanding the effectiveness of the Sign, I like to compare two great works of art.

Raphael, in his so-called Disputation of the Sacrament, depicts a sacred and static world. Today we would say (at first glance) that it is almost plasticised.

It is an environment that seems entirely predictable and characterised by a specific social, cultural and spiritual model, where everyone is placed according to their origins, position, status and rank.

Arcabas, a French artist who recently passed away, paints a picture that seems devoid of exclusive, distinct and titled protagonists: as if cut off, or (better) focused on the simple gesture.

To put it eloquently: the trappings of opulent decorations or prominent roles have no place in this vision of life!

In the work of the contemporary painter, we see the sobriety of a Person and a well-centred missionary spirit (which scratches, but makes us lose our heads much more than beautiful scripts); because in the world of Love, the best is yet to come.

We are constantly questioned...

Arcabas illustrates a simply laid table: a plate that is certainly not from the best collection, a glass of wine without frills, a tablecloth simply laid on the table and characterised by its folds (not even ironed) that recall everyday life.

And above all, the normal gesture of breaking bread, step by step, with its crumbs that are neither fluffy nor white. In other words, the Eucharistic Banquet that is not for the afterlife - who knows when that will be.

(For almost a thousand years, the Catholic Church celebrated with daily bread, as the Orthodox Church still does. As evidence, we still have very large trays-patens, now reduced to small plates).

The 'Hour' arrives... An emblematic action in John's Gospel, which does not formally recount the institution of the Eucharist.

This is the meaning of breaking bread: what it means to enter into communion, for the apostle who overturns hierarchies and subverts the criteria of purity, uniformity, compactness and glory.

In the fourth Gospel, only two Beatitudes are proclaimed:

'Truly, truly, I say to you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them' (Jn 13:16-17).

And to Thomas: "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (Jn 20:29b) - not because effort is a means of accumulating pain and merit, and thus pleasing God.

The two Beatitudes of John guarantee the tracks on which the believer finds his full realisation and the wonder of happiness: the practice of charity that recovers all that is scattered (including that of others) in the adventure of Faith.

Before and during ritual meals, the pious people of Israel performed ablutions with water to celebrate the separation between the sacred and the profane, the pure and the impure.

At the head of the table, hands were washed by a servant or the youngest of the guests.

With Jesus, tradition is overturned from within, leaving us astonished. 

For a Jew, washing another person was a gesture that had to be refused, even if reduced to slavery, so as not to dishonour the people. Instead, the Messiah prostrates himself and has the freedom to wash (not even the hands, but) the feet.

This is an absurd revelation of the Face of God, which shatters countless mannerisms, hopes of artificial prestige, acts of submission, and grotesque acknowledgements - advanced by princes of the church.

Not only an invitation to serve one's neighbour... a gesture to be imitated that proclaims the character of humble service of the ministry: it is also a sign of purification of his own - like a new Baptism, which immediately makes one part of God's world.

This 'washing' is a figure of the Person and Mission of the Son in favour of mankind - all now enabled to pass (and to bring others to pass) from this order to the Kingdom of the Father.

The Master gathers around him a group of disciples - even if they are not very convinced, but made pure - not because he aims to form a school, distinct from others or even unilateral, but to introduce them to Love, in the passage from slavery to the freedom of the Free (who comes down).

God does not identify people, nor does he superimpose his own thoughts on the history and sensibilities of the people. By bending down, he transcends roles, club spirit, ideas and certificates. This is indeed an exemplary initiative.

In fact, in his Exodus, he traces the new path of the people, even of those who oppose him - and this is disconcerting, it seems unacceptable. Peter is eager to command: he does not want to enter into a logic that manifests (in community leaders!) a God who is a servant of men, independent of their past.

By lowering himself to the level of a slave who lays down his clothes, the Lord wants to humanise us by recovering the opposites rooted in each of us...He even admits contestation - highlighting it and healing it (unless we remain like Judas, stubbornly attached to external seductions and false spiritual guides - to the clichés of belonging-gain).

Finally, Jesus does not take off his apron before putting his clothes back on: it is the only uniform that belongs to him. That kind of clothing remains on him: he even takes it with him to Paradise.

He did not play the part of the servant in order to return to heaven and lord it over others. He does not influence anyone.

The Life of the Father follows us on every path, to make us feel adequate: One Body with the Son, to whom he has entrusted everything (v. 3).

Total flowering for us too; indestructible, eminent, in itself free of hidden deadly germs.

His trust is transmitted in the history of salvation and unfolds to the undecided and imperfect, but his blood relatives in the Son. Ready to lift us up to an existence that no longer extinguishes being - and we are eager to make it flourish, instead of boycotting it or borrowing it.

Adopted children: this is not a diminution, but the distinguished recognition of an equality that does not clash.

In ancient times, when a sovereign designated his successor to the throne, he often appointed a valiant dignitary who was more trustworthy than his natural heir (who was often scheming, spoiled, fed up with life, parasitic and tired of his own prosperity).

God does not force us to coincide. By bending, he overcomes the club spirit, the parties, the characters and all the safe-conducts.

This is the 'service' of the disciples, to be carried out with their lives and the proclamation of the good news: to make known that the Father is not the selective God of religion, but the unconditional lover of man.

Love is communicated between equals and has the same pace as life: it cannot be harnessed by inherited opinions or fixed conventions, nor subjected to casuistic narratives.

Only the awareness of a freedom that remains will lead us to gestures of clear completeness, not for opportunistic and individual advantage, but in favour of Joy (fullness of being and intensity of relationship).

Only the esteem that the Father recognises in each person leads children and their stories towards acts of conviviality and inexplicable recoveries.

Jesus washing feet depicts the secret of the blessed life that expands the path of the self into that of the You: being genuine and free to the point of bending down to serve, approving every particular path (the feet of each person).

To internalise and live the message:

How do you live your responsibility and personality in Christ according to verses 3-4? After the Eucharist, do you do as Jesus did or do you immediately put down your apron?

We have just sung the Sequence: "Dogma datur christianis, / quod in carnem transit panis, / et vinum in sanguinem - this [is] the truth each Christian learns, / bread into his flesh he turns, to his precious blood the wine". 

Today we reaffirm with great joy our faith in the Eucharist, the Mystery that constitutes the heart of the Church. In the recent Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis I recalled that the Eucharistic Mystery "is the gift that Jesus Christ makes of himself, thus revealing to us God's infinite love for every man and woman" (n. 1). 

Corpus Christi, therefore, is a unique feast and constitutes an important encounter of faith and praise for every Christian community. This feast originated in a specific historical and cultural context: it was born for the very precise purpose of openly reaffirming the faith of the People of God in Jesus Christ, alive and truly present in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist. It is a feast that was established in order to publicly adore, praise and thank the Lord, who continues "to love us "to the end', even to offering us his body and his blood" (Sacramentum Caritatis, n. 1). 

The Eucharistic celebration this evening takes us back to the spiritual atmosphere of Holy Thursday, the day on which in the Upper Room, on the eve of his Passion, Christ instituted the Most Holy Eucharist. 

Corpus Christi is thus a renewal of the mystery of Holy Thursday, as it were, in obedience to Jesus' invitation to proclaim from "the housetops" what he told us in secret (cf. Mt 10: 27). It was the Apostles who received the gift of the Eucharist from the Lord in the intimacy of the Last Supper, but it was destined for all, for the whole world. This is why it should be proclaimed and exposed to view: so that each one may encounter "Jesus who passes" as happened on the roads of Galilee, Samaria and Judea; in order that each one, in receiving it, may be healed and renewed by the power of his love. Dear friends, this is the perpetual and living heritage that Jesus has bequeathed to us in the Sacrament of his Body and his Blood. It is an inheritance that demands to be constantly rethought and relived so that, as venerable Pope Paul VI said, its "inexhaustible effectiveness may be impressed upon all the days of our mortal life" (cf. Insegnamenti, 25 May 1967, p. 779). 

Also in the Post-Synodal Exhortation, commenting on the exclamation of the priest after the consecration: "Let us proclaim the mystery of faith!", I observed: with these words he "proclaims the mystery being celebrated and expresses his wonder before the substantial change of bread and wine into the body and blood of the Lord Jesus, a reality which surpasses all human understanding" (n. 6). 

Precisely because this is a mysterious reality that surpasses our understanding, we must not be surprised if today too many find it hard to accept the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. It cannot be otherwise. This is how it has been since the day when, in the synagogue at Capernaum, Jesus openly declared that he had come to give us his flesh and his blood as food (cf. Jn 6: 26-58).
This seemed "a hard saying" and many of his disciples withdrew when they heard it. Then, as now, the Eucharist remains a "sign of contradiction" and can only be so because a God who makes himself flesh and sacrifices himself for the life of the world throws human wisdom into crisis. 

However, with humble trust, the Church makes the faith of Peter and the other Apostles her own and proclaims with them, and we proclaim: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (Jn 6: 68). Let us too renew this evening our profession of faith in Christ, alive and present in the Eucharist. Yes, "this [is] the truth each Christian learns, / bread into his flesh he turns, / to his precious blood the wine". 

At its culminating point, in the Sequence we sing: "Ecce panis angelorum, / factus cibus viatorum: / vere panis filiorum" - "Lo! The angel's food is given / to the pilgrim who has striven; / see the children's bread from heaven". And by God's grace we are the children. 

The Eucharist is the food reserved for those who in Baptism were delivered from slavery and have become sons; it is the food that sustained them on the long journey of the exodus through the desert of human existence. 

Like the manna for the people of Israel, for every Christian generation the Eucharist is the indispensable nourishment that sustains them as they cross the desert of this world, parched by the ideological and economic systems that do not promote life but rather humiliate it. It is a world where the logic of power and possessions prevails rather than that of service and love; a world where the culture of violence and death is frequently triumphant. 

Yet Jesus comes to meet us and imbues us with certainty: he himself is "the Bread of life" (Jn 6: 35, 48). He repeated this to us in the words of the Gospel Acclamation: "I am the living bread from Heaven, if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever" (cf. Jn 6: 51). 

In the Gospel passage just proclaimed, St Luke, narrating the miracle of the multiplication of the five loaves and two fish with which Jesus fed the multitude "in a lonely place", concludes with the words: "And all ate and were satisfied" (cf. Lk 9: 11-17). 

I would like in the first place to emphasize this "all". Indeed, the Lord desired every human being to be nourished by the Eucharist, because the Eucharist is for everyone. 

If the close relationship between the Last Supper and the mystery of Jesus' death on the Cross is emphasized on Holy Thursday, today, the Feast of Corpus Christi, with the procession and unanimous adoration of the Eucharist, attention is called to the fact that Christ sacrificed himself for all humanity. His passing among the houses and along the streets of our city will be for those who live there an offering of joy, eternal life, peace and love. 

In the Gospel passage, a second element catches one's eye: the miracle worked by the Lord contains an explicit invitation to each person to make his own contribution. The two fish and five loaves signify our contribution, poor but necessary, which he transforms into a gift of love for all.
"Christ continues today" I wrote in the above-mentioned Post Synodal Exhortation, "to exhort his disciples to become personally engaged" (Sacramentum Caritatis, n. 88). 

Thus, the Eucharist is a call to holiness and to the gift of oneself to one's brethren: "Each of us is truly called, together with Jesus, to be bread broken for the life of the world" (ibid.). 

Our Redeemer addressed this invitation in particular to us, dear brothers and sisters of Rome, gathered round the Eucharist in this historical square. 

I greet you all with affection. My greeting is addressed first of all to the Cardinal Vicar and to the Auxiliary Bishops, to my other venerable Brother Cardinals and Bishops, as well as to the numerous priests and deacons, men and women religious and the many lay faithful. 

At the end of the Eucharistic celebration we will join in the procession as if to carry the Lord Jesus in spirit through all the streets and neighbourhoods of Rome. We will immerse him, so to speak, in the daily routine of our lives, so that he may walk where we walk and live where we live. 

Indeed we know, as the Apostle Paul reminded us in his Letter to the Corinthians, that in every Eucharist, also in the Eucharist this evening, we "proclaim the Lord's death until he comes" (cf. I Cor 11: 26). We travel on the highways of the world knowing that he is beside us, supported by the hope of being able to see him one day face to face, in the definitive encounter. 

In the meantime, let us listen to his voice repeat, as we read in the Book of Revelation, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me" (Rv 3: 20). 

The Feast of Corpus Christi wants to make the Lord's knocking audible, despite the hardness of our interior hearing. Jesus knocks at the door of our heart and asks to enter not only for the space of a day but for ever. Let us welcome him joyfully, raising to him with one voice the invocation of the Liturgy: 

"Very bread, Good Shepherd, tend us, / Jesu, of your love befriend us.... /You who all things can and know, /who on earth such food bestow, / grant us with your saints, though lowest, / where the heav'nly feast you show, / fellow heirs and guests to be". 

Amen!

[Pope Benedict, homily, 7 June 2007]

1. "Ecclesia de Eucharistia vivit" - "The Church draws her life from the Eucharist". The Encyclical Letter on the Eucharist, which I signed last Holy Thursday during the Mass of the Lord's Supper, begins with these words. Today's Solemnity of "Corpus Christi" recalls that evocative celebration and at the same time makes us relive the intense atmosphere of the Last Supper. 

"Take; this is my body... This is my blood" (Mk 14: 22-24). Let us listen again to Jesus' words while he offers his disciples the bread that has become his Body and the wine that has become his Blood. In this way he inaugurates the new paschal rite: the Eucharist is the sacrament of the new and eternal Covenant. 

With those acts and words, Christ brings to fulfilment the long ordinances of the ancient rites, mentioned just now in the First Reading (cf. Ex 24: 3-8). 

2. The Church returns constantly to the Upper Room as to the place of her birth. She returns to it because the Eucharistic gift establishes a mysterious "oneness in time" between the Passover of the Lord and the perennial making present of the paschal mystery in the world and in every generation (cf. Ecclesia de Eucharistia, n. 5). 

This evening too, with deep gratitude to God, let us reflect in silence before the mystery of faith - mysterium fidei. Let us contemplate it with that profound feeling which, in the Encyclical, I called "Eucharistic amazement" (ibid., n. 6): immense and grateful wonder at the Sacrament in which Christ wanted "to concentrate" forever his entire mystery of love (cf. ibid., n. 5). 

Let us contemplate the Eucharistic face of Christ, as did the Apostles and later, the saints of all the centuries. Let us contemplate him above all by learning at the school of Mary, "woman "of the Eucharist' in her whole life" (ibid., n. 53), the One who was "the first "tabernacle' in history" (ibid., n. 55). 

3. This is the meaning of the beautiful tradition of Corpus Christi which is renewed this evening. With it, the Church that is in Rome also shows her constitutive link with the Eucharist, and professes joyfully that she "draws her life from the Eucharist". 

Her Bishop, the Successor of Peter, and his Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood also draw their life from the Eucharist; men and women Religious, consecrated lay people and the baptized all draw their life from the Eucharist. 

Christian families in particular, to whom a few days ago the Diocesan Ecclesial Convention was dedicated, draw their life from the Eucharist. Dear families of Rome! May the living presence of Christ in the Eucharist foster the grace of marriage in you and allow you to progress on the path of conjugal and family holiness.Draw from this wellspring the secret of your unity and love, imitating the example of the Blessed husband and wife, Luigi and Maria Beltrame Quattrochi, who began their days by partaking in the Eucharistic Banquet. 

4. After Holy Mass, we will set out praying and singing for the Basilica of St Mary Major. With this procession we want to express symbolically our existence as pilgrims, "viatores", bound for the heavenly homeland. 

We are not alone on our pilgrimage: Christ, the Bread of life, walks with us: "panis angelorum, factus cibus viatorum" - "Lo the angel's food is given to the pilgrim..." (Sequence). 

May Jesus, the spiritual food that nourishes the hope of believers, sustain us on this journey towards Heaven and strengthen our communion with the heavenly Church. 

The Most Holy Eucharist, a glimpse of Heaven appearing on earth, pierces the clouds of our history. A glorious ray of the heavenly Jerusalem, it lights up our journey (cf. Ecclesia de Eucharistia, n. 19). 

5. "Ave verum corpus natum de Maria Virgine": Hail, true Body of Christ, born of the Virgin Mary! 

The soul melts into wonder and adoration before so sublime a Mystery. 

"Vere passum, immolatum in cruce pro homine". From your death on the Cross, O Lord, flows life for us which never dies. 

"Esto nobis praegustatum mortis in examine". O Lord, obtain that each one of us, nourished by you, may face all of life's trials with confident hope, until the day when you will be our viaticum for the last journey to the Father's house. 

"O Iesu dulcis! O Iesu pie! O Iesu, fili Mariae! - O sweet Jesus, O pious Jesus! O Jesus, Son of Mary!".

Amen.

[Pope John Paul II, 19 June 2003]

The Gospel presents us the narrative of the miracle of the loaves (cf. Lk 9:11-17) which takes place on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus is intent on speaking to the thousands of people, performing healings. As evening falls, the disciples approach the Lord and say to him: “Send the crowd away, to go into the villages and country round about, to lodge and get provisions” (v. 12). The disciples too were tired. In fact, they were in a remote place, and the people had to walk and go into the villages in order to buy food. And Jesus sees this and responds: “You give them something to eat” (v. 13). These words astonish the disciples. They do not understand; perhaps they even become angry and they reply: “We have no more than five loaves and two fish — unless we are to go and buy food for all these people” (ibid).

Instead, Jesus invites his disciples to carry out a true conversion from the mind-set of ‘everyone for themselves’ to that of sharing, beginning with that little that Providence puts at our disposal. And he immediately demonstrates that he is quite clear about what he wants to do. He tells them: “Make them sit down in companies, about fifty each” (v. 14). Then, taking the five loaves and two fish in his hands, he addresses the heavenly Father and utters the prayer of blessing. Next, he begins to break the loaves, divide the fish and give them to the disciples, who distribute them to the crowd. And the food does not end until everyone has had their fill.

This miracle — a very important one, so much so that it is recounted by all the Evangelists — demonstrates the Messiah’s power and, at the same time, his compassion: Jesus has compassion for the people. Not only does that prodigious gesture endure as one of the great signs of Jesus’ public life, but it also foretells what will be, in the end, the memorial of his sacrifice, namely, the Eucharist, the sacrament of his Body and his Blood offered up for the salvation of the world.

The Eucharist is the culmination of Jesus’ entire life, which was a single act of love toward the Father and brothers and sisters. There too, as with the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves, Jesus took the bread in his hands, raised a prayer of blessing to the Father, broke the bread and gave it to his disciples; and he did the same with the cup of wine. But in that moment, on the eve of his Passion, with that gesture, he wished to leave the Testament of his new and eternal Covenant, a perpetual memorial of the Paschal Mystery of his death and resurrection. The feast of Corpus Christi invites us to renew each year the wonder and joy of this wondrous gift of the Lord which is the Eucharist. Let us receive it with gratitude, not in a passive, habitual way. We should not grow accustomed to the Eucharist and go to Communion as a habit: no! Each time we approach the altar to receive the Eucharist, we must truly renew our “amen” to the Body of Christ. When the priest says “the Body of Christ”, we say “amen”: but let it be an “amen” that comes from the heart, a committed one. It is Jesus; it is Jesus who saved me; it is Jesus who comes to give me the strength to live. It is Jesus, the living Jesus. But we must not become accustomed: each time as if it were the first Communion.

Processions with the Most Holy Sacrament, which are taking place throughout the Catholic Church during this Solemnity, are expressions of the eucharistic faith of the holy People of God.

[Pope Francis, Angelus, 23 June 2019]

Two masters: what outlet for what we carry inside

(Mt 6:24-34)

How to avoid selling oneself for an idol, and not commit suicide by subjecting the breath of the soul to something ephemeral, instantaneous and partial?

Identifications, calculation of interests and artificial material goods empty the Core of being and do not show the solution.

The experience of Fatherhood in Faith is the sacred place that recovers the meaning of the original life; the vital intuition, of nature, that illuminates what’s appropriate to pursue in order to overturn the doubtful or shrunken existence.

Awareness of agreement with the natural order grafts more lymph.

Cosmic vision helps to direct the forces that emerge, revolutionizes hopes, nourishes boldness, suggests the orientation of events in uniqueness, and sublimates the same quality of coexistence.

The «son» who notices others and doesn’t accumulate, does not lose anything - but acquires another march: he experiences a Father who takes care of his own history, and expands life by building even on the dark sides.

The believer aware of being accompanied always manages to take another step.

He knows that nature spontaneously fills the voids, and it does so with a mysterious and supreme wisdom of balances.

Only on this new territory do we become solicitous of the great themes, but without the anxiety that bewilders us.

We gladly accept even the precariousness and situations of weakness: nourished by God’s ‘rest’ - and as in His «rural rhythm» - we know that needs and defects hide the most beautiful surprises of the journey.

The scene of the examples Jesus draws from nature is an echo of the conciliatory life dreamt for us by the Father.

It introduces the quintessence of Happiness from within. Joy that makes one aware of existing in all personal reality.

A paradoxical intuition of fullness of being, in the limit that belongs to us - which then overcomes the fear of not living up to it.

In fact, the Gospel passage shows the value of genuine, silent, inconspicuous things, which however live in us - they are not "shadows". And we perceive them without effort or brain commitment.

We often ask whether God really participates in our doubts, expectations and torments, or vice versa indifferent.

Sometimes even the Psalms seem to make blasphemous accusations to the Eternal, which impute Him of little attention to the events of the righteous.

Even great saintly figures experienced serious upheavals; anxieties and trepidations that were long hidden, because [in a framework of conformist serenity] they were considered unedifying.

Instead it’s quite normal - indeed, healthy and profitable - to feel the old hopes waver, and welcome in full the failures, negative emotions or other surrounding clouds.

The problem is that from an early age we are accompanied by the instinct of the search for security, and unfortunately in many cases we try to have the same attitude even in the path believer.

On the contrary, life in the Spirit detach itself - flowing into the more of the Faith and the Mystery, which ‘work’.

The Way proposed by Jesus has a non-moralistic tone, devoid of complexes, in view of the dedication to Today’s missionary life and the harmonious growth of belonging to the Faith at various levels (all to be discovered).

In its quiet power, here is the astonishment that doesn’t kill the soul. And the natural world has the keyword.

[Saturday 11th wk. in O.T.  June 21, 2025]

Two masters: what outlet for what we carry inside

(Mt 6:24-34)

We often wonder whether God is really a participant in our doubts, expectations and torments, or conversely indifferent.

Sometimes even the Psalms seem to address blasphemous accusations to the Eternal One, accusing Him of lacking attention to the affairs of the righteous.

Even great saintly figures have experienced serious turmoil; turmoil that was long hidden from us, because it was considered unedifying (in a picture of conformist serenity).

Instead, it is quite normal - indeed, healthy and beneficial - to feel old hopes wavering, and to fully embrace failures, negative emotions or other clouds that surround us.

The problem is that from an early age the instinct of seeking security accompanies us, and unfortunately in many cases we try to have the same attitude on the believing path as well.

Instead, life in the Spirit detaches itself from the vacuous institutional religious spiritual affair of the masses (which promises much and delivers nothing)... in the more of Faith and Mystery, which operate.

The point of reference is not the chronicle of homo faber ipsius fortunae - which is not by chance a pagan motto.

The soul does not willingly remain in a world characterised by petty antagonism, which demands to rush into the temporal action-reaction mechanism.

Frictions must be welcomed and reworked, for in them lies an intimate secret of growth.

[Thus, for example, he who wants to fight us will do us the greatest favour in life. Welcome it. It will be an opportunity to disengage from the immediate, and develop alternative - preparatory - energies of our unthinkable developments].

In this sense, let us accept the Father, who relentlessly compels us to shift our gaze - so that we spread our wings and arrive elsewhere, at the point we did not know before.

Otherwise, in the cloak of haste to adjust and reaffirm, we might trust other impulses - the ones that offer (illusory) security and block the flow of life, making it swampy and predictable.

The certainties of food, or roles, of gain and sense of power, even the slave mentality of holidays (...) then like any idol, demand everything: one becomes a lackey of a master who demands attention.

The attachment or even the adoration of mammon [Aramaic mamônâ, from 'aman - to support, to make foundation] gratifies, certainly; but on the spur of the moment.

Even to the point of deluding oneself that accumulation can make one experience divine intoxication. At most, however, by granting some alms.

The coryphaei of material opulence promptly say: "Trust me, the important thing is to keep for oneself and to be in the practical tally" - also because in today's Gospel passage, Jesus seems naive.

Yet Christ insists on proposing a non-servile relationship with goods. In terms of the fullness of being, one gains immensely more in welcoming the providential power of the Life that Comes.

In the rural imagery, the Lord alludes to the experience of wandering Israel.

In the Exodus, God had educated the people so that they could conquer the land of freedom and abandon the land of slavery - reassuring, not humanising.

In the wilderness, one could not accumulate property, nor pitch a permanent tent; not even hoard lasting food. Nothing was to enchant the people but the destination itself.

Certainly, the affliction of the poor is not that of the rich.

However, money does not eliminate anxieties - rather it artificially drives one to a monstrous expenditure of energy (always denying one's deep, dreamy being).

First the sacrifices to achieve positions, then those to defend them; and in the meantime, the frustration at not having advanced further.

That is, the anguish in measuring the difference between real goals and soul desires - both in the sense of totality and specific vocation.

Jesus suggests that we face reality with a new heart, respectful of the natural character. Otherwise, we would become ill.

We are serene in the eminent self that belongs to us - not in combing the lower self.

That is why we allow ourselves to be guided by non-artificial inclinations: radical, innate, germinal - which spontaneously contact the deep layers of the essence and destiny that belongs to us.

We do this not because we are gullible, but out of deep instinct, and because we have already experienced the cycle of 'death and resurrection': the dynamism of Love that has projected us somewhat out of time.

Here the negative and limit experiences have been able to activate harmonising (not subjective but propulsive) overall energies, cosmic outside and acutely divine within us. They will do so again.

Providence is the infallible Guide of the inner, natural, genuine world: the rhythm of being, the powerful [but spontaneous] step of the process of Faith must take over.

How, then, is it possible to avoid selling oneself for an idol, and not committing suicide by enslaving the soul's breath to something ephemeral and partial?Identifications, calculations of interests and artificial material goods empty the Core of being and do not make us see the authentic solution.

The experience of Paternity in Faith is the sacred place that recovers the sense of the original life; the vital intuition, of nature, that illuminates what should be pursued to overturn the doubtful or shrunken existence. 

All this, in the feeling that creation, personal innate vocation and human society are closely united in deep meaning and growth. Here the awareness of agreement with the natural order grafts more lymph.

Cosmic vision and personal character help us direct the forces that emerge, revolutionising expectations, nurturing boldness, suggesting the direction of events, in oneness.

Thus, truly sublimating the same quality of living and personhood.

The son who takes notice of others and does not accumulate, loses nothing - but rather gains another gear: he experiences a Father who takes care of his own history, and expands his life by building even on the dark sides.

The believer who is aware of being accompanied always manages to take another step. He knows that nature spontaneously fills in the gaps, and does so with a mysterious and supreme wisdom of balance.

It is only on this new territory that links the chronicle to history that we become solicitous of the great issues, but without the hassle that goes astray.

We willingly accept even precariousness and situations of weakness: nourished by God's rest - and as in his rural rhythm - we know that our needs and faults hide the most beautiful surprises of the journey.

The Way proposed by Jesus has a non-moralistic tone, devoid of complexes, in view of dedication to the missionary today and the harmonious growth of belonging in the Faith at various levels (all to be discovered).

In its quiet power, here is the astonishment that does not kill the soul. And the natural world has the key word.

"Man has lived in a state of bewilderment and fear until he discovered the stability of the laws of nature: until then the world remained foreign to him. The laws discovered are nothing other than the perception of the reigning harmony between reason, proper to the human soul, and the phenomena of the world. This is the bond by which man is united with the world in which he lives, and he feels great joy when he discovers this, for then he sees and understands himself in the things that surround him. To understand something is to find something of our own in it, and it is this discovery of ourselves outside ourselves that fills us with joy' (Rabindranath Tagore).

To internalise and live the message:

Who is your Lord or master? What totally occupies your horizon? Do you feel it is something that matches or sells your humanity?

Conclusion Spontaneous inclusion

The scene of examples that Jesus draws from nature - an echo of the conciliatory life dreamt for us by the Father - also introduces us to the Happiness that makes one aware of existing in all personal reality.

Indeed, the Gospel passage shows the value of genuine, silent, unremarkable things, which nevertheless inhabit us - they are not 'shadows'. And we perceive them without effort or cerebral commitment.

In the time of epochal choices, of the emergency that seems to checkmate us - but wants to make us less artificial - such awareness can overturn our judgement of substance, of the small and the great.

Indeed, for the adventure of love there is no accounting or clamour.

It is in God and in reality the 'place' for each of us without lacerations.

The hereafter is not imprecise.

One does not have to distort oneself for consent... least of all for the 'Heaven' that conquers death.

The destiny of oneness does not go to ruin: it is precious and dear, as it is in nature.

One must glimpse its Beauty, future and already present.

Once immediate gain has been marginalised - or any social guarantee that does not devour the value of littleness - there will no longer be any need to identify with the skeletons of established or disembodied, sophisticated, and fashionable thought and manners.

Nor will it matter to place oneself above or in front: rather in the background, already rich and perfect, in the intimate sense of the fullness of being.

Thus we will not have to trample on each other (cf. e.g. Lk 12:1)... even to meet Jesus.

"We are absolutely lost if we lack this particular individuality, the only thing we can truly call our own - and whose loss is also a loss for the whole world. It is most precious also because it is not universal' (Rabindranath Tagore).

"If globalisation claims to make everyone equal, as if it were a sphere, this globalisation destroys the distinctiveness of each person and each people".[78] This false universalist dream ends up depriving the world of the variety of its colours, its beauty and ultimately its humanity. Because 'the future is not "monochromatic", but, if we have the courage, it is possible to look at it in the variety and diversity of the contributions that each person can make. How much our human family needs to learn to live together in harmony and peace without us all being equal!" [Fratelli Tutti n.100].

To internalise and live the message:

Did a persecution happen to you that - while you would have preferred other near goals - brought out the very originality of your vocational physiognomy?

This invitation to trust in God’s steadfast love is juxtaposed with the equally evocative passage from the Gospel of Matthew in which Jesus urges his disciples to trust in the Providence of the heavenly Father, who feeds the birds of the air and clothes the lilies of the field and knows all our needs (cf. 6:24-34).

This is what the Teacher says: “Therefore do not be anxious, saying ‘what shall we eat?’ or ‘what shall we wear?’. For the Gentiles seek all these things and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all”.

In the face of the situations of so many people, near and far, who live in wretchedness, Jesus’ discourse might appear hardly realistic, if not evasive. In fact, the Lord wants to make people understand clearly that it is impossible to serve two masters: God and mammon [riches]. Whoever believes in God, the Father full of love for his children, puts first the search for his Kingdom and his will. And this is precisely the opposite of fatalism or ingenuous irenics. Faith in Providence does not in fact dispense us from the difficult struggle for a dignified life but frees us from the yearning for things and from fear of the future.

It is clear that although Jesus’ teaching remains ever true and applicable for all it is practised in different ways according to the different vocations: a Franciscan friar will be able to follow it more radically while a father of a family must bear in mind his proper duties to his wife and children. In every case, however, Christians are distinguished by their absolute trust in the heavenly Father, as was Jesus. It was precisely Christ’s relationship with God the Father that gave meaning to the whole of his life, to his words, to his acts of salvation until his Passion, death and Resurrection. Jesus showed us what it means to live with our feet firmly planted on the ground, attentive to the concrete situations of our neighbour yet at the same time keeping our heart in Heaven, immersed in God’s mercy.

Dear friends, in the light of the word of God of this Sunday I ask you to invoke the Virgin Mary with the title “Mother of divine Providence”. To her let us entrust our life, the journey of the Church and the events of history. In particular, let us invoke her intercession so that we may all learn to live in accordance with a simpler and more modest style, in daily hard work and with respect for creation, which God has entrusted to us for safekeeping.

[Pope Benedict, Angelus 27 February 2011]

7. These notions of divine providence offered to us by the biblical tradition of the Old Testament are confirmed and enriched by the New. Of all the words of Jesus that it records on this subject, particularly poignant are those recorded by the evangelists Matthew and Luke: "Therefore do not be troubled, saying, What shall we eat? What shall we drink? For your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things; seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be given you besides" (Matthew 6: 31-33; cf. also Luke 12: 29-31).

"Will not two sparrows be sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father's bidding. As for you, even the hairs of your head are all counted; therefore have no fear: you are worth more than many sparrows!" (Mt 10:29-31; cf. Lk 21:18). "Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Count ye not more than they? . . . And why do you toil for clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow: they neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon, with all his glory, dressed like one of them. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow will be thrown into the oven, will he not do much more for you, people of little faith?" (Mt 6:26-30; cf. Lk 12:24-28).

8. With such words, the Lord Jesus not only confirms the teaching on divine providence contained in the Old Testament, but he takes the discourse further in what concerns man, every single man, treated by God with the exquisite delicacy of a father.

Undoubtedly, the stanzas of the psalms extolling the Most High as man's refuge, protection and comfort were magnificent: thus, for example, in Psalm 90: "You who dwell in the shelter of the Most High and dwell in the shadow of the Almighty, say to the Lord: 'My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust' . . . For thy refuge is the Lord, and thou hast made the Most High thy dwelling place . . I will save him, because he has put his trust in me; I will exalt him, because he has known my name. He shall call upon me and I will answer him; with him I will be in misfortune" (Ps 90:1-2. 9. 14-15)

9. Very beautiful expressions; but Christ's words attain an even greater fullness of meaning. In fact, the Son pronounces them, who "scrutinising" all that has been said on the subject of Providence, bears perfect witness to the mystery of his Father: a mystery of Providence and paternal care, which embraces every creature, even the most insignificant, like the grass of the field or the sparrows. How much more man, then! This is what Christ wants to emphasise above all. If divine Providence shows itself so generous towards creatures so inferior to man, how much more will it care for him! In this Gospel page on Providence we find the truth about the hierarchy of values that is present from the beginning in the Book of Genesis, in the description of creation: man has primacy over things. He has it in his nature and spirit, he has it in the care and attention of Providence, he has it in the heart of God!

10. Jesus also insistently proclaims that man, so privileged by his Creator, has a duty to cooperate with the gift received from Providence. He cannot, therefore, be content with the values of sense, matter and utility alone. He must seek above all "the kingdom of God and his righteousness" because "all these things (earthly goods) will be given to you as an addition" (cf. Mt 6:33).

Christ's words direct our attention to this particular dimension of Providence, at the centre of which is man, the rational and free being.

[Pope John Paul II, General Audience 14 May 1986]

At the centre of this Sunday’s Liturgy we find one of the most reassuring truths: Divine Providence. The Prophet Isaiah presents it as the image of maternal love full of tenderness, and thus says: “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you” (49:15). How beautiful is this! God does not forget us, not one of us! Everyone by name and surname. He loves us and doesn’t forget. What a beautiful thought.... This invitation to trust in God finds a parallel on a page of Matthew’s Gospel: “Look at the birds of the air”, Jesus says, “they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.... Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these” (Mt 6:26, 28-29).

However, thinking of the many people who live in precarious conditions, or even in a poverty offensive to their dignity, these words of Jesus could seem abstract, if not illusory. But actually they are relevant, now more than ever! They remind us that you cannot serve two masters: God and wealth. As long as everyone seeks to accumulate for themselves, there will never be justice. We must take heed of this! As long as everyone seeks to accumulate for themselves, there will be no justice. Instead, by entrusting ourselves to God’s providence, and seeking his Kingdom together, no one will lack the necessary means to live with dignity.

A heart troubled by the desire for possessions is a heart full of desire for possessions, but empty of God. That is why Jesus frequently warned the rich, because they greatly risk placing their security in the goods of this world, and security, the final security, is in God. In a heart possessed by wealth, there isn’t much room for faith: everything is involved with wealth, there is no room for faith. If, however, one gives God his rightful place, that is first place, then his love leads one to share even one’s wealth, to set it at the service of projects of solidarity and development, as so many examples demonstrate, even recent ones, in the history of the Church. And like this God’s Providence comes through our service to others, our sharing with others. If each of us accumulates not for ourselves alone but for the service of others, in this case, in this act of solidarity, the Providence of God is made visible. If, however, one accumulates only for oneself, what will happen when one is called by God? No one can take his riches with him, because — as you know — the shroud has no pockets! It is better to share, for we can take with us to Heaven only what we have shared with others.

The road that Jesus points out can seem a little unrealistic with respect to the common mindset and to problems due to the economic crisis; but, if we think about it, this road leads us back to the right scale of values. He says: “Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” (Mt 6:25). In order to ensure that no one lacks bread, water, clothing, a home, work, health, we need to recognize that all people are children of the Father who is in Heaven and, therefore, brothers among us, and that we must act accordingly. I recalled this in the Message for Peace of 1 January this year: the way to peace is fraternity — this going together, sharing things with one another.

In the light of this Sunday’s Word of God, let us invoke the Virgin Mary as Mother of Divine Providence. To her we entrust our lives, the journey of the Church and all humanity. In particular, let us invoke her intercession that we may all strive to live in a simple and sober manner, keeping in mind the needs of those brothers who are most in need.

[Pope Francis, Angelus 2 March 2014]