Luciano Audisio, invites us to rediscover the center of our faith: the Bread that breaks, the God who remains, the Jesus who is not content to teach us from the outside, but wants to dwell within us. A profound and timely commentary that reminds us that the Eucharist is not just a rite, but a spiritual journey of transformation. Prepare yourself with us for this feast of the Church.
Feast of the Bread that is broken, of the God that remains
Today we celebrate one of the deepest and most luminous feasts of our faith: Corpus Domini, the Body and Blood of the Lord. Feast of the Bread broken, of the God who remains, of the Jesus who is not content to teach us from the outside, but who wants to dwell within us.
In many parts of the world this celebration is marked by processions, songs, gestures of love and faith. But beyond the visible, this feast is an opportunity to return to the very heart of the Gospel, to that unprecedented gesture in which God gives himself entirely in a piece of bread.
Jesus does not disperse: he teaches to remain
Today’s Gospel takes us to a deserted place, where a crowd follows Jesus. And at one point, a concrete need arises: they are hungry. The disciples, very sensibly, tell Jesus to send them away so that they can go and look for food in nearby towns. In the Greek text we read: “Send the crowd away so that they may go to the surrounding villages and fields to look for food”(ἀπόλυσον τὸν ὄχλον, ἵνα πορευθέντες εἰς τὰς κύκλῳ κώμας καὶ ἀγροὺς εὕρωσιν ἐπισιτισμόν Lk 9:12).
Attention to a word that seems small: κύκλ ῳ, which means “in a circle.” Without the presence of the Lord, without his light, our life runs the risk of going in circles, of moving around a lot without really moving forward, of always returning to the same void. Isn’t that also the experience of many of us? We search, we run, we work, we accumulate… but something is still missing. Without Jesus, life turns, but does not move forward.
Jesus, on the other hand, does not send them out. He does not scatter them. On the contrary, he makes them stay. He wants to teach them another way of living, another logic: the logic of the Kingdom of God.
“Give them to eat”: to give bread, to be bread
And then he pronounces a phrase that is at the heart of the Gospel: “Give them something to eat”(δότε αὐτοῖς ὑμεῖς φαγεῖνLk9:13). It is a provocative phrase. In Greek, the “you” can be either subject or object. What does Jesus mean, that you are to give bread, or that you are to be bread?
Both.
Jesus is not simply preparing an external, atmospheric miracle, like manna falling from heaven. Jesus is forming the hearts of his disciples. He is showing them that the true miracle is not multiplication, but sharing. That the bread that saves is not just what we eat, but what we dare to be for others.
The four verbs of the Eucharist: to take, to bless, to share, to give
And so we see it: Jesus takes the loaves and fishes – what there was, the little that seemed insufficient. And with this gesture, he shows us a spiritual path. It is the same one that we repeat at every Eucharist. These are four verbs that summarize our entire faith:
TakeJesus makes contact with what is there, with what we are. Do we feel little, weak, insufficient? He takes our “little”, embraces it, does not despise it.
Blessing: Jesus thanks. Gratefulness transforms. Gratitude turns what seemed little into something abundant. When one is thankful for what he is and for what he has, he multiplies inside.
Breaking: Jesus breaks bread. To love implies to break, to let oneself be wounded. True love hurts, but it is a fruitful pain. It is the sweetest pain in the world, because it unites us with Christ crucified, who breaks for us.
Giving: finally, Jesus distributes. And in this distribution no one is excluded. Everyone eats and there is plenty. The miracle is in the communion, not in the quantity.
It is not magic: it is a path of transformation
These four verbs are not just actions of the past. They are the logic of the Eucharist. They are also our way as Church. We too are called to let ourselves be taken by God, to bless life, to let ourselves go forth in love, and to give ourselves to others.
The Eucharist is not magic. It is not automatic. It is a spiritual journey. It is the miracle of a God who wants to dwell in us, so that we too may become bread for the world.
At every Mass, Jesus repeats to us: “This is my body, given for you”. And in every Mass, if we listen to him well, he also tells us: “Be my body for others”.
May this feast of Corpus Domini not only be an external celebration, but an invitation to let ourselves be transformed from within. May we learn to look at the bread, to be grateful for what we are, to break ourselves in love and to give ourselves with joy. In this way the Kingdom of God – that Kingdom which is Jesus himself – will truly be among us.