Presence and Word

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary, today, The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, ( Corpus Christi), celebrate the Presence of Christ in the Eucharist as food for our full life.

Pursue our Journey

The reading from the Book of Genesis recalls Melchizedek, king of Salem, who brought out bread and wine.

* [14:18] Melchizedek, king of Salem (Jerusalem, cf. Ps 76:3), appears with majestic suddenness to recognize Abraham’s great victory, which the five local kings were unable to achieve. He prepares a feast in his honor and declares him blessed or made powerful by God Most High, evidently the highest God in the Canaanite pantheon. Abraham acknowledges the blessing by giving a tenth of the recaptured spoils as a tithe to Melchizedek. The episode is one of several allusions to David, king at Jerusalem, who also exercised priestly functions (2 Sm 6:17). Heb 7 interprets Melchizedek as a prefiguration of Christ. God Most High: in Heb. El Elyon, one of several “El names” for God in Genesis, others being El Olam (21:33), El the God of Israel (33:20), El Roi (16:13), El Bethel (35:7), and El Shaddai (the usual P designation for God in Genesis). All the sources except the Yahwist use El as the proper name for God used by the ancestors. The god El was well-known across the ancient Near East and in comparable religious literature. The ancestors recognized this God as their own when they encountered him in their journeys and in the shrines they found in Canaan. (Genesis, CHAPTER 14 | USCCB, n.d.)

Psalm 110 proclaims God who assures the king that his enemies are conquered.

* [Psalm 110] A royal Psalm in which a court singer recites three oracles in which God assures the king that his enemies are conquered (Ps 110:1–2), makes the king “son” in traditional adoption language (Ps 110:3), gives priestly status to the king and promises to be with him in future military ventures (Ps 110:4–7). (Psalms, PSALM 110 | USCCB, n.d.)

The reading from the First Letter to the Corinthians, Paul relates the tradition of the Institution.

* [11:23–25] This is the earliest written account of the institution of the Lord’s Supper in the New Testament. The narrative emphasizes Jesus’ action of self-giving (expressed in the words over the bread and the cup) and his double command to repeat his own action. (1 Corinthians, CHAPTER 11 | USCCB, n.d.)

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand.

* [9:16] Then taking…: the actions of Jesus recall the institution of the Eucharist in Lk 22:19; see also note on Mt 14:19. (Luke, CHAPTER 9 | USCCB, n.d.)

Rev. Andy Alexan­der, SJ sus­pects that some of us, like he, at var­i­ous times in our lives, took the Eucharist for grant­ed and lost a sense of the sacred, the inti­mate bond of this gift of his entire self to/for us, and we lost a sense of how the Eucharist mis­sions us to share that self-giv­ing love for others.

Can this grace of a feel­ing close to our Lord be restored?  Can we open our hearts to receive that pow­er­ful, per­son­al expe­ri­ence of love he offers us with his very self being bro­ken and poured out for us?  Can we imag­ine a renewed spe­cial moment when the min­is­ter offers us his Body and his Blood, while we stretch out our arms with a big smile and say “Amen,” mean­ing “Yes,” to the whole gift: “Yes, I desire to receive you into my heart.  Yes, I so desire to let you heal me with your love and I real­ly want to feel mis­sioned by this sacra­ment to love as you’ve loved me”?

I believe this is pos­si­ble because I’m expe­ri­enc­ing a bit of it more and more these days, deal­ing with my dimin­ish­ment. That jour­ney has led me to re-dis­cov­er an impor­tant tool Ignatius offers us, that is, locat­ing and ask­ing for the grace we desire.   To ask for this gift of a “holy com­mu­nion of love” we receive in the Eucharist is sure­ly to ask for a grace our Lord dear­ly wants to give us. (Alexander, 2025)

Don Schwager quotes “Christ has yet to feed them with stronger food,” by Ambrose of Milan, 339-397 A.D.

"The order of the mystery is preserved everywhere. The first healing is bestowed on wounds through the remission of sins. Then the nourishment of the heavenly table abounds, although this multitude is not yet refreshed with stronger foods, nor do hearts hungry for more solid faith feed on the body and blood of Christ (Hebrews 5:12-14). He says, 'I gave you milk to drink, not meat. For you then were not strong, nor are you yet' (1 Corinthians 3:2). The five loaves are like milk, but the more solid meat is the body of Christ, and the stronger drink is the blood of the Lord (Luke 22:19-20). Not immediately at first do we feast on all foods, nor do we drink all drinks. 'First drink this,' he says. Thus there is a first, then a second thing that you drink. There is also a first thing that you eat, then a second, and then a third. At first there are five loaves, then there are seven (Matthew 15:34). The third loaf is the true body of Christ. So, then, let us never abandon such a Lord. He agrees to bestow on us nourishment according to the strength of each, lest either too strong a food oppress the weak or too meager a nourishment not satisfy the strong."(excerpt from EXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 6.71-72) (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 9:11-17 comments that whether we experience a Eucharistic miracle or not, Jesus is still present at every Mass. Just as he multiplied the five loaves and two fishes that day, he takes something so small—a simple piece of bread—and transforms it into his very flesh, to feed his people.

Today, offer Jesus your very self. Yes, the little that you have to offer him is enough! Give him your worries, your cares, but also your blessings and gifts. Trust in his miracle-working love and power to do amazing things in and through you.

“Jesus, nothing is too small for you. I worship you in the Eucharist, and I offer you the little that I have. Come and work your wonders in me!” (Meditation on Luke 9:11-17, n.d.)

Harry Elias SJ, assistant in the Hurtado Jesuit Centre in Wapping, East London, reflects on the communion with Christ into which we and all of creation are welcomed through the Eucharist.

At the Last Supper, Christ took bread and wine, blessed them (gave thanks to God for them) and declared the bread and wine to be his own body and blood, his sacrificial body, the embodiment of his sacrificial offering. He then gave them to his disciples to share. Earliest church tradition attests that the bread and wine were not merely a sign of Christ’s sacrificial body but actually were his body: the bread and wine had become a new creation. By becoming Christ’s flesh and blood, their identity was that of the Word of God (John 1:1). In offering the bread and wine, and in their being eaten and drunk, we come to communion (koinonia) with Christ in spirit, and through him with the Father, ‘so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life’ (Romans 6:4). Through our faith in Christ handed down to us by the Church, the joy and spiritual strength of hope we receive from the bread of life, the heavenly manna (John 6:50-51), enables us to endure the misfortunes in the wilderness of our lives. The Lord invites each one of us to his supper, to relax, rest and be refreshed in his personal love and in the Father’s love. (Elias, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler comments on the passage in Genesis where Melchizedek offers bread and wine as sacrifice in response to Abram. He is seen as a foreshadowing of Jesus “the king of righteousness” as outlined in the Letter to Hebrews. The first written version of the Last Supper, in Corinthians preceded by two decades the accounts in the New Testament. Friar Jude notes the different expressions of “blood” or “Covenant” in accounts and the different understanding in Greek or in Aramaic of Jesus Words.

Brian McLaren explores Jesus’ call to live by the collective values of justice and solidarity, becoming salt and light for the world. Jesus advocates an identity characterized by solidarity, sensitivity, and nonviolence. He celebrates those who long for justice, embody compassion, and manifest integrity and nonduplicity. He creates a new kind of hero: not warriors, corporate executives, or politicians, but brave and determined activists for preemptive peace, willing to suffer with him in the prophetic tradition of justice. 

Our choice is clear from the start: If we want to be his disciples, we won’t be able to simply coast along and conform to the norms of our society. We must choose a different definition of well-being, a different model of success, a new identity with a new set of values….  

If we seek the kind of unconventional blessedness he proposes, we will experience the true aliveness of God’s kingdom, the warmth of God’s comfort, the enjoyment of the gift of this Earth, the satisfaction at seeing God’s restorative justice come more fully, the joy of receiving mercy, the direct experience of God’s presence, the honor of association with God and of being in league with the prophets of old. That is the identity he invites us to seek. (McLaren, n.d.)

We ponder the declaration in the beginning of the Gospel of John that the Word is made flesh and dwells among us as we receive Christ in the sacrament of the Eucharist. The Chosen episode offers an interesting interpretation of Jesus and the loaves and fishes.

References

Alexander, A. (2025, June 22). Daily Reflection June 22, 2025 | Creighton Online Ministries. Creighton Online Ministries. Retrieved June 22, 2025, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-june-22-2025 

Elias, H. (n.d.). Corpus Christi transforming creation. Thinking Faith: The online journal of the Jesuits in Britain. Retrieved June 22, 2025, from https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/corpus-christi-transforming-creation 

Genesis, CHAPTER 14 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved June 22, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/genesis/14?18 

Luke, CHAPTER 9 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved June 22, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/9?11 

McLaren, B. (n.d.). Acting from Our Identity. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved June 22, 2025, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/acting-from-our-identity/ 

Meditation on Luke 9:11-17. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved June 22, 2025, from https://wau.org/meditations/2025/06/22/1310938/ 

1 Corinthians, CHAPTER 11 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved June 22, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1corinthians/11?23 

Psalms, PSALM 110 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved June 22, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/110?1 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). All Ate and Were Satisfied. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved June 22, 2025, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2025&date=jun22a 

Fruit and Spirit

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today, Pentecost Sunday, invite us to seek greater understanding of the Holy Spirit that guides the development of the Church and empowers the charism of our gifts to love and care for Creation.

Spirit and Life

The reading from the Acts of the Apostles describes the Coming of the Spirit as tongues of fire.

* [2:1–41] Luke’s pentecostal narrative consists of an introduction (Acts 2:1–13), a speech ascribed to Peter declaring the resurrection of Jesus and its messianic significance (Acts 2:14–36), and a favorable response from the audience (Acts 2:37–41). It is likely that the narrative telescopes events that took place over a period of time and on a less dramatic scale. The Twelve were not originally in a position to proclaim publicly the messianic office of Jesus without incurring immediate reprisal from those religious authorities in Jerusalem who had brought about Jesus’ death precisely to stem the rising tide in his favor.

* [2:2] There came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind: wind and spirit are associated in Jn 3:8. The sound of a great rush of wind would herald a new action of God in the history of salvation.

* [2:3] Tongues as of fire: see Ex 19:18 where fire symbolizes the presence of God to initiate the covenant on Sinai. Here the holy Spirit acts upon the apostles, preparing them to proclaim the new covenant with its unique gift of the Spirit (Acts 2:38).

* [2:4] To speak in different tongues: ecstatic prayer in praise of God, interpreted in Acts 2:6, 11 as speaking in foreign languages, symbolizing the worldwide mission of the church. (Acts of the Apostles, CHAPTER 2, n.d.)

Psalm 104 praises the beauty of creation with awe.

* [Psalm 104] A hymn praising God who easily and skillfully made rampaging waters and primordial night into a world vibrant with life. The psalmist describes God’s splendor in the heavens (Ps 104:1–4), how the chaotic waters were tamed to fertilize and feed the world (Ps 104:5–18), and how primordial night was made into a gentle time of refreshment (Ps 104:19–23). The picture is like Gn 1:1–2: a dark and watery chaos is made dry and lighted so that creatures might live. The psalmist reacts to the beauty of creation with awe (Ps 104:24–34). May sin not deface God’s work (Ps 104:35)! (Psalms, PSALM 104, n.d.)

The reading from the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians proclaims our Unity and the Variety of our charisms.

 * [12:4–6] There are some features common to all charisms, despite their diversity: all are gifts (charismata), grace from outside ourselves; all are forms of service (diakoniai), an expression of their purpose and effect; and all are workings (energēmata), in which God is at work. Paul associates each of these aspects with what later theology will call one of the persons of the Trinity, an early example of “appropriation.” (1 Corinthians, CHAPTER 12, n.d.)

The reading from the Letter of Paul to the Romans proclaims our identity as Children of God through Adoption.

Under the direction of the holy Spirit Christians are able to fulfill the divine will that formerly found expression in the law (Rom 8:4). The same Spirit who enlivens Christians for holiness will also resurrect their bodies at the last day (Rom 8:11). Christian life is therefore the experience of a constant challenge to put to death the evil deeds of the body through life of the spirit (Rom 8:13).

* [8:14–17] Christians, by reason of the Spirit’s presence within them, enjoy not only new life but also a new relationship to God, that of adopted children and heirs through Christ, whose sufferings and glory they share.

* [8:15] Abba: see note on Mk 14:36. (Romans, CHAPTER 8, n.d.)

In the Gospel of John, Jesus breathes the Spirit in an Appearance to the Disciples.

* [20:19] The disciples: by implication from Jn 20:24 this means ten of the Twelve, presumably in Jerusalem. Peace be with you: although this could be an ordinary greeting, John intends here to echo Jn 14:27. The theme of rejoicing in Jn 20:20 echoes Jn 16:22.

* [20:20] Hands and…side: Lk 24:39–40 mentions “hands and feet,” based on Ps 22:17.

* [20:21] By means of this sending, the Eleven were made apostles, that is, “those sent” (cf. Jn 17:18), though John does not use the noun in reference to them (see note on Jn 13:16). A solemn mission or “sending” is also the subject of the post-resurrection appearances to the Eleven in Mt 28:19; Lk 24:47; Mk 16:15.

* [20:22] This action recalls Gn 2:7, where God breathed on the first man and gave him life; just as Adam’s life came from God, so now the disciples’ new spiritual life comes from Jesus. Cf. also the revivification of the dry bones in Ez 37. This is the author’s version of Pentecost. Cf. also the note on Jn 19:30.

* [20:23] The Council of Trent defined that this power to forgive sins is exercised in the sacrament of penance. See Mt 16:19; Mt 18:18. (John, CHAPTER 20, n.d.)

The Gospel of John proclaims the role of The Advocate.

* [14:16] Another Advocate: Jesus is the first advocate (paraclete); see 1 Jn 2:1, where Jesus is an advocate in the sense of intercessor in heaven. The Greek term derives from legal terminology for an advocate or defense attorney, and can mean spokesman, mediator, intercessor, comforter, consoler, although no one of these terms encompasses the meaning in John. The Paraclete in John is a teacher, a witness to Jesus, and a prosecutor of the world, who represents the continued presence on earth of the Jesus who has returned to the Father.

* [14:17] The Spirit of truth: this term is also used at Qumran, where it is a moral force put into a person by God, as opposed to the spirit of perversity. It is more personal in John; it will teach the realities of the new order (Jn 14:26), and testify to the truth (Jn 14:6). While it has been customary to use masculine personal pronouns in English for the Advocate, the Greek word for “spirit” is neuter, and the Greek text and manuscript variants fluctuate between masculine and neuter pronouns.

* [14:18] I will come to you: indwelling, not parousia.

* [14:22] Judas, not the Iscariot: probably not the brother of Jesus in Mk 6:3 // Mt 13:55 or the apostle named Jude in Lk 6:16 but Thomas (see note on Jn 11:16), although other readings have “Judas the Cananean.” (John, CHAPTER 14, n.d.)

Kent Beausoleil, S.J. recalls the movie ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ and the wedding speech of Gus Portokalos, who proclaims “In the end, ‘we all fruit’”. 

Jesus comes to us, and the spirit of his love gives us courage, as he shows us that he is one with us, he too has the wounds of life to reveal, and with him we can find our peace, the peace and the power, as fruit together, to share the good news of a love that has a ‘together power’, a power found in one another as community, a power to overcome our differences, to overcome our hate, to vanquish all violence, to vanquish all division.  Yes, we are all different, but we, with the Holy Spirit alive in us and among us, we realize ‘we all fruit’.  And so dear friends, may the fruit you are be turned into the wine of God’s mercy and compassion, the Spirit of light, and of life, and of love.  And indeed, as we share these gifts of the Holy Spirit given to us, the fruits of the spirit alive in us, with one another and for our world, who knows, who knows, WHO KNOWS, what divine wind, will now blow. (Beausoleil, 2025)

Don Schwager quotes “The Holy Spirit at Pentecost,” by Leo the Great, 400-461 A.D.

"To the Hebrew people, now freed from Egypt, the law was given on Mount Sinai fifty days after the immolation of the paschal lamb. Similarly, after the passion of Christ in which the true Lamb of God was killed, just fifty days after his resurrection, the Holy Spirit fell upon the apostles and the whole group of believers. Thus the earnest Christian may easily perceive that the beginnings of the Old Covenant were at the service of the beginnings of the gospel and that the same Spirit who instituted the first established the Second Covenant." (excerpt from Sermon 75.1) (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Acts 2:1-11 comments that we need to experience both the mercy and the power of the Holy Spirit. We need to know, intimately and personally, just how forgiving God is. We need to know that nothing, not even the greatest of sins, can overcome the love that he has for us. We also need to experience the powerful rush of his Spirit filling us with confidence in God’s love. That confidence can propel us into the world to share the good news with everyone we meet.

Today, more than any other day, is a great day to ask for a fresh new outpouring of the Spirit. Ask the Spirit to flood you with a personal encounter with God’s mercy. Then ask the same Spirit to give you the courage to proclaim that mercy far and wide.

“Come, Holy Spirit! Fill me and empower me!” (Meditation on Acts 2:1-11, n.d.)

Sister Teresa White belongs to the Faithful Companions of Jesus. A former teacher, she spent many years in the ministry of spirituality at Katherine House, a retreat and conference centre run by her congregation in Salford.

When I started secondary school at the age of eleven, two new languages came into my life. In each of them, the first verb we had to learn by heart was ‘to love’ in the present tense: ‘amo, amas, amat…’ (Latin) and ‘j’aime, tu aimes, il/elle aime…’ (French).

Karl Rahner defines grace as ‘the self-communication of God in love’. Reflecting on this, it struck me that ‘love in the present tense’ is a perfect way to describe the gift, or grace, of the Holy Spirit. Love communicates before being understood: it is the language of the human soul, speaking without words, silent in the face of elusive mystery. And if we wanted to capture the essence of the Spirit’s presence in a single word, then Emmanuel (‘God with us’) would be a good choice. Indeed, if it is true, as Philip Endean SJ once wrote, that ‘… the only God who actually exists is God-with-us’,[ii] then Emmanuel could be considered the ‘family name’ as it were of the three persons of the Trinity: God beyond us, God among us, God within us. These thoughts led me to wonder whether that name, Emmanuel, which many Christians tend to associate almost exclusively with Christmas, should not also hold a pivotal place in our Pentecost vocabulary. Through the indwelling of the Spirit, God is always with us, never absent from our lives, and the Hebrew word Emmanuel verbalises the eternal presence of the divine in the whole of creation. (White, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler comments on the account in Acts of the first Pentecost Sunday. On the Jewish feast, the Spirit is crashing through the building enabling speech in different languages healing the Babel Tower. First Corinthians speaks about the charisms, spiritual gifts given as the Spirit wishes for the building up of the Church. The Spirit unites us in One Body. Romans 8 contrasts the flesh and Spirit, concupiscence, death and life. Jesus recalls “Abba” father in John 20. In John 14, on Easter Sunday night Jesus greets the apostles with  “Peace be with You” and the Shalom and the breath of His Spirit. We become a new creation, teaching us how to pray. The Advocate is going to reinforce our faith by sending consoller, councilor, and  Paraclete to teach us and remind us. Friar Jude notes that John, the mystic, for whom time is not important, and Luke, the historian, for whom time is very important, present the anointing with the Spirit in different times.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, encourages us to read the Scriptures by following the model of Jesus and in the company of the Holy Spirit, whose presence the church celebrates today. 

Jesus knows how to connect the dots and find out where the sacred text is truly heading, beyond the lower-level consciousness of a particular moment, individual, or circumstance. He knows there’s a bigger arc to the story—one that reveals God as compassionate and inclusive. Jesus doesn’t quote lines that are punitive, imperialistic (“My country is the best!”), wrathful, or exclusionary.

This is what the Spirit teaches any faithful person to do—read Scripture (and the very experiences of life) with a gaze of love. Contemplative practice helps us develop a third eye that reads between the lines and finds the thread always moving toward inclusivity, mercy, and justice. [1]  

The biblical revelation is about awakening. It’s about realization, not performance principles. We cannot get there, we can only be there, but that foundational Being-in-God, for some reason, is too hard to believe, and too good to be true. Only the humble can receive it, because it affirms more about God than it does about us. To achieve that realization, I invite us to read the Old Testament and the New Testament as one complete book: an anthology of inspired stories, with a beginning, middle, and end. Read it as one Spirit-led text. (Rohr, n.d.)

We invoke the Spirit to fill our hearts and kindle in them the Fire of Love that fulfills our Creation and directs our mission to witness the Spirit renew the face of the Earth.

References

Acts of the Apostles, CHAPTER 2. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved June 8, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/acts/2?1 

Beausoleil, K. (2025, June 8). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved June 8, 2025, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/060825.html 

John, CHAPTER 14. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved June 8, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/14?15 

John, CHAPTER 20. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved June 8, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/20?19 

Meditation on Acts 2:1-11. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved June 8, 2025, from https://wau.org/meditations/2025/06/08/1300439/ 

1 Corinthians, CHAPTER 12. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved June 8, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1corinthians/12?3 

Psalms, PSALM 104. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved June 8, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/104?1 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). Reading with the Holy Spirit. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved June 8, 2025, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/reading-with-the-holy-spirit/ 

Romans, CHAPTER 8. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved June 8, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/romans/8?8 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). They Were All Filled with the Holy Spirit! Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved June 8, 2025, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2025&date=jun8 

White, T. (n.d.). Love in the Present Tense. Thinking Faith: The online journal of the Jesuits in Britain. Retrieved June 8, 2025, from https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/love-present-tense