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The Eucharist has the power to replenish us in every way. We often arrive at Mass worn down by sickness or battle-weary from life’s problems, but here we find new strength. This Sunday we celebrate the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. It sustains us in the desert. It is food for the journey. The Eucharist renews our hope and replenishes our strength.

At the end of the story of the multiplication of the loaves, it says, “They all ate and were satisfied. Then the abundance of the broken pieces was picked up, twelve large baskets!” (Lk. 9:17). There were about 5,000 men present, so more than 20,000 people total. Imagine all the hungry people; yet “They all ate and were satisfied.” This is a sign for us. The Eucharist has the power to replenish us in every way.

Maybe we feel like the disciples did as they looked out at the vast crowd. They were overwhelmed at the thought of feeding so many. The disciples never dreamed that everyone could eat and be satisfied. We often feel the same way. We do not know how to respond to all that people need. How can we effectively serve them with such limited means?

As the synod team gathered the thoughts from the synodal process, one of the main things that people long for is unity. We named this as a longing to be Companions on the Journey: Seeking Unity. But that is a daunting task.

People named the obstacles to greater unity. They include wounds and distrust of Church leadership as a result of the sexual abuse scandals, post-Vatican II misunderstandings and arguments about the Church, disagreement on how to journey with those who identify as LGBTQ, and the perception of an unwelcoming attitude toward divorced persons and other marginalized groups.

Those problems are beyond human solutions. We need Christ to lead us. That is the first thing to remember. The Risen Lord is with us when we gather for Eucharist. He lives in us by our Baptism. He speaks to us through his Word. He feeds us with his Body and Blood. He presides at every Eucharist.

The General Instruction of the Roman Missal states: “Christ is really present in the very assembly gathered in his name, in the person of the minister, in his word, and indeed substantially and uninterruptedly under the Eucharistic species” (27, GIRM). Sometimes people think of Christ present in the Eucharistic species alone. That is not a Catholic mindset. In fact, it would make Christ sad. He promised us, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in their midst” (Mt 18:20). In the writings of the early Church Fathers the “true or real body” of Christ was the Church, while the Eucharist was referred to as the “mystical body” of Christ (p. 110, The Diocesan Priest, Consecrated and Sent).

This is the pathway to restore unity in the Church. Realize how the Risen Christ is present among us at the Eucharist. We are the real presence of Christ. He dwells in us corporately. We are members of his Body, and when one part suffers, all the parts suffer. Some say that the problem today is that Catholics do not believe in the Eucharist as the “real presence.” Unfortunately, this is true for some Catholics. However, another essential doctrine that they have lost is belief in the real presence of the assembly gathered in his name. Do people treat others with such meanness because we have lost faith in the indwelling of Christ?

In the listening sessions someone said, “Even with our varied backgrounds we can gather as one body, as one community.” Another person said, “The Church should be the safest place to show up as we are, messy as we are, and not feel judged or inferior.” That is the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking. Those people were in touch with the truth that we are One Body in Christ. So, the Church should be a safe place to show up, messy as we are.

When Jesus fed the multitude, no one was excluded. His meals were open to everyone, especially the messy. He said, “When you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind” (Lk 14:13). The Risen Lord says, “Please listen to my faithful servant Francis. He was speaking in my name when he told you that ‘The Church is not a tollhouse; it is the house of the Father, where there is a place for everyone, with all their problems’” (#310, Amoris Laetitia).

I started by saying, the Eucharist has the power to replenish us in every way. We often come here worn down by division and anger, but we can walk out in Communion as One Body in Christ. We can walk out and say, “We all ate and were satisfied.” The Risen Lord was with us in our messiness, and he filled us with new Life.

Here is one sure pathway to walk out saying, “We all ate and were satisfied.” Believe that you are the true and real Body of Christ. Believe that Christ dwells in you. See how that mystery is related to the true presence in the Body and Blood of Christ that you receive. St. Augustine said it this way: “If you, therefore, are Christ’s body and members, it is your own mystery that is placed on the Lord’s table! It is your own mystery that you are receiving! You are saying ‘Amen’ to what you are… When you hear ‘The body of Christ,’ you reply ‘Amen.’ Be a member of Christ’s body, then, so that your ‘Amen’ may ring true!” (St. Augustine, Sermon 272). Be a member of Christ’s body and treat others as members of his body.

How can we ever unite people? The Risen Christ might respond, “Invite people to come together as members of my Body. Welcome them knowing that I am acting through you. You cannot restore unity on your own. Speak with my voice. Act with my heart. Know that I am with you and guiding you. Then, when you approach the altar to receive Communion, come humbly – not thinking that you are sinless. Come messy as you are. I give you my Body and Blood to heal the division, to restore Communion among the baptized, to warm your hearts with my love for all humanity. See how you need to participate in the Eucharist to live as my true Body. See how the mystery of the Body and Blood of Christ is related to the mystery of the baptized as the true Body of Christ.”