The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ - Fr. Leo

What was lost when Adam and Eve left Eden, was life lived without shame, guilt and a fear of death.  Adam and Eve covered themselves with fig leaves.  They could no longer stand naked before God or each other.  Trust in themselves, others, and God was gone.  Fear became the experience of this separation from love.  Selfishness, taking care of only one’s own self, left no room for love and trust.  Without these, death became a reality that did not exist before their exit from the garden.

Salvation is story of God who could not stop loving us and did all he could do to restore for us what was lost by sin.  Christ, bridges the gap and reconciles.  Our faith in Christ is faith expressing our desire to live by God’s will and not our own.  A faith that restores the mutual relationship of trust and love, making us once again heirs to the eternal life in God.

The gift Jesus gained for us is offered in every celebration of the Eucharist. It is significant that the liturgy is the celebration of a meal.  At table we gather and share what we have which requires us to be in relationship with God and others and to trust each other in mutual giving and taking.

The Gospel reminds us that when we do live in mutual love and trust there will be enough for all, especially love, to go around.  Twelve wicker baskets were enough to nourish the known world-the twelve tribes of Israel.  Our world needs this faith, this trust.  We are divided with war on so many levels in the world today.  It may seem overwhelming, but our small act of faith and lived trust in God and others will ripple out.  It can change the world just as Jesus changed the five loaves and two fish to feed the five thousand.  Our faith calls us to trust not in what we can do ourselves, but what God can do with and through us to restore the eternal kingdom to which we are called.