Five Loaves and Two Fish: Reflections on the Readings for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi), Cycle C

Genesis 14:18-20
Psalm 110
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
Sequence: Lauda Sion
Luke 9:11b-17

The Catechism tells us, “The Eucharist is the ‘source and summit’ of the Christian life.” (1324) In chapter 6 of the gospel of St. John, Jesus says four times, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.” He emphasized that His flesh was real food, never using the word symbol, even when people started leaving. Then, at the Last Supper, He gave us the means to eat His flesh and drink His blood when He instituted the Eucharist. The miracle of the Eucharist, the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ, is prefigured many times in both the Old and New Testament, beginning with Melchizedek.

In Genesis we learn that when Abram (later to become Abraham), our father in faith, returned from his successful rescue of his nephew Lot, he was met by Melchizedek, the king of Salem with bread and wine. Melchizedek was a priest of the God Most High and he blessed Abram in God’s name. Abram in turn gave him a tenth of everything he had recovered from those who had abducted his nephew.  We’ll see Lot again at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Melchizedek is a type of Him to come (this is called typology). The author of Hebrews, while referring to Jesus as our Great High Priest, notes that He is “a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”

Melchizedek is again prominent in the responsorial psalm. As mentioned above it is a foretelling of Jesus. “Melchizedek is the first person in Scripture who is explicitly called a ‘priest.’” (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible) He prefigures the Levite priests (see Exodus) as well as the Messianic High Priest, Jesus, mentioned several times in the letter to the Hebrews. The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible explains further this “order” is the pre-Levitical priesthood which resided in a family’s father and was part of the authority structure of the family as the father led the family’s worship, “calling on the Lord in prayer.”

The psalm refers to kingship, as a king would kneel on the neck of his defeated enemy, as on a footstool, to show subjugation. Also, a scepter is a kingly device, like a crown. The “princely power in the day of your birth, in holy splendor; before the daystar, like the dew, I have begotten you" implies divine ordination. In Hebrews we read about Jesus, the eternal High Priest in heaven, who is a “a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek,” quoted in the response.

The excerpt from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians retells the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper (on the night he was handed over). Note that Paul says he received this knowledge from the Lord and handed it over to the Corinthians. They were already celebrating the Eucharist. He also notes Jesus’ command to “do this ... in remembrance of Me.” And finally, the selection mentions that Jesus will come again.

This selection is a prime example of the importance of reading beyond the small excerpt chosen to be read at Mass. When we read further into Paul’s letter we learn of the importance of reading beyond the selection chosen for Mass. The verses immediately following this are in consonance with the Bread of Life discourse of Jesus in chapter six of John’s gospel, referred to at the beginning of this reflection. “Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord.” (Emphasis added.)

We are nearing the end of our Eucharistic Revival, which was initiated, in part, because of the concern that many Catholics do not believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. And yet this important passage clearly showing the Eucharist as Body and Blood of our Lord is not read at Mass. This is a critical lapse in the teaching about the Eucharist, the “source and summit of Christian life.” (It is, however, included in the reading for the Traditional Latin Mass for Corpus Christi.)

The Sequence, Lauida Sion, speaks to the re-presentation of the Last Supper and notes” “This the truth each Christian learns, Bread into his flesh he turns, To his precious blood the wine.” We see the signs of bread and wine, “Yet in either wondrous token Christ entire we know to be.”

The gospel acclamation is from the Bread of Life discourse mentioned earlier: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven, says the Lord; whoever eats this bread will live forever.” (John 6:51)

As we are in Cycle C, the gospel selection is from Luke. Here Luke relates the feeding of the five thousand men (meaning the crowd was likely much larger). It, too, is a prefiguring of the Eucharist. They were in a deserted place and the crowd was hungry. All they had to feed the masses were five loaves of bread and two fish, which they gave to Jesus. As at the Last Supper, Jesus “looking up to heaven, ... said the blessing over them, broke them, and gave them to the disciples,” who then distributed the pieces to the crowd. The food was multiplied so that, “They all ate and were satisfied.” In picking up the leftover fragments, they filled twelve wicker baskets.

As Jesus fed the crowd with the multiplied loaves and fish, so He feeds the faithful with His Body and Blood in the Eucharist. The difference is that the crowd was fed to satisfy their physical needs, while the Eucharist, the Body and Blood of the Living Christ, feeds our spiritual needs. The Eucharist sets Catholics apart from other Christians while at the same time uniting us as one Church. When Mass is over, we take the leftover “fragments” and reserve them for our brethren who may not have been able to attend Mass, as well as for future Masses. We keep them in the tabernacle. In ancient times the tabernacle was the place God dwelt and so it is today. Jesus is there in the tabernacle where we can visit and be with Him whenever the church is open. This is best done in a Holy Hour, a topic for another discussion.

The discussion of the Eucharist provides a great opportunity to look at how this teaching is consistent with the early Church. St. Justin Martyr wrote an “apology” (teaching, defending the faith) to the Roman emperor in 155 AD. As noted above, the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist was already well established by then. Here are some of the key points Justin made to the emperor: “For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Saviour.” Also, “the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh.” Justin explains baptism and notes the use of the Trinitarian formula when washing away the new Christian’s sins. In anticipation of the Arian heresy which denied Christ’s divinity, Justin also notes: “the Father of the universe has a Son; who also, being the first-begotten Word of God, is also God.” Besides describing the Mass, much as it is today, Justin also explains why we gather on Sunday, because “Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead.” Also, if you do the math, Pentecost, the “birthday” of the Church, was a Sunday.