Corpus Christi Sunday

Today is Corpus Christi Sunday or the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. I cannot but share to you how I witnessed a miracle resulting from one’s devotion to our Holy Eucharist when I was in college. We were in our Philosophy years that we seminarians experienced great pressure to study due to the seminary’s academic demands. One of our classmates had to study using his penlight during our “lights off” or sleeping time. Because of this, he suffered from an eye defect. So he was brought to the hospital, (Makati Med) and he was advised to undergo surgery because there was something in his brain that needed medical attention. So he agreed with the doctor. When the scheduled time arrived, one of the doctors was not there and so the mother of our classmate decided not continue their plan of having any surgery. They went back home and our classmate went back to the seminary with his defective eye covered by an eye mask. Every day we had our mass, he would take off his eye mask as the priest elevated the sacred host saying, “My Lord and my God.” Of course, all of us prayed for him too. Then after sometime, he regained his normal sight. They went to the hospital to ask how it happened, well the doctors could not explain it. But for us, we believe that it was the power of the Holy Eucharist who healed him.

My dear friends, the Holy Eucharist is important for us Catholics. It is in the Eucharist that we receive the Body of Christ as Jesus Himself said in the Gospel of Mark 14: 22 “This is my body.” In receiving Jesus in the Eucharist we are also reminded by His words in the Gospel of John 6: 54 which says, “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.” This is why even if some Catholics say that our celebration of the Mass is boring, we cannot change its essence that it is a sacrament instituted by Christ for our salvation. Yes, it is nice to pray while dancing and singing praise and worship songs, but such can neither equal with nor a substitute for the Eucharist which has a saving effect being a sacrament. Moreover, it is never written in the Scripture that when a community has a good preacher, with good dancers and singers too, that eternal life is possibly bestowed on them by God. Rather, what is written, that Jesus commanded His apostles to continue doing what He instituted as a sacrament saying, “Do this in memory of me” (Luke 22:19). To go further, the Holy Eucharist is the great source of our assurance of salvation. This is why satan hated the Holy Eucharist because many souls are saved every day through this sacrament. So satan needs to stop people attending the mass; and if satan could put an end to the celebration of the mass, then he would do so. This is why the first ones being attacked by satan are the priests. If there is no priest, then there is no one who celebrates the mass. If there is no mass, then one cannot receive the Body of Christ which gives us eternal life. So you see, my dear friends, as we celebrate the Corpus Christi, we are once reminded to love the Eucharist. We are called to attend mass every Sunday and if possible, we celebrate mass together every day. And by the way, our classmate who was healed by the power of the Holy Eucharist is now a parish priest -Fr. Kenn Martin G. Estocado. Let us therefore bless the Lord, and give Him thanks. Amen.