Do This In Memory Of Me

Corpus Christi
25 May 2008


First reading: Deuteronomy 8:2 - 16
These are the words that Moses spoke beyond Jordan to the whole of Israel:
Remember how the Lord your God led you for forty years in the wilderness, to humble you, to test you and know your inmost heart – whether you would keep his commandments or not. He humbled you, he made you feel hunger, he fed you with manna which neither you nor your fathers had known, to make you understand that man does not live on bread alone but that man lives on everything that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

Do not become proud of heart. Do not forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery: who guided you through this vast and dreadful wilderness, a land of fiery serpents, scorpions, thirst; who in this waterless place brought you water from the hardest rock; who in this wilderness fed you with manna that your fathers had not known, to humble you and test you and so make your future the happier.

Second reading: 1 Corinthians 10:16 - 17
The blessing-cup that we bless is a communion with the blood of Christ, and the bread that we break is a communion with the body of Christ. The fact that there is only one loaf means that, though there are many of us, we form a single body because we all have a share in this one loaf.

Gospel: John 6:51 - 58
Jesus said:
‘I am the living bread which has come down from heaven.
Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever;
and the bread that I shall give is my flesh,
for the life of the world.’

Then the Jews started arguing with one another: ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ they said. Jesus replied:
‘I tell you most solemnly,
if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,
you will not have life in you.
Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood
has eternal life,
and I shall raise him up on the last day.
For my flesh is real food
and my blood is real drink.
He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood
lives in me
and I live in him.
As I, who am sent by the living Father,
myself draw life from the Father,
so whoever eats me will draw life from me.
This is the bread come down from heaven;
not like the bread our ancestors ate:
they are dead,
but anyone who eats this bread will live for ever.’

Reflection
By Pietro S. Albano

It felt being in heaven to be seen by people up there in the sanctuary, clad in immaculate Barong Tagalog, giving instructions to the congregation in impeccable English during the course of the liturgical celebration. It felt being superior to the rest serving as lector/commentator. It can be a temptation for us to turn such a sacred gathering into some sort of a fashion show. Yet Moses' words in the First reading is a wake up call for us: "Do not forget the Lord your God..." Jesus must have thought of these words when He instituted the Holy Eucharist that's why He said "Do this in memory of me."

Let us approach the Mass with humility, fully aware that we gather because we want to remember God who feeds us all with His body and pours on us His blood regardless of our status in society. In His presence, let no one boast.