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In the Gospel passage St Luke, narrating the miracle of the multiplication of the five loaves and two fish with which Jesus fed the multitude “in a lonely place”, concludes with the words: “And all ate and were satisfied” (cf. Luke 9: 11-17). I would like in the first place to emphasize this ?all?. Indeed, the Lord desired every human being to be nourished by the Eucharist, because the Eucharist is for everyone. If the close relationship between the Last Supper and the mystery of Jesus’ death on the Cross is emphasized on Holy Thursday, today, the Feast of Corpus Christi, with the procession and unanimous adoration of the Eucharist, attention is called to the fact that Christ sacrificed himself for all humanity. His passing among the houses and along the streets of our city will be for those who live there an offering of joy, eternal life, peace and love. In the Gospel passage, a second element catches one’s eye: the miracle worked by the Lord contains an explicit invitation to each person to make his own contribution. The two fish and five loaves signify our contribution, poor but necessary, which he transforms into a gift of love for all. ?Christ continues today ? I wrote in the above-mentioned Post Synodal Exhortation, ?to exhort his disciples to become personally engaged? (Sacramentum Caritatis, n. 88). Thus, the Eucharist is a call to holiness and to the gift of oneself to one’s brethren: ?Each of us is truly called, together with Jesus, to be bread broken for the life of the world? (ibid.). An except from the Homily of Pope Benedict XVI |
