Oblates of St. Francis de Sales

New DeSales World Newsletter - Summer Edition

FEAST OF THE BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST (June 10, 2007)

Suggested Emphasis

"Give them food yourselves."

Salesian Perspective

The disciples seemed to be a practical group of men, perhaps much like most ministers of the Church. If it were a contemporary parish they may have worded their question along these lines: Did anyone requisition a room for all these people to meet and eat? Whose budget is this coming from anyway? What committee is in charge of this?

Fortunately for us, Jesus wasn't concerned about any of these matters. In fact, in the face of the daunting task to feed at least 5,000 men (not counting women and children), Jesus essentially said, 'Do it yourselves.'

His only organizational instruction was to have them sit down in groups of fifty. And to their credit, they did as they were told. And there is the rub, that is, they did as they were told without any evidence of a solution that made sense. Obviously, their faith in Jesus prevailed. And Jesus was there, after all, so he must have had a plan. That's what we have to do: trust; we have to do as we are told by Jesus with faith that God has a plan..

Francis de Sales wrote in his Introduction to the Devout Life that "your chief aim in Holy Communion should be to advance, strengthen and comfort yourself in the love of God, receiving for love's sake what love alone can give. There is nothing in which the love of Christ is set forth more tenderly or more touchingly than in the Sacrament by which He, so to say, annihilates Himself for us and takes upon Himself the form of bread in order to feed us, and unites Himself closely to the bodies and souls of the faithful."

So, too, with us today each time we receive the Body and Blood of Christ, we have Jesus there with us. But how well do we do as we are told without evidence of a solution to whatever overwhelming situation we face? Sometimes all we know to do at the time is to try to organize what we have, maybe prioritize, as the disciples did when arranging them in groups of fifty. Then we proceed not knowing the outcome, and really only knowing that Jesus is with us. I once read a commentary on this gospel passage that the crowd was so moved by love that each shared what he had brought. Now that's a miracle, sharing with others out of love.

In this holy Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, we are challenged to reflect on St. Augustine's maxim, "become what we receive." We become the Body of Christ. When faced with overwhelming situations with little or no evidence of resolution in sight, we remember that Christ is present in us, with us, and for us to do what we ourselves cannot do alone. So we have no fear when we're expected to do it ourselves because we know it is Christ in us who is our strength. Who knows, maybe if more of us took this to heart, each would be genuinely empowered to be the Body of Christ and do whatever needs to be done in fulfilling God's will.

Rev. Michael S. Murray, OSFS, is the Executive Director of the De Sales Spirituality Center.