Deuteronomy 8.2-3,14b-16a | 1 Corinthians 10.16-17 | John 6.51-58

On the Sunday after Trinity Sunday, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, the Most Holy Eucharist, the sacrament of the consecrated Bread and Wine. In some countries, the solemnity is celebrated on previous Thursday because it was on this day of the week that Jesus celebrated the Last Supper with His apostles, when He instituted the Eucharist.

It is the only day of the year when the Blessed Sacrament can be taken from the church to the nearby streets and avenues for the adoration of the faithful and the public demonstration of faith in the presence of Jesus in the consecrated Host.

Only Catholics believe in the mystery of transubstantiation, that is, that the Bread and Wine are transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ by the action of the Holy Spirit and by the laying on of the consecrated hands of the priests, repeating the words and gestures of Jesus in the Holy Mass. For Catholics, the Eucharist is the Body and Blood, the soul and divinity of Christ, which is why they kneel in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. For non-Catholics, these are merely symbols, signs, and a reminder of the Last Supper.

In the tabernacle, which is located in the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, is the Eucharistic reserve, where the consecrated hosts are placed in ciboria to be taken to the sick or elderly who cannot participate in Sunday Mass, and also for the adoration of the faithful. A lit candle indicates that there are consecrated hosts in the tabernacle. When they pass before the tabernacle, the faithful, in reverence and piety, genuflect, bending their right knee until it touches the ground.

Today the evangelist John speaks to us of Jesus as the living Bread that came down from heaven, the Bread that resurrects the dead and gives life forever.

Jesus' teaching about His flesh as true food and His blood as true drink generated discussion among the Jewish crowds.

Despite the difficulty of understanding and acceptance, Jesus remained firm, without correcting Himself. He taught the Jews that the Bread was His flesh given for the life of the world. In order to have life in themselves, they had to eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood. Thus, they would remain in Jesus and He in them, living because of Him and being resurrected on the last day.

Speaking of manna—that food that the Lord provided for His people as they left slavery in Egypt on their way to the promised land (cf. Exodus 16)—Jesus told the Jews that their ancestors had died, despite having eaten the manna, but that those who ate His flesh and drank His blood would not die.

Yes, people need material food to satisfy the hunger of their stomachs. But there is also spiritual food that satisfies the hunger of the soul, which yearns for love and life, which yearns for God. There is an intrinsic relationship between material food and spiritual food. Catechesis is fundamental for understanding the difference between material bread and spiritual bread, educating in faith to worthily receive the consecrated host.

As Christians, while we nourish ourselves in the Eucharist with the flesh and blood of Jesus, in the certainty of the final resurrection, let us strive to satisfy both the hunger of the stomach and the hunger of the soul of the multitudes.

Today, the author of the book of Deuteronomy speaks to us about the Lord God who gave manna as food to His people as they left Egypt and who made water gush from the hardest rock to quench their thirst in the desert.

The Lord God was testing His people to see whether or not they would observe His commandments, to show them that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from His mouth.

As in the past, God continues to be attentive to the needs of His children and provides them with spiritual food and drink, which give them strength to persevere on the path to total liberation. This is the Body and Blood of Christ, the Holy Eucharist.

Let us value this sublime sacrament of the altar.

Today, the apostle Paul speaks to us in his first letter to the Corinthians about the communion with the Lord and with our brothers and sisters that takes place during the Lord's Supper in memory of Christ crucified and resurrected.

This spiritual intimacy of love took place in the breaking of the one bread - the Body of Christ - and the blessed cup - the Blood of Christ.

The apostle taught that Christians should live as one body, closely united, just as they were nourished with the one Bread of Christ's flesh.

By participating in the Lord's Supper in memory of Him, let us allow the Eucharist to produce in us the necessary communion with God and with ourselves, so that we may be more perfectly the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church.

Blessed and praised be the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar: in Heaven, on Earth, and everywhere. Amen.