Below is an unofficial Vatican Radio translation of Pope Benedict XVI's homily on
the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, 2011 Dear brothers and sisters! The feast
of Corpus Domini is inseparable from the Holy Thursday Mass of in Caena Domini, in
which the institution of the Eucharist is also celebrated. While on the evening of
Holy Thursday we relive the mystery of Christ who offers himself to us in the bread
broken and wine poured out, today, in celebration of Corpus Domini, this same mystery
is proposed to the adoration and meditation of God's people, and the Blessed Sacrament
is carried in procession through the streets of towns and villages, to show that the
risen Christ walks among us and guides us towards the Kingdom of heaven. Today we
openly manifest what Jesus has given us in the intimacy of the Last Supper, because
the love of Christ is not confined to the few, but is intended for all. This year
during the Mass of Our Lord’s Last Supper on Holy Thursday, I pointed out that the
Eucharist is the transformation of the gifts of this land - the bread and wine - intended
to transform our lives and usher in the transformation of the world. Tonight I would
like to return to this point of view. Everything starts, you might say, from the
heart of Christ, who at the Last Supper on the eve of his passion, thanked and praised
God and, in doing so, with the power of his love transformed the meaning of death
which he was about to encounter. The fact that the Sacrament of the altar has taken
on the name "Eucharist" - "thanksgiving" - expresses this: that the change in the
substance of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ is the fruit of
the gift that Christ made of himself, a gift of a love stronger than death, love of
God which made him rise from the dead. That is why the Eucharist is the food of eternal
life, the Bread of life. From the heart of Christ, from his "Eucharistic Prayer" on
the eve of his passion, flows the dynamism that transforms reality in its cosmic,
human and historical dimensions. All proceeds from God, from the omnipotence of his
love One and Triune, incarnate in Jesus. In this Love the heart of Christ emerges,
so He knows how to thank and praise God even in the face of betrayal and violence,
and thus changes things, people and the world. This transformation is possible
thanks to a communion stronger than division, the communion of God himself. The word
"communion", which we use to designate the Eucharist, sums up the vertical and horizontal
dimension of the gift of Christ. The beautiful and eloquent expression "receive communion"
refers to the act of eating the bread of the Eucharist. In fact, when we carry out
this act, we enter into communion with the very life of Jesus, in the dynamism of
this life which is given to us and for us. From God, through Jesus, to us: a unique
communion is transmitted in the Holy Eucharist. We have heard as much, in the second
reading, from the words of the Apostle Paul to the Christians of Corinth: "The cup
of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread
that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ"(1 Cor 10:16-17). Saint
Augustine helps us to understand the dynamics of Holy Communion when referring to
a kind of vision he had, in which Jesus said to him: "I am the food of the mature:
grow, then, and you shall eat me. You will not change me into yourself like bodily
food; but you will be changed into me"(Confessions, VII, 10, 18). Therefore, while
the bodily food is assimilated by the body and contributes to its maintenance, the
Eucharist is a different bread: we do not assimilate it, but it assimilates us to
itself, so that we become conformed to Jesus Christ and members of his body, one with
Him. This is a decisive passage. Indeed, precisely because it is Christ who, in Eucharistic
communion, transforms us into Him, our individuality, in this encounter, is opened
up, freed from its self-centeredness and placed in the Person of Jesus, who in turn
is immersed in the Trinitarian communion. Thus, while the Eucharist unites us to Christ,
we open ourselves to others making us members one of another: we are no longer divided,
but one thing in Him. Eucharistic communion unites me to the person next to me, and
with whom I might not even have a good relationship, but also to my brothers and sisters
who are far away, in every corner of the world. Thus the deep sense of social presence
of the Church is derived from the Eucharist, as evidenced by the great social saints,
who have always been great Eucharistic souls. Those who recognize Jesus in the Blessed
Sacrament, recognize their brother who suffers, who is hungry and thirsty, who is
a stranger, naked, sick, imprisoned, and they are attentive to every person, committing
themselves, in a concrete way, to those who are in need. So from the gift of Christ's
love comes our special responsibility as Christians in building a cohesive, just and
fraternal society. Especially in our time when globalization makes us increasingly
dependent upon each other, Christianity can and must ensure that this unity will not
be built without God, without true Love. This would give way to confusion and individualism,
the oppression of some against others. The Gospel has always aimed at the unity of
the human family, a unity not imposed from above, or by ideological or economic interests,
but from a sense of responsibility towards each other, because we identify ourselves
as members of the same body, the body of Christ, because we have learned and continually
learn from the Sacrament of the Altar that sharing, love is the path of true justice. Let
us return to Jesus’ act in the Last Supper. What happened at that moment? When He
said: This is my body which is given to you, this is my blood shed for you and for
the multitude, what happened? Jesus in that gesture anticipates the event of Calvary.
He accepts his passion out of love, with its trial and its violence, even to death
on the cross; by accepting it in this way he transforms it into an act of giving.
This is the transformation that the world needs most, because he redeems it from within,
he opens it up to the Kingdom of Heaven. But God always wants to accomplish this renewal
of the world through the same path followed by Christ, indeed, the path that is Himself.
There is nothing magic in Christianity. There are no shortcuts, but everything passes
through the patient and humble logic of the grain of wheat that is broken to give
life, the logic of faith that moves mountains with the gentle power of God. This is
why God wants to continue to renew humanity, history and the cosmos through this chain
of transformations, of which the Eucharist is the sacrament. Through the consecrated
bread and wine, in which his Body and Blood is truly present, Christ transforms us,
assimilating us in him: he involves us in his redeeming work, enabling us, by the
grace of the Holy Spirit, to live according to his same logic of gift, like grains
of wheat united with Him and in Him. Thus unity and peace, which are the goal for
which we strive, are sown and mature in the furrows of history, according to God's
plan. Without illusions, without ideological utopias, we walk the streets of the
world, bringing within us the Body of the Lord, like the Virgin Mary in the mystery
of the Visitation. With the humble awareness that we are simple grains of wheat, we
cherish the firm conviction that the love of God, incarnate in Christ, is stronger
than evil, violence and death. We know that God is preparing for all people new heavens
and new earth where peace and justice prevail - and by faith we glimpse the new world,
that is our true home. Also this evening as the sun sets on our beloved city of Rome,
we set out again on this path: with us is Jesus in the Eucharist, the Risen One, who
said: "I am with you always, until the end of world "(Mt 28:20). Thank you, Lord Jesus!
Thank you for your loyalty, which sustains our hope. Stay with us, because the evening
comes. "Jesus, good shepherd and true bread, have mercy on us; feed us and guard us.
Grant that we find happiness in the land of the living". Amen.