Gospel Reflection of Solemnity of Corpus Christi – Sunday 18th June 2017

Earlier this year I was preaching a retreat in Italy and on the Sunday we stopped off at Orvieto the home of the Eucharistic miracle. In 1263 a German priest, Peter of Prague, stopped at Bolsena while on a pilgrimage to Rome. He is described as being a pious priest, but one who found it difficult to believe that Christ was actually present in the consecrated Host. Like the people in this Sunday’s Gospel he found the teaching difficult to believe. While celebrating Holy Mass he had barely spoken the words of Consecration when blood started to seep from the consecrated Host and trickle over his hands onto the altar and the corporal.

At first he attempted to hide the blood, but then he interrupted the Mass and asked to be taken to the neighboring city of Orvieto, where he knew Pope Urban IV was then residing.

The Pope listened to the priest’s account and absolved him. He then sent emissaries for an immediate investigation. When all the facts were ascertained, he ordered the Bishop of the diocese to bring to Orvieto the Host and the linen cloth bearing the stains of blood. The Pope accepted the miracle and one year later instituted the feast in the universal church and also asked St. Thomas Aquinas to compose the liturgy for the new feast. The linen corporal bearing the spots of blood is still reverently enshrined in the Cathedral of Orvieto and we celebrated Mass at the altar.

Belief in the true presence of Jesus is the Most Blessed Sacrament wasn’t just a challenge to those who heard Jesus preaching in the synagogue of Capernaum or for Peter of Prague in 1263.  It can still be a challenge to us in the modern world. How can this be, something that looks like a piece of bread is actually the living presence of the glorified Christ in heaven here before our eyes. The Real Presence, God in our midst lies at the heart of our faith journey here on earth. We believe it because Jesus himself said it was what it is, “This is my body… This is my blood”.

The mysterious and the ordinary go hand in hand. God is with us on our own personal journeys through life. Those who don’t believe want proofs that will force them to believe; but this not the plan of God, who desires our free love and not our forced submission. God respects our freedom as human beings made in his image and likeness and he offers us the truth awaiting our acceptance in faith.  As we kneel before the glorified Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament this weekend, let us pray for a deepening of our faith in Jesus’ Real Presence and a deeper acceptance of Him in our lives.