Food of truth

What has today's feast of Corpus Christi to do with the G8 summit in Germany, where the world leaders have been seeking, for the umpteenth time, to diagnose the state of the world's health and the roots of its problems of misery? There is a connection between the two, because the Eucharistic mystery, properly understood, and social commitment are intimately connected. In a document recently published by Pope Benedict XVI we read: "We cannot remain passive before certain processes of globalisation which not infrequently increase the gap between the rich and the poor worldwide".

Keeping in mind the multiplication of the loaves and fishes in today's Gospel, we come to realise how Christ continues today to challenge his disciples to become personally engaged: "Give them something to eat yourselves", was Jesus' reply to the Twelve, who wanted to send the people away because it was getting late. We are all called, together with Jesus, to be bread broken for the life of the world.

The Eucharist belongs not only in the Church and to a closed community. The world should become Eucharistic, for the Eucharist spans the world and transforms it. That is why we celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi sort of cosmically, carrying the Eucharist even to our streets and squares so that the world, from the fruit of the new vine, may receive healing and reconciliation. The level of authenticity of our participation in the Eucharist can only be measured from the newness of our social relations. Divisions in our communities are always a counter-witness to the commitment of building Christ's Body in the world.

Far from being a farewell party or meal, what Jesus actually did at table with the Twelve on that same night that he was betrayed, is to be seen in connection with the feeding of the multitudes. We read how, as a prelude to the miracle of the multiplication of bread, Jesus "cured those who were in need of healing".

Luke says it was a lonely place. From an honest diagnosis of the world around us today, for many people, for too many I would say, the world is becoming a lonely place to inhabit, and what many possess in confrontation with what is actually needed to live decently is next to nothing. Recently we've learnt that even in our country, 15 per cent of the population and 20 per cent of children are living below the poverty line. Now if we ignore all this, and insist that this has nothing to do with today's feast or with Christ's real presence we continue to celebrate, we risk separating ritual from daily life, making the ritual an end in itself, and worse still, an alienation. This is mainly what the Prophets of the Old Testament sought to eradicate from the religion they were addressing in their respective contexts.

The sign of the bread is a most powerful and revealing sign in the context of the Gospels. Through the sign of the bread, God reveals Himself in Christ as the one who nourishes his people. In fact the Eucharist is Christ's Body and the people gathered in the Church through the breaking of the bread also constitute Christ's Body. One makes the other. Because it really makes no sense celebrating Christ's real presence in the Eucharist as ritual in our communities and then leaving the Body of Christ out there unattended to and still suffering.

Our prayer on this feast of the Body and Blood of the Lord, and while going in procession, should be a loud call to the living God to detoxify our homes and our streets through the waters of life, through the wine of his love.