HOMILY CORPUS CHRISTI SUNDAY 2026
BREAD OF LIFE FOR SPIRITUAL STRENGTH
Jn 6.51-58 Dt 8.2-3,14-16 1Cor 10.16-17
Well, this feast always takes me back to the seminary at Corpus Christi College Werribee in 1971, where Bill Attard and I, along with 25 others, started training for the priesthood. It was a somewhat enclosed environment, so this feast was an early highlight, where we could escape to St Francis’ in the city to have a party and film night, with the Blessed Sacrament priests, brothers and students there! The simple pleasures we looked forward to back then, a night out, not quite on the town! Another memory that year was a bus trip to Melbourne for an all night prayer vigil for vocations (not that it produced any positive results since!), with a rosary procession in soutanes on the streets, from Our Lady of Victories to St Dominic’s in Camberwell, concluding with a Latin Mass at 5am, I think I recall!! I have to admit, the highlight for me that night, was a total eclipse of the Moon, that I mightn’t have been up for otherwise!
Fortunately, the seminary training routine was more open and in touch with the real world, when we moved to Corpus Christi in Clayton, in 1973, where we had the option of doing university studies at Monash as part of our training, as well as parish pastoral work along the way.
At the same time, the celebration of Eucharist was always at the heart of our daily activities, and Corpus Christi continued as the seminary name. (Glen Waverley on the hill becoming ‘Coppers Christi’, as the Police Academy!!). The image on the tabernacle in the chapel, was a pelican, strangely enough, but attributed to the myth that the pelican fed its chicks with its own blood, symbolic of Jesus shedding his blood on the Cross, for the sake of all.
Now we come to celebrate Corpus Christi in the Church’s liturgical year, as a reminder of the centrality of Eucharist in our lives as Catholics. In our tradition, we have always highlighted First Communion as a special moment in our growth as faithful believers in Jesus, as we look forward to that celebration with our young people at OLN next weekend, and here at St Therese’s in September. And I bet we can all remember our own First Communion day, however far back it was in life! Certainly it’s still the case for me, thinking way back there to 1959, with the anticipation and the party afterwards!!
While all four Gospels give an account of the feeding of the hungry masses, or mob, by Jesus, it is John who provides a sequential development of human physical needs being satisfied, then moving to the spiritual needs of the faithful disciples, where Jesus describes himself as the Bread of Life, which we see as Eucharist, or Communion. These two words evoke images of a community of believers, gathering in gratitude and faith, as we pray together, listen to the Word, and are nourished spiritually, this gaining inner strength to continue living the Christian life, not just for the benefit of ourselves, but for others too. There is that necessary link with community and service.
The Gospel today is the culmination of Jesus’ teaching about himself as the revelation of God, present in humanity, as he walks with us, offering himself as an enduring presence in the Eucharist, for those of faith. It results in some walking away, as it is all too much to comprehend, and, once again, the Jewish leaders are threatened by a new voice, which challenges their judgemental attitudes, orthodoxy and religious practice. This teaching is something new, and difficult to comprehend as well.
John develops this Eucharistic theme all in one chapter (Jn 6), so that when he gets to the much later Last Supper account, he omits the breaking of the bread and introduces it with the Washing of the Feet, which we recall and re-enact on Holy Thursday. So, the secondary focus is on humble service of others.
The Eucharist is the culmination of Jesus’ ministry of table fellowship, where, in Luke’s Gospel, in particular, he makes no distinctions between status or rank or importance of any person, but rather, seems to have a preferential option for those on the outside, and generally looked down upon, the sick and the sinners, those who were different, including those of non-Jewish background. Then, at the end of his public ministry, he leaves us with the sacrament of Eucharist as the Bread of Life, believers are to continue to receive his ‘Real Presence’, as we do this in memory of him, as has been continued throughout the centuries since.
The feast was officially established by Pope Urban IV, in 1264, with the encouragement of medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas, “focused solely on the Holy Eucharist, being the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ.” One problem since then was the sense among many believers that they were unworthy to receive such a sacred gift, given their own sinfulness and so unworthiness! So the emphasis became more on adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, than on reception of Eucharist, as bread of sustenance for the journey of life, or ‘bread for the broken’, as described by the late Salesian scripture scholar, Frank Moloney, known to many here. At least Vatican II clarified that encouraging regular reception of Eucharist, which has become the norm since then, and is our practice now.
Pope Francis, simply declared: “The Eucharist is not a prize for the perfect, but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak.”
And Pope Leo, in his encyclical on Artificial Intelligence and human dignity, ‘Magnifica Humanitas’ (‘Magnificent Humanity’), concludes with a reflection on the centrality of Eucharist to our faith and lives:
(235) The Eucharist is an extremely personal encounter with the Lord, and never simply an act of individual piety… The Eucharist opens us to justice and sharing, with a preferential concern for those who are burdened by poverty of marginalisation. And while new economic and technological networks can generate exclusion, isolation and dependencies, the Church – nourished by the Eucharist – is called to make visible a different paradigm, one that preserves human connections, gives a voice to the invisible and ensures that processes are aimed at respecting people’s dignity.”
Thus, there is hope for us all as we receive Eucharist as the Bread of Life to strengthen us on our journey of life.
john hannon 7th June 2026