Institution of the EucharistCorpus Christi Sunday, Year A
The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Year A
In most countries this solemnity, formerly celebrated on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, is now observed on the Sunday after Trinity Sunday, this year replacing the Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand)
Readings (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: England & Wales, Scotland, India)
Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)
Gospel John 6:51-58 (English Standard Version, Anglicised)
At that time:
Jesus said to the Jews, ‘I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If
anyone eats of this bread, he will live for ever. And the bread that I will
give for the life of the world is my flesh.’
The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’
So Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live for ever.’
John and Pam are a couple who live in the parish of the Assumption, Howth, in the Archdiocese of Dublin whom I have come to know very well through Worldwide Marriage Encounter since I came back to Ireland from the Philippines nine years ago. John was seriously ill in hospital three years ago and shared some reflections with me in emails which I thought would be good to share on Sunday Reflections with his permission for the feast of Corpus Christi. He has kindly given me permission to use his reflection again this year. Please pray for Stephen, the sone of John and Pam who is recovering from serious surgery.
From a small swelling below my left knee I developed sepsis and suffered septic shock late at night in which my vital signs: heartbeat, pulse, disappeared. My guardian angel must have been watching over me because Pam, my beloved of 53 years [now 56], was sitting beside me and her nursing training acquired 60 years ago, sprang into action as she gave me the kiss of life and applied CPR.
Fortunately, Pam’s action was successful. I came to and the ambulance brought me to Beaumont Hospital where I received extraordinary care from a dedicated team for 3½ weeks as they worked to bring the infection under control, which has been a slow business. Thankfully I have now been discharged and continue to recover at home under Pam’s dedicated care.
It has been a time for reflection. Our wonderful parish community - the Body of Christ - has been praying for me as has our faithful Marriage Encounter family.
53 years ago, Pam and I vowed to live as one body as Jesus called us in Matrimony to do. Now Pam, who is an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion in our parish, has been bringing me the Body of Christ, broken for us on the Cross and risen to Easter glory, to receive in my hospital bed and now at home. It has been extraordinarily profound for both of us. St Paul links the various meanings of ‘body’ together.
I have to assume that the Lord still has some task for me that I may neither know nor understand at this moment.
I was pretty poorly in hospital and had some dark nights of the soul, unable to sleep and wondering if I would ever really recover. However there were always others more ill than me in the ward.
As expected, we’ve had extraordinary love and prayers from our Marriage Encounter Family. One couple, Mike and Rose, have kindly been keeping everyone up-to-date on my faltering progress.
However what has been perhaps less expected has been the outpouring of love and prayers from our daily 10:00 Mass community in our parish church in Howth that I join every day via the webcam. I have had a real tangible experience of belonging to a community who truly love me and Pam. It has been an alive experience that St Luke describes so vividly in Acts referring to the early Christian communities. Both Pam and I feel humbled by it all and this outpouring of love, prayer and support has so buoyed me up especially through the darker moments.
The idea of Body is a strong theme running through St Paul’s letters. There is Jesus offering his Body broken on the Cross to be gloriously raised on Easter Day. Jesus himself tells us [in today’s gospel] that unless we eat his Body and drink his Blood we shall not have his life in us. He it was who raised marriage to be a Sacrament by calling Pam and me and countless others to live as One Body.
Paul develops this by identifying the Christian Community as Christ’s Body with the members looking out for other members. We have experienced this in huge and tangible measure pressed down and over-flowing.
Pam and I are Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion and if asked, we stand in the middle of the church and it has often occurred to me that we as a married couple called to be one body by Jesus, are serving his Body to the Body of Christ in our parish. This became a deep thought in my present illness, watching Pam receive the pyx with the Blessed Sacrament in it at the end of Mass to bring the Lord to me on my sick bed.
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Supper at Emmaus (1606)Traditional Latin Mass
Second Sunday After Pentecost
The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 06-07-2026 if necessary).
Epistle: 1 John 3:13-18. Gospel: Luke 14:16-24.
