I loved this topic, the very first time i heard Fr. Reuben speak on It. 'You are what you eat.'
In the year 2004, there was a movie released called SUPER SIZE ME. The movie was created by a man named Morgan Spurlock, and it chronicled an unusual experiment that he performed over the course of a month. Spurlock wondered what would happen if he ate all his meals at McDonald’s. So that is what he did. For an entire month, every day, three times a day, he drove up to the Golden Arches to dine. By the end of the month, he had gained 30 pounds, his cholesterol levels were alarmingly high and his doctor warned him that he had to change his eating habits if he intended to survive. This movie gives visual form to a saying that we have all heard. You are what you eat. If you eat junk, fatty foods, your health deteriorates. If you eat healthy, natural, nutritional foods, your health improves.
You are what you eat.
As we celebrate the Feast of The Body and Blood of Christ OR Corpus Christi our belief is that when we eat The Bread of The Eucharist we take into ourselves The very life of Christ. We believe that at every Eucharist the bread and wine becomes the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of the Risen Christ. We do not understand how this can happen. But it is a remarkable gift, because Christ becomes for us our food. In our first reading from the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses reminds the people that God who led them out of Egypt, from slavery to freedom fed them with Manna to give them courage and strength in the wilderness.
In the third century it was St. Augustine who wrote, “If you receive the Eucharist well, you are what you eat.” Augustine says that the Eucharist is nourishment to us for what we already are. We are already united to Christ through faith and baptism. Each time we receive this sacrament we grow in that shared life of Christ. We become more of the person that we already are. So what then should this mystery of the Eucharist do for us? How should we change as we receive the Eucharist from week to week? The Eucharist should give us more courage and more confidence.
When we receive the Eucharist with faith we grow in courage, because the one we receive is Christ who faced the evil of the world. Christ knew what betrayal was, what suffering was, what loss was, what death was. He faced those evils with courage in the Father, Who loved Him. The Eucharist then helps us to deal with the trials of our own life. It gives us strength to deal with rejection, with sickness, even with death. When we receive the Eucharist, we receive the very courage of Christ, the strength through which Christ was able to face His passion. The very breaking of bread is symbolic of the breaking of the Body of Christ.
The Eucharist should also make us grow in confidence. The Christ-Who we receive is The Risen Christ, The Christ-Who now sits at the right hand of The Father, The Christ-Who is leading the world into God’s kingdom. The Risen Christ is a Christ of limitless Power and of limitless Love. Therefore, there will be always Hope for the future.
As we celebrate the Feast of The Body and Blood of Christ OR Corpus Christi our belief is that when we eat The Bread of The Eucharist we take into ourselves The very life of Christ. We believe that at every Eucharist the bread and wine becomes the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of the Risen Christ. We do not understand how this can happen. But it is a remarkable gift, because Christ becomes for us our food. In our first reading from the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses reminds the people that God who led them out of Egypt, from slavery to freedom fed them with Manna to give them courage and strength in the wilderness.
In the third century it was St. Augustine who wrote, “If you receive the Eucharist well, you are what you eat.” Augustine says that the Eucharist is nourishment to us for what we already are. We are already united to Christ through faith and baptism. Each time we receive this sacrament we grow in that shared life of Christ. We become more of the person that we already are. So what then should this mystery of the Eucharist do for us? How should we change as we receive the Eucharist from week to week? The Eucharist should give us more courage and more confidence.
When we receive the Eucharist with faith we grow in courage, because the one we receive is Christ who faced the evil of the world. Christ knew what betrayal was, what suffering was, what loss was, what death was. He faced those evils with courage in the Father, Who loved Him. The Eucharist then helps us to deal with the trials of our own life. It gives us strength to deal with rejection, with sickness, even with death. When we receive the Eucharist, we receive the very courage of Christ, the strength through which Christ was able to face His passion. The very breaking of bread is symbolic of the breaking of the Body of Christ.
The Eucharist should also make us grow in confidence. The Christ-Who we receive is The Risen Christ, The Christ-Who now sits at the right hand of The Father, The Christ-Who is leading the world into God’s kingdom. The Risen Christ is a Christ of limitless Power and of limitless Love. Therefore, there will be always Hope for the future.
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