20250622 EUCHARIST AND MISSION – ‘GIVE THEM SOMETHING TO EAT YOURSELVES’
22 June 2025, The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ
First reading |
Genesis 14:18-20 |
Melchizedek brought bread and wine
Melchizedek king of Salem brought bread and wine; he was a priest of God Most High. He pronounced this blessing:
‘Blessed be Abram by God Most High, creator of heaven and earth,
and blessed be God Most High for handing over your enemies to you.’
And Abram gave him a tithe of everything.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 109(110):1-4 |
You are a priest for ever, a priest like Melchizedek of old.
The Lord’s revelation to my Master:
‘Sit on my right:
your foes I will put beneath your feet.’
You are a priest for ever, a priest like Melchizedek of old.
The Lord will wield from Zion
your sceptre of power:
rule in the midst of all your foes.
You are a priest for ever, a priest like Melchizedek of old.
A prince from the day of your birth
on the holy mountains;
from the womb before the dawn I begot you.
You are a priest for ever, a priest like Melchizedek of old.
The Lord has sworn an oath he will not change.
‘You are a priest for ever,
a priest like Melchizedek of old.’
You are a priest for ever, a priest like Melchizedek of old.
Second reading |
1 Corinthians 11:23-26 |
Every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are proclaiming the death of the Lord
This is what I received from the Lord, and in turn passed on to you: that on the same night that he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread, and thanked God for it and broke it, and he said, ‘This is my body, which is for you; do this as a memorial of me.’ In the same way he took the cup after supper, and said, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Whenever you drink it, do this as a memorial of me.’ Until the Lord comes, therefore, every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are proclaiming his death.
Sequence |
Lauda, Sion
The Sequence may be said or sung in full, or using the shorter form indicated by the asterisked verses.
Sing forth, O Zion, sweetly sing
The praises of thy Shepherd-King,
In hymns and canticles divine;
Dare all thou canst, thou hast no song
Worthy his praises to prolong,
So far surpassing powers like thine.
Today no theme of common praise
Forms the sweet burden of thy lays –
The living, life-dispensing food –
That food which at the sacred board
Unto the brethren twelve our Lord
His parting legacy bestowed.
Then be the anthem clear and strong,
Thy fullest note, thy sweetest song,
The very music of the breast:
For now shines forth the day sublime
That brings remembrance of the time
When Jesus first his table blessed.
Within our new King’s banquet-hall
They meet to keep the festival
That closed the ancient paschal rite:
The old is by the new replaced;
The substance hath the shadow chased;
And rising day dispels the night.
Christ willed what he himself had done
Should be renewed while time should run,
In memory of his parting hour:
Thus, tutored in his school divine,
We consecrate the bread and wine;
And lo – a Host of saving power.
This faith to Christian men is given –
Bread is made flesh by words from heaven:
Into his blood the wine is turned:
What though it baffles nature’s powers
Of sense and sight? This faith of ours
Proves more than nature e’er discerned.
Concealed beneath the two-fold sign,
Meet symbols of the gifts divine,
There lie the mysteries adored:
The living body is our food;
Our drink the ever-precious blood;
In each, one undivided Lord.
Not he that eateth it divides
The sacred food, which whole abides
Unbroken still, nor knows decay;
Be one, or be a thousand fed,
They eat alike that living bread
Which, still received, ne’er wastes away.
The good, the guilty share therein,
With sure increase of grace or sin,
The ghostly life, or ghostly death:
Death to the guilty; to the good
Immortal life. See how one food
Man’s joy or woe accomplisheth.
We break the Sacrament, but bold
And firm thy faith shall keep its hold,
Deem not the whole doth more enfold
Than in the fractured part resides
Deem not that Christ doth broken lie,
’Tis but the sign that meets the eye,
The hidden deep reality
In all its fullness still abides.
– – – – – –
*Behold the bread of angels, sent
For pilgrims in their banishment,
The bread for God’s true children meant,
That may not unto dogs be given:
Oft in the olden types foreshowed;
In Isaac on the altar bowed,
And in the ancient paschal food,
And in the manna sent from heaven.
*Come then, good shepherd, bread divine,
Still show to us thy mercy sign;
Oh, feed us still, still keep us thine;
So may we see thy glories shine
In fields of immortality;
*O thou, the wisest, mightiest, best,
Our present food, our future rest,
Come, make us each thy chosen guest,
Co-heirs of thine, and comrades blest
With saints whose dwelling is with thee.
Amen. Alleluia.
Gospel Acclamation | Jn6:51 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the living bread which has come down from heaven,
says the Lord.
Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Luke 9:11-17 |
The feeding of the five thousand
Jesus made the crowds welcome and talked to them about the kingdom of God; and he cured those who were in need of healing.
It was late afternoon when the Twelve came to him and said, ‘Send the people away, and they can go to the villages and farms round about to find lodging and food; for we are in a lonely place here.’ He replied, ‘Give them something to eat yourselves.’ But they said, ‘We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we are to go ourselves and buy food for all these people.’ For there were about five thousand men. But he said to his disciples, ‘Get them to sit down in parties of about fifty.’ They did so and made them all sit down. Then he took the five loaves and the two fish, raised his eyes to heaven, and said the blessing over them; then he broke them and handed them to his disciples to distribute among the crowd. They all ate as much as they wanted, and when the scraps remaining were collected they filled twelve baskets.
EUCHARIST AND MISSION – ‘GIVE THEM SOMETHING TO EAT YOURSELVES’
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [GENESIS 14:18-20; 1 COR 11:23-26; LUKE 9:11-17]
Why does man search for God? In the hearts of everyone, we are seeking something — or someone — that can fill the emptiness in our lives. We may be doing well, be reasonably healthy, and even have a loving family. Yet something still seems to be missing. This is what secularism has brought humanity to: a life without meaning and purpose, promising that those who chase after success, power, fame, and wealth will find happiness. But we know it is a lie. Unfortunately, by the time one arrives at the summit of wealth, power, and fame, it is too late. Like the rest who have arrived, many remain unhappy and unfulfilled, spending their whole lives fighting with their opponents and with the world.
This explains why man cannot do without God — because God is the foundation of his existence. Without God, man cannot explain himself. He cannot understand his purpose in life, because he does not know why he came to this earth or whether he is going anywhere after death. But it is not enough to know that God exists; it is important to know Him.
Again, this is another great obstacle to overcome. From the beginning of time, man has searched for God — for the ultimate — but he cannot fully arrive, because God is incomprehensible. Reason can help us arrive at some metaphysical principles about God, but we also need to relate to Him. If God is reducible to mere concepts, then we cannot truly relate to Him or feel His presence.
Indeed, throughout the centuries, man has sought to imagine God by exploring the human heart and its needs. Many religions therefore anthropomorphize God so that we can make sense of Him and engage with Him, even though we know that the images we use are far from who God truly is.
Last Sunday, we celebrated the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity. The Christian belief is that only God can reveal to us who He is. Unless God reveals Himself, we are merely guessing what He is like. Thanks to our Lord Jesus Christ — who was raised from the dead, ascended into heaven, and sent us the Holy Spirit — we have come to know that God is Trinitarian, consisting of three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Without Christ, we would never truly know who God is. It is Jesus who reveals to us the heart and mind of God the Father and, together with the Father, sends us the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit, the Trinitarian God becomes real and present in our hearts and in our lives. This is why the central mystery of the Christian faith is the Blessed Trinity.
However, the Trinitarian God is not merely an abstract doctrine or theological formula. It is our lived experience of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is essential that every Christian has a deep and personal encounter with Jesus as the Son of God and as a brother — one who reveals the heart of the Father’s love and mercy through His teachings, miracles, and life.
This presence of Jesus and the love of the Father must be deeply felt in one’s life of faith — through spiritual formation, teachings, the Mass, retreats, worship, intercessory prayer, and, above all, in Christian fellowship. As Pope Benedict XVI says: “Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.” (Deus Caritas Est, 1)
But what does it mean to encounter God as the Holy Trinity? It means that we are called to live in a communion of mutual love, just as the Holy Trinity does. The Trinity teaches us that the fullness of life is found in sharing our uniqueness and gifts with one another. There is no competition, only the completion and enrichment of each other’s lives.
We are called to journey together, to support and encourage one another, and to help bring out the gifts in each other — so that together, we can celebrate the dynamism of life. We do not compare ourselves with one another, but instead recognize that the other is for me, and I am for the other.
Christian fellowship is founded on this principle of unity in diversity — a mutual sharing, giving, and empowering — so that all may have life in abundance. As St. Paul wrote: “The one who had much did not have too much, and the one who had little did not have too little.“ (2 Corinthians 8:15)
Today, the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ deepens our understanding of what it means to live in communion and mutual love with one another. This feast reminds us that Christ is the Head of the Mystical Body, and we are all members of that Body. As St. Paul wrote: “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body — Jews or Greeks, slaves or free — and we were all made to drink of one Spirit…Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” (1 Corinthians 12:12, 27) By sharing in the one Spirit of Christ, we become one.
But this cannot remain merely beautiful words — it must be translated into real, lived experience. That is why, on this Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, we are called to celebrate the Eucharist as the summit of our worship and spirituality.
To be able to care for one another as members of the Body of Christ, we must follow the example of our Lord, who gave us His Body and Blood at the Last Supper. On the Cross, Jesus offered Himself as both priest and victim for our salvation. This was prefigured in Melchizedek, king of Salem, who was not only a king but also a priest of God Most High. He brought bread and wine to celebrate Abraham’s victory over his enemies.
In this act, Melchizedek foreshadowed Christ’s self-sacrifice on the Cross, where Jesus —before His death — took bread and wine as symbols of His total self-offering to the Father. By His victory over sin and death, Jesus is proclaimed the High Priest of the New Covenant and King of the Universe.
On our part, we must now live out this Eucharistic life. St. Augustine reminds us that with ordinary food, what we consume is transformed into ourselves. But in receiving the Eucharist, we are transformed into Christ. This transformation carries a responsibility. As St. Paul exhorts us: “Until the Lord comes, therefore, every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are proclaiming His death.” It is not enough merely to celebrate the Mass, to hear the words of the institution of the body and blood of Christ, and to participate in the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. We must live out this sacrifice in our lives, offering ourselves in service of others. We, too, must die with the Lord and ourselves as a living sacrifice.
Indeed, today’s celebration is also a call to collaborate with the Lord in His mission of giving Himself to others. In the story of the multiplication of loaves, Jesus not only showed His mercy and concern for the people who were hungry, but He also anticipated the hunger of humanity for God’s love and life.
As disciples of the Lord, we have a responsibility of providing not only material food but also the spiritual food of God’s Word and His Eucharist. When the Twelve said to the Lord, “Send the people away, and they can go to the villages and farms round about to find lodging and food; for we are in a lonely place here.’ He replied, ‘Give them something to eat yourselves.’ But they said, ‘We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we are to go ourselves and buy food for all these people.’ For there were about five thousand men. But he said to his disciples, ‘Get them to sit down in parties of about fifty.'”
We are called simply to surrender whatever resources we have to the Lord and He will work miracles for us. We should not feel daunted by our limitations — whether in resources, ability, or capacity. If we trust in Him and offer the best of ourselves, Jesus will multiply our efforts and use them for the spread of His Kingdom. Indeed, “They all ate as much as they wanted, and when the scraps remaining were collected they filled twelve baskets.” Such is the power of the Lord’s blessing over the bread and wine.
So today, as we celebrate the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, let us receive Him with faith and love. By living in communion with our fellow Catholics and servicing the Christian community and beyond, we come to share in the life of the Holy Trinity: a life of communion. This is who we are and this is our ultimate calling in life. This is the reason why those of us who are involved in faith community groups find meaning and purpose. Members support each other in their faith journey and in their life struggles. They feel the love of God in their midst. And out of this love, the faith community reaches out beyond its own circle, allowing its circle of love to grow from strength to strength. Such a life of communion — of sharing and caring within a genuine community of faith — makes life meaningful and dynamic.
Best Practices for Using the Daily Scripture Reflections
- Encounter God through the spirit of prayer and the scripture by reflecting and praying the Word of God daily. The purpose is to bring you to prayer and to a deeper union with the Lord on the level of the heart.
- Daily reflections when archived will lead many to accumulate all the reflections of the week and pray in one sitting. This will compromise your capacity to enter deeply into the Word of God, as the tendency is to read for knowledge rather than a prayerful reading of the Word for the purpose of developing a personal and affective relationship with the Lord.
- It is more important to pray deeply, not read widely. The current reflections of the day would be more than sufficient for anyone who wants to pray deeply and be led into an intimacy with the Lord.
Note: You may share this reflection with someone. However, please note that reflections are not archived online nor will they be available via email request.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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