May 30, 2013: "In the Eucharist, the Lord makes us follow his path, that of service,
of sharing, of giving." Pope Francis, said in his homily at the Solemnity of Corpus
Christi that was celebrated last night at the Basilica of St. John in Lateran, asking
the faithful to follow Jesus and listen to him, also to learn the value of the word
"solidarity". After the ceremony, Francis Pope presided over the procession on walking
all along Via Merulana followed by a huge throng of faithful and gave the blessing
of the Eucharist in front of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major.
Discipleship,
fellowship, sharing, through these three words Pope Francis delivered his homily,
based on the Gospel of Luke on the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and
fishes. The Pope spoke of the crowd, the multitude that followed Jesus, to hear him
tell us what it means to make our life a gift. The Pope pointed out, "we are the people
of the Gospel, we also strive to follow Jesus to listen to him, to enter into communion
with Him in the Eucharist, to accompany him and why He accompanies us." That crowd,
of which Luke tells us, listen to Jesus because "he speaks and acts in a new way",
with truth, with the authority of someone who "is the revelation of the face of a
God who is love."
Here below, the text of his homily at mass.
Dear
brothers and sisters,
In the Gospel we have just heard, there is an expression
of Jesus that always strikes me: “Give you them to eat. (Lk 9:13)” Starting from this
sentence, I let myself be guided by three words: discipleship, fellowship and sharing.
1.
First of all: who are those to whom we are to give to eat? The answer is found at
the beginning of the Gospel: it is the crowd, the multitude. Jesus is in the midst
of the people: He welcomes them, talks to them, He cures them, He shows them the mercy
of God. In their midst, he chooses the twelve Apostles to be with Him, and like Him,
to immerse themselves in the concrete situations of the world. People follow Him,
listen to Him, because Jesus speaks and acts in a new way, with the authority of someone
who is authentic and consistent, who speaks and acts with truth, who gives the hope
that comes from God, who is revelation of the face of a God who is love - and the
people with joy, bless God.
This evening we are the crowd of [which] the Gospel
[tells]: let us also strive to follow Jesus to listen to him, to enter into communion
with Him in the Eucharist, to accompany Him and in order that He accompany us. Let
us ask ourselves: how do I follow Jesus? Jesus speaks in silence in the Mystery of
the Eucharist and every time reminds us that to follow Him means to come out of ourselves
and make of our own lives, not a possession, but a gift to Him and to others.
2.
Let us take a step forward: whence is born the invitation that Jesus makes to his
disciples to feed the multitude themselves? It is born from two elements: first, the
crowd, having followed Jesus, now finds itself in the open, away from inhabited areas,
as evening falls, and then, because of the concern of the disciples, who asked Jesus
to dismiss the crowd, that they might seek food and lodging in the nearby towns (cf.
Lk 9:12). Faced with the neediness of the crowd, the solution of the disciples is
that every man should take care of himself: “Dismiss the crowd!” [the disciples say].
How many times do we Christians have this temptation! We do not care for the needs
of others, dismissing them with a pitiful, “God help you.” Jesus’ solution, on the
other hand, goes in another direction, a direction that surprises the disciples: [He
says], “You give them something to eat.”
But how is it that we are to feed
a multitude? “We have only five loaves and two fish, unless we go and buy food for
all these people.” But Jesus is not discouraged. He asks the disciples to seat people
in communities of fifty people, He raises his eyes to heaven, recites the blessing,
breaks the loaves, and gives them to the disciples for distribution.
It is
a moment of profound communion: the crowd, whose thirst has been quenched by the word
of the Lord, is now nourished by His bread of life – and they all ate their fill,
the Evangelist tells us.
This evening, we too are gathered around the Lord’s
table, the table of the Eucharistic Sacrifice, in which He gives us once again His
body, makes present the one sacrifice of the Cross. It is in listening to his Word,
in nourishing ourselves with his Body and his Blood, that He makes us go from being
a multitude to being a community, from [being strangers] to being [in] communion.
The Eucharist is the sacrament of communion, which brings us out from individualism
to live together our journey in His footsteps, our faith in Him. We ought, therefore,
to ask ourselves before the Lord: How do I live the Eucharist? Do I live it anonymously
or as a moment of true communion with the Lord, [and] also with many brothers and
sisters who share this same table? How are our Eucharistic celebrations?
3.
A final element: whence is born the multiplication of the loaves? The answer lies
in the invitation of Jesus to his disciples: “You yourselves give [to them]...,” “give,”
share. What do the disciples share? What little they have: five loaves and two fishes.
But it is precisely those loaves and fishes that in God’s hands feed the whole crowd.
And it is the disciples, bewildered by the inability of their means, by the
poverty of what they have at their disposal, who invite the people to sit down, and
- trusting the Word of Jesus – distribute the loaves and fishes that feed the crowd.
This tells us that in the Church, but also in society, a keyword that we need not
fear is “solidarity,” that is, knowing how to place what we have at God’s disposal:
our humble abilities, because [it is] only in the sharing, in the giving of them,
that our lives will be fecund, will bear fruit. Solidarity: a word upon which the
spirit of the world looks unkindly! Tonight, once again, the Lord distributes for
us the bread which is His body, He makes a gift of Himself. We, too, are experiencing
the “solidarity of God” with man, a solidarity that never runs out, a solidarity that
never ceases to amaze us: God draws near to us; in the sacrifice of the Cross He lowers
Himself, entering into the darkness of death in order to give us His life, which overcomes
evil, selfishness, death.
Jesus this evening gives Himself to us in the Eucharist,
shares our same journey – indeed, He becomes food, real food that sustains our life
even at times when the going is rough, when obstacles slow down our steps. The Lord
in the Eucharist makes us follow His path, that of service, of sharing, of giving
– and what little we have, what little we are, if shared, becomes wealth, because
the power of God, which is that of love, descends into our poverty to transform it.
Let
us ask ourselves this evening, adoring the Christ truly present in the Eucharist:
do I let myself be transformed by Him? Do I let the Lord who gives Himself to me,
guide me to come out more and more from my little fence to get out and be not afraid
to give, to share, to love Him and others?
Discipleship, communion and sharing.
Let us pray that participation in the Eucharist move us always to follow the Lord
every day, to be instruments of communion, to share with Him and with our neighbor
who we are. Then our lives will be truly fruitful. Amen.