Homily of the Corpus Christi Sunday: Year A: 2026

Last Sunday, we celebrated the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. This Sunday, we celebrate another doctrine of the Holy Body and Blood of Christ. This solemnity was proposed by Saint Thomas Aquinas’ to Pope Urban IV to have a feast focused solely on the Holy Eucharist which is the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. This feast also confirms true miracles involved in this Blessed Sacrament throughout the world.

We just heard Jesus say boldly: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” The Jews, at that time, could not overcome their human reasoning/mentality to accept the revelation. They argued among themselves: “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” Like Holy Trinity, this mystery will never be grasped with the human brain. The Church urges us to believe. Catholics should not doubt Jesus' words: “this is my Body,” and “this is the chalice of My Blood.”



With our faith in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, we always genuflect or make a deep bow in front of the tabernacle when we go into the church or whenever we walk past the tabernacle. I have to say: sadly, this small reverence gesture has been lost in many places. Why? I think it is because of a lack of faith in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

Because of our belief in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, so when we receive the Holy Communion, we should bow and say “Amen” when the minister says: “the Body of Christ and the Blood of Christ.”

Dear friends in Christ, we must have a deep love for the Eucharist. We should not receive the Lord as a habit or without attention. We will get bored if we don’t mentally reflect on what we receive at Mass: His Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. Mother Teresa of Calcutta loved Holy Mass very much. Her sisters witnessed: she attended Mass every day before going to work. If a bomb is coming in the middle of Mass, she will not run but she will stay until the Mass ends. What a love for the Eucharist!

At Holy Mass, we come as a community to give thanks to God. We also come to learn from his love and his humility when we receive his Body in our hands/our tongue. St. Paul said: when we share the Body and Blood of Christ, we become one mystical body of Christ. We were supposed to love each other as our Lord loved us.

Eucharist should be the center of our life. If we stop going to Mass, our faith will weaken; our charity will lose its fervor; our moral life is in danger; and our service will lose its purpose. So, I encourage you to come to the Holy Mass as much as you can, not only Sundays. I believe: if we receive the Lord with deep love and reverence, our faith will only increase and get stronger. If we have a mortal sin, we should come to the sacrament of reconciliation to receive forgiveness before we receive the Lord again.

St. Maximilian Kolbe said: “If angels could be jealous of men, they would be so for one reason: Holy Communion.”

Let's talk about adoration. Adoration is a different form of worshiping our Lord outside Mass during the day in the church or in the adoration chapel in front of the tabernacle or the exposed Blessed Sacrament. Jesus’ disciples should not ignore this powerful devotion. If we love the Lord, one hour at Mass is not enough. We want to be with him and know him more. So, I encourage you to come to adoration in our chapel during the day or night. After Mass today, we will have 15 minutes of adoration to give Him thanks and reflect on his love for us. Please stay with him for a while.