Gen. 14:18-20; Ps. 110:1-4; 1 Cor. 11:23-26; Jn. 16:12-15

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ is a celebration of the “living bread that came down from heaven” as a sacrifice to offer us life eternal.  The power of Jesus to transform five loaves and two fish into food to feed thousands is the miracle to understand the power to transform bread and wine into his own body and blood that we may believe and receive him so he may transform our lives.  This miracle was foreshadowed from the days of Melchizedek in the coming of Jesus, as Melchizedek blesses Abram, we the people are now blessed by Jesus our high priest as God Most High.

It is the belief of Jesus in the Eucharist that separates Catholicism from other Christian denominations.  How is it that Christians can accept and believe all the miracles Jesus did as well as his claim that he who sees him sees God but deny him when he says “this is my body, this is my blood” in the bread and wine.  Some even claim Catholics preach cannibalism just as in the times of Jesus when many followers also left him as we read in the gospel of John 6:66 “many of his disciples drew back and no longer walked with him”.  For those in search of the “mark of the beast” in the numbers 666, what could be a greater mark than to deny Jesus in the Eucharist.  It was “a hard saying, who can believe it” (Jn. 6:60) then and remains so even for many who claim to be Christian. 

Carlo Acutis, the teenage boy who used his computer skills to document many of the Eucharistic miracles prior to his death made this his life mission, the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist.  Eucharistic miracles like in Lanciano (8^th Century), Santarem (13^th Century), and Buenos Aires (1990s) and show consistently blood type AB positive including the Shroud of Turin is believed to be AB blood.  They also show to come from cardiac tissue which spiritually unites our hearts to the heart of Jesus.  In these miracles Jesus reveals himself as present to us today as he was when he walked this earth.  What we also have in these miracles in an example of how science is not inconsistent with faith.  Carlo’s canonization as a saint is now set to take place September 7, 2025 having lived and died in his service to God at a young age. 

This leaves us still on this earth seeking that perfect sanctity, a work in progress, uniting our faith with reason but ultimately no one can save us with their faith.  It is up to us to believe and by believing to allow Jesus into a more perfect union with our own hearts.  Believe and let God be God for who nothing is impossible.  It is only impossible by our lack of faith as he created us with our own soul to act by free will and to accept or deny him.  We cannot accept him on our terms but as he has revealed himself to humanity, as he claims to be and in the way he has decided to reveal himself.  The decision is ours but eternity depends on the faith we choose to live.