Sunday the 22nd Of June 2025 - The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ - Corpus Christi

Genesis 14:18-20/ Ps 110(109)/ 1 Corinthians 11:23-26/ Luke 9:11b-17

Carlo Acutis was born in London in 1991 to Italian parents who were at that time working there. The family returned to Italy and, at the age of 15 in 2006, Carlo died of leukaemia. He was to be canonised as a saint in April this year, but this was postponed due to the death of Pope Francis. He will now be canonised in September. So how did a fifteen-year-old boy become recognised as a saint by the Catholic Church?

From a very young age Carlo developed a vibrant faith and was never shy about witnessing to it to those around him. He had a deep love of the Blessed Sacrament and could hardly pass a Church without going in and spending some time in the presence of the Lord. He created a web site highlighting the various Eucharistic miracles that have been reported from time to time and can be thought of as a Social Media Influencer for the Church and the Real Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. He will be the first millennial saint and is a wonderful witness to all of us but especially young people.

Normally it might be expected that catholic parents would bring their children to God through the practice of their faith. For Carlo things were different, his parents were cultural Italian Catholics but did not practice. It was Carlo, through his deep love of Jesus in the Eucharist and his desire to attend daily mass whenever possible that brought his parents back to the practice of their faith. Carlo referred to the Holy Eucharist as his ‘highway to heaven’ taking every opportunity to make the Real Presence known to as many as possible. He was such an influence on people that the Hindu au pair who worked for his family was baptised a catholic.

To the surprise of his mother Carlo’s funeral was packed with people that she had no idea he knew. Known as cheerful, kind, having a love of animals, an interest in technology and video games, and practicing charitable works, there are many testimonies of how he brought people closer to God. Another of his sayings was ‘people who place themselves before the sun get a tan; people who place themselves before the Eucharist become saints’. Carlo is a saint for our times and for this day, the day we celebrate the greatest treasure of the Church, the source and summit of our faith life, the great gift left for us by Jesus before he suffered, died and returned to heaven.

Does it sometimes feel that we take this great gift for granted? When we enter our churches do we acknowledge who resides there, locked away in the tabernacle, indicated by a flickering candle? Are we aware of the True Presence of our Lord and God, often locked away in closed churches just waiting for us to visit at our convenience. Do we approach the Holy Eucharist in a respectful manner or are we distracted by things and people around us as we prepare to receive Holy Communion? Our Catholic faith tells us that we have a God that cannot be closer to us than he is. Jesus comes to us personally giving us his flesh and blood as real food and drink, through which he continually expresses his everlasting love for us. The intimacy we are so fortunate to have with our God must not become lost in contempt due to over familiarity. We recognise the presence of God in the elevated host at the consecration, praying, ‘my Lord and my God’, we approach communion in prayerful dignity with an understanding of who we are approaching and how we are about to receive him even in an unworthy state. It is an overwhelming thought but none the less true that it is the precious gift given to us by Jesus at the Last Supper, the treasure at the heart of our faith.

The Church gives us this day to celebrate the great gift of the Holy Eucharist. As a community of believers, we give thanks for Christ’s abiding presence amongst us, and we worship him in that presence. We are reminded about the mystery of this presence and join in devotion towards it by acknowledging the True Presence, by receiving Holy Communion, by worshiping the Blessed Sacrament in exposition or in quiet prayer or maybe by joining a Corpus Christi procession. In these ways we are drawn to appreciate the Holy Eucharist as a sacrifice and a sacrament offered through the eternal priesthood of Jesus. In the first reading we are reminded to give praise to God as Melchizedek, the priest of old, did. We see the Eucharist as a memorial of what Jesus did at the Last Supper recounted in the second reading. In the Gospel passage we see Jesus feeding the crowd who had followed him but with a vast surplus left over. This prefigures the never-ending supply of bread that now sustains is in the Holy Eucharist until Jesus returns. By participating in the celebration of Mass we fulfil the command of Jesus to ‘do this in memory of me’, it reminds us of the sacrifice he made for us through his death, it gives us life through his blood, and it joins us to the everlasting feast in Heaven.

Today reminds us of our unity with each other in the Body of Christ. In receiving Holy Communion, we become ever closer to Christ and each other in one body. We need to prepare properly for coming into the presence of God and especially to receive him in Holy Communion with eager love and respect not out of habit or routine. As we leave Mass today let us remember what Carlo Acutis shows us, that we are bearers of Christ, bringing him to others in our homes, schools, workplaces, social settings, and wherever we encounter people.

O Sacrament most holy, O Sacrament divine, all praise and all thanksgiving be every moment thine.

God Bless Brendan