Of all the dramatic moments from Pope Francis’ funeral in April, what many of us will remember was that long journey in the popemobile to St. Mary Major, his final place of rest. TV commentators noted again and again: we hadn’t seen something like that in modern times; most recent popes are all buried in St. Peter’s.
But there it was: a slow 30-minute ride from the Vatican to another corner of Rome. The white vehicle carrying the coffin moved through different neighborhoods. It passed apartments and restaurants, newsstands and shops, to get to the basilica that, for all its grandeur, isn’t nearly as recognizable as that big one with the dome where cardinals, bishops and priests had celebrated the funeral Mass.
It was a trip that took him away from the most famous Catholic church in the world, to a part of Rome that may have been unfamiliar to a lot of people.
But there was a message in that trip. And it connects us to the feast we celebrate this Sunday, The Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus Christ — or, as most of us simply call it, Corpus Christi.
Pope Francis was known for his efforts to go to the “peripheries,” to the margins, reaching people who are overlooked and forgotten: the poor, the imprisoned, the neglected and shunned. That trip to his burial site symbolized, in many ways, his journey away from the most important corner in the Catholic world, to be among ordinary people.
Making Jesus present
He once expressed that idea in a homily for Corpus Christi, referencing the popular processions that take place on the feast:
“The procession with the Blessed Sacrament,” he said, “reminds us that we are called to go out and bring Jesus to others. To go out with enthusiasm, bringing Christ to those we meet in our daily lives. Let us open wide our hearts in love … Let us break the bread of our lives in compassion and solidarity, so that through us the world may see the grandeur of God’s love.”
Looked at that way, Corpus Christi is more than just another Sunday on the calendar. Every day of our lives should be a kind of Corpus Christi — a day we bring Christ into the world.
We should be bringing Jesus into the workplace, the marketplace, the office, our own living room. We need to make him present to those who feel he is absent.
| June 22, 2025 – Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ |
|---|
| Gn 14:18-20 Ps 110:1, 2, 3, 4 1 Cor 11:23-26 Lk 9:11b-17 |
The Gospel for this Sunday recounts the story of Jesus multiplying a few loaves and fishes to feed thousands who are hungry. We traditionally associate this miracle with the Eucharist, as a kind of foreshadowing of what will happen at every Mass.
But maybe we should think of it differently. Maybe we need to consider that the loaves and fishes are, in fact, us.
‘Break the bread’
We are the ones who need to be multiplied — in our generosity, in our fervor, in our charity, in our love — and we then need to spread Christ’s message to a world that is starving for more than bread.
Ours is a world that wants to know love and mercy, healing and hope. It wants to know Christ’s presence. It’s worth asking ourselves on this feast: Are we doing that?
How can we radiate the reality of Christ to others? How can we bring him into the world? Are we willing to make the journey?
This feast concludes a string of Sundays that follow Easter, leading us back next week to the Sundays of Ordinary Time. But we shouldn’t see the days ahead as just “ordinary.” With Pope Francis’ words echoing in our hearts, we should strive more intently to “break the bread of our lives in compassion and solidarity.”
By God’s grace, we need to multiply our good works to bring Christ to others.
Every day should be, for us, Corpus Christi.
