A feast of people, silence and adoration, light and mystery. The solemnity of Corpus Christi – The “body of the Lord” – celebrates the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist: not a symbol, but the body and blood of the risen, “true, real and substantial”, as the catechism of the Catholic Church states. A party that arises from the heart of Christian experience: Jesus who gives himself, until the end, and who continues to feed his Church with himself.
On the afternoon of 22 June 2025, in the Lateran Basilica, the chair of the Bishop of Rome, Pope Leo XIV chaired the Eucharistic celebration and, immediately after, the solemn procession of the Blessed Sacrament along via Merulana up to Santa Maria Maggiore. Below, the full homily pronounced by the Holy Father:
“Dear brothers and sisters, it is nice to be with Jesus. The newly proclaimed Gospel attests to him, telling that the crowds remained hours and hours with him, who spoke of the kingdom of God and healed the sick (cf. Lk 9:11). The compassion of Jesus for the suffering manifests the loving closeness of God, who comes into the world to save us. When God reigns, man is freed from all evil. However, even for those who receive the good news from Jesus, the time of the test comes. In that deserted place, where the crowds listened to the teacher, it goes down in the evening and there is nothing to eat (cf. v. 12). The hunger of the people and the sunset of the sun are signs of a limit that looms over the world, on every creature: the day ends, as well as the life of men. It is in this hour, in the time of indigence and shadows, that Jesus remains in the midst of us.
Just when the sun declines and hunger grows, while the apostles themselves ask to dismiss people, Christ surprises us with his mercy. He has compassion of the hungry people and invites his disciples to take care of it: hunger is not a need that has nothing to do with the announcement of the kingdom and the testimony of salvation. On the contrary, this hunger concerns our relationship with God. Five loaves and two fish, however, do not seem enough to feed the people: apparently reasonable, the calculations of the disciples instead reveal their little faith. Because, in reality, with Jesus there is everything you need to give strength and meaning to our life.
In fact, he replies with the sign of sharing to the Hunger: he raises his eyes, recites the blessing, breaks the bread and feeds all those present (cf. v. 16). The gestures of the Lord do not inaugurate a complex magical ritual, but simply testify to the gratitude towards the Father, the branch of Christ and the fraternal communion that the Holy Spirit supports. To multiply breads and fish, Jesus divides those that are there: just so they are enough for everyone, on the contrary, they overab. After eating – and eaten to satiety – they took twelve baskets away (cf. v. 17).
This is the logic that saves the hungry people: Jesus operates according to the style of God, teaching to do the same. Today, in place of the crowds remembered in the Gospel, they are whole peoples, humiliated by the wholesale others even more than by their hunger. In front of the misery of many, the accumulation of few is a sign of an indifferent pride, which produces pain and injustice. Instead of sharing, opulence wastes the fruits of the earth and the work of man. Especially in this jubilee year, the example of the Lord remains for us urgent criteria of action and service: to share bread, to multiply hope, proclaims the advent of the kingdom of God.
Saving the crowds from hunger, in fact, Jesus announces that he will save everyone from death. This is the mystery of faith, which we celebrate in the sacrament of the Eucharist. Like hunger is a sign of our radical indigence of life, so breaking bread is a sign of the divine gift of salvation.
Dear, Christ is God’s response to man’s hunger, because his body is the bread of eternal life: take and eat everyone! The invitation of Jesus embraces our daily experience: to live, we need to feed on life, removing it from plants and animals. Still, eating something dead reminds us that we too, as far as we eat, will die. On the other hand, when we feed ourselves with Jesus, live and true bread, we live for him. By offering all himself, the risen crucifix is delivered to us, which we find out that we are made to feed on God. Our hungry nature brings the sign of an indigence that is satiated by the grace of the Eucharist. As Sant’Agostino writes, Christ is truly “Panis Qui Profit, et non deficit; Panis qui sumi potest, consumption non potest” (Sermo 130, 2): a bread that nourishes and does not fail; A bread that can be eaten but cannot be exhausted.
The Eucharist, in fact, is the true, real and substantial presence of the Savior (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1413), which transforms the bread itself, to transform us into him. Live and vivifying, the Corpus Domini makes us, that is, the Church itself, body of the Lord.
Therefore, according to the words of the apostle Paul (cf. 1Cor 10:17), the Second Vatican Council teaches that “with the sacrament of Eucharistic bread, the unity of the faithful is represented and carried out, which constitute a single body in Christ. All men are called to this union with Christ, which is the light of the world: we come from him, through him we live, we are directed to him” (Cost. Dogm. Lumen Gentium3). The procession, which we will soon begin, is a sign of this path. Together, shepherds and flocks, we feed on the Blessed Sacrament, we love it and take it to the streets. In doing so, we offer it to the gaze, to the consciousness, to the hearts of the people. To the heart of those who believe, because it believes more firmly; To the heart of those who do not believe, so that they wonder about the hunger we have in the soul and on the bread that can satisfy it.
Restaurate from the food that God gives us, we bring Jesus to the heart of all, because Jesus all involves in the work of salvation, each inviting to participate in his canteen. Blessed are the guests, who become witnesses of this love! “
