Sunday June 22 2025

Blessed Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ — Year C
Solemnity

Homily by Father Emmanuel Schwab

1st reading: Genesis 14,18-20

Psalm: 109 (110), 1, 2,3, 4, XNUMX

2rd reading: 1 Corinthians 11,23-26

Gospel: Luke 9,11:17b-XNUMX

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« Every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes"

The connection between the mystery of the Eucharist and the Paschal Mystery of the Lord's death and resurrection is clearly underlined by Saint Paul. We proclaim the death of the Lord because this signifies the reality of the mystery of the Incarnation. The Word became flesh; the eternal Son of the eternal Father truly became man, "like us in every way except sin," says the Letter to the Hebrews, and he lived our human condition up to the point of death, the point that could be called final, but which Jesus will transform. As he enters into the mystery of death in full communion with the Father, he will be able to receive there the life stronger than death: in his person, death is dead, death is conquered. From now on, Salvation consists in being graciously, gratuitously "placed" with Jesus. This is the whole point of baptism, to be placed with, to be united with Jesus, to become a member of his body, this resurrected body in which he conquered death, so that we in turn may live from this victory. But this victory needs to be constantly nourished. As we live in time, we need to be accompanied in this time. And just as our body needs daily nourishment—and while it is possible to fast for a few days, it is not possible to fast for long months—so too our Christian being, our life as baptized people, our life as children of God needs to be nourished. And this nourishment is the Christ of Jesus himself.

This mystery of the Eucharistic presence of Jesus, the living bread come down from heaven as he calls himself (Cf. Jn 6,51:24), is of course very present in the life of Saint Therese. I am only quoting one passage here, but one could find many others; a passage which is in poem XNUMX. There, Therese speaks to Jesus:

Remember that ascending to the Father

You couldn't leave us orphans

And taking you prisoner on earth

You know how to veil all your divine rays

But the shadow of your veil is bright and pure

Living Bread of Faith, Heavenly Food

O mystery of love!

My Daily Bread

Jesus, it's You!

My daily bread, Jesus, is you... What means do we take to nourish ourselves with Jesus? What are the relays in our life of the Sunday Eucharistic nourishment? How do we work to ensure that this nourishment bears fruit, to ensure that it continues to inhabit us and give us life? When we search for the word “nourishment” in Thérèse’s writings, we are surprised to realize that she speaks little of the Eucharist as nourishment. But she speaks of many other nourishments; I have noted a few:

[In] Holy Scripture and the Imitation […] I find solid and pure nourishment. But above all it is the Gospel that sustains me during my prayers; in it I find everything necessary for my poor little soul. I always discover new lights, hidden and mysterious meanings… (MsA83)

How does Holy Scripture nourish our lives? How do we take the time to receive it, to eat it? And how does this nourishment enlighten us and strengthen us?

Another food, in manuscript C towards the end:

Love is nourished by sacrifices; the more the soul denies itself natural satisfactions, the stronger and more disinterested its tenderness becomes. (MsC 21v)

Love feeds on sacrifices : How do these sacrifices that Thérèse speaks of nourish our lives? How are they present and how are they part of our response to God's love?

Let us return again to the Eucharist in a letter to Celine:

Often we descend into the fertile valleys where our heart loves to be nourished, the vast field of scripture which has so often opened before us to spread its rich treasures in our favor. (LT165)

Another food that Thérèse talks about is in the Carnet jaune, July 3, 1897:

I need food for my soul; read me a saint's life. (CJ July 3, 4)

Read me a saint's life : how do we take the time to frequent this vast field that is the lives of the saints, how, from time to time, do we take the time to read this or that life of a saint, to nourish our life, to show us a way of living the gospel?

And last food again, it's August 5th:

I can only feed on the truth. Holy Scripture, sacrifices, the lives of saints, the truth, how does all this contribute to our nourishment? How are we attentive to what enters our heart, what nourishes our heart? We read endlessly in the newspapers articles on how to nourish our body, on what is good, what is not good, et cetera. How do we at least maintain the same hygiene of life for our heart? How do we nourish it? And all these foods come as a complement to the fundamental nourishment of the Eucharist.

If the Lord gives himself to us, it is also so that we can give ourselves, give ourselves to him and in giving ourselves to him give ourselves to our brothers. Thérèse also contemplates the fact of feeding Jesus and in a pious recreation, The Divine Little Christmas Beggar, we read this:

O my Sister! Be sure of it,

Jesus only wants your love,

It feeds on the pure soul

This is his daily bread.

This is one of the traits that can be seen in Thérèse: that Jesus expects something from us. She even calls this piece The divine little one Beggar of Christmas. Yes, Jesus waits for our love, Jesus waits for us to love him. Not because it would be a lack in him, but because he knows that we are made for this and that our true joy is there: to welcome the love of God given in Jesus, to respond to this love with love because, as Saint John of the Cross says, whom Thérèse likes to quote regularly: "love is only repaid with love." Jesus waits for our love and we verify the truth of our love for Jesus in the reality of our love for our neighbor.

Finally, one dimension that I would like to emphasize in relation to the mystery of the Eucharist, and which is also present in Thérèse, is the will of Jesus to come and make his home in us. Remember these words at the end of the third chapter of the Book of Revelation: " Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. (Rev 3,20:XNUMX). Jesus stands at the door and knocks. He waits for someone to open the door.

At the end of manuscript B - this great, somewhat exalted prayer to Jesus - Thérèse contemplates him as the eternal Eagle and says this to him:

Eternal Eagle, you want to nourish me with your divine substance, me, a poor little being, who would return to nothingness if your divine gaze did not give me life at every moment... O Jesus! Leave me in the excess of my gratitude, let me tell you that your love goes to the point of madness... How do you want my heart not to soar towards you in the face of this Madness? (MsB 5v)

You want to feed me with your divine substance… Thérèse will insist on this point in a famous letter, letter 92 to her cousin Marie who will become a nun under the name of Marie de l'Euchariste. Marie is in trouble and has not gone to communion because she is in Paris and is troubled by all the images she sees. Thérèse sends her a letter to tell her: but no, you are wrong because Jesus wants to come to you as to the tabernacle.

And the Pope in his exhortation on Saint Therese of the Child Jesus will take up this theme again and he writes this:

19. […] Thérèse prefers to emphasize the primacy of divine action and invites us to have full confidence in looking to the love of Christ which is given to us to the end. […]

22. This same insistence of Thérèse on divine initiative means that, when she speaks of the Eucharist, she does not put first her desire to receive Jesus in Holy Communion, but Jesus' desire to unite himself to us and dwell in our hearts. (Cf. Ms A, 48v; LT 92, to Marie Guérin – May 30, 1889) In the Act of Offering to Merciful Love, suffering from not being able to receive communion every day, she says to Jesus: "Stay with me, as in the tabernacle" (Pri 6). The center and object of her gaze are not herself with her needs, but Christ who loves, who seeks, who desires, who dwells in the soul.

So, brothers and sisters, on this feast of the Body and Blood of the Lord, let us take the time today to truly meditate on this great mystery of the Eucharist. Let us take the time, either in a time of silent, solitary prayer before the tabernacle, or by participating in the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament at Carmel this afternoon, by coming to the Eucharistic procession at the basilica this afternoon, no matter where or how... but let us take the time to meditate on this great mystery. Let us take the time to see how we take the means to relay this Sunday nourishment of the Eucharist through these different nourishments that Thérèse names. I recall them: Sacred Scripture, the sacrifices, the lives of the saints, the truth, and one that I have not mentioned because it would have taken too long to explain: these are the humiliations, that will be for another time...

How do we relay this food? How do we welcome it? How do we contemplate in this food the follies that the Lord has done for us, for each of us, and how do we seek from there to respond by returning love for love in our poverty, in our weakness?

And since we cannot do great things, let us dare with Thérèse to do the small ones with great love, love for Jesus, love for our brothers and sisters. This is how we will understand from within the great mystery of the Eucharist.

Amen

Father Emmanuel Schwab, Rector of the Shrine