Pope: build your own existence not on worldly goods but on the reality that does not perish
Rome (AsiaNews) - On the day that the Church celebrates the Corpus Domini, the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, Pope Francis urged the faithful to build their life not on worldly goods, but on the reality that does not perish, that is the "food" that God offers rather that which "apparently fulfils the most": like money, success, vanity, power and pride.
In Rome's Piazza San Giovanni, opposite Rome's cathedral, the confraternities mingled with the thousands of faithful who stood around the pope who celebrated the Mass, before taking part in the procession to the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.
This year Pope Francis did not walk along the route between the two basilicas, in view of his future commitments - especially s trip to Cassano in Calabria, in just two days time - nor did he take his open vehicle to respect the spirit of today's celebration, and keep faithful's attention on the exposed Blessed Sacrament carried in procession, with which, at the end of the procession, Francis blessed the faithful.
Earlier, during the mass, the Pope was inspired by the words of Deuteronomy, "the LORD, your God . . . fed you with manna, a food unknown to you", words which, he said, "refer to the history of Israel, whom God brought out of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and led into the wilderness for forty years, to the promised land. Once established in the land, the Chosen People reached a certain autonomy, a certain well-being, with the risk of forgetting the sad events of the past, which they overcame by God's intervention and His infinite goodness. Hence, the Scriptures exhort us to remember, to remember the whole journey made in the wilderness, in the time of famine and despair. We are invited to return to the essentials, the experience of total dependence on God, when survival was entrusted into his hand, so that man might 'know that it is not by bread alone that people live but by all that comes forth from the mouth of the LORD'."
"In addition to physical hunger man carries within him another hunger, a hunger that cannot be satisfied with ordinary food. It is hunger for life, hunger for love, hunger for eternity. And the sign of the manna - like the whole Exodus experience - also carries this aspect, the food that satisfies this deep hunger that is in man."
"Jesus gives us this food; in fact, He is the living bread that gives life to the world. His body is real food like bread. His blood is real drink like wine. It is no ordinary food with which to satisfy our bodies, like manna. The Body of Christ is the bread of final times, capable of giving life, eternal life, because the substance of this bread is Love. The Eucharist communicates the Lord's love for us, a love so great that He feeds us with Himself: selfless love, always available to every hungry person in need to regenerate his or her strength. Experiencing faith means letting the Lord nourish us and build our existence not on material goods, but on the reality that does not perish: God's gifts, his Word and his Body."
"If we look around us, we realise that there are so many offerings of food that do not come from the Lord and that apparently satisfy more. Some feed themselves with money, others with success and vanity, others with power and pride. But the food that truly nourishes and satisfies us is only the one the Lord gives us. The food the Lord offers us is different, and maybe it does not seem as tasty as some food that the world gives us. So we dream about other meals, like the Jews in the desert, who missed the meat and onions they ate in Egypt, but forgot that they ate those meals at the table of slavery. In those moments of temptation, they remembered, but their memory was sick, a selective memory, a slave memory, not free. Each one of us today can ask, What about me? Where do I want to eat? What do I want to eat? At the Lord's table? Do I want to eat tasty food, but in slavery? What is my memory each one of us may ask? The Lord's that saves me, or the garlic and onions of slavery? With what memory shall I satisfy my soul?"
"The Father tells us: 'I then fed you with manna, a food unknown to you.' Let us gain back the memory and learn to recognise the fake bread that deceives and corrupts, because it is the fruit of selfishness, self-centredness and sin. Shortly, during the procession, we shall follow Jesus, truly present in the Eucharist. The Host is our manna, by which the Lord gives himself to us. Unto Him we turn with confidence: Jesus, keep us from the temptations of worldly food, from the poisoned food that makes us slaves; purify our memory, so that it does not remain captive to selfish and worldly selectivity, but that it may be a living memory of your presence throughout the history of your people, as memory becomes 'memorial' of your act of redemptive love."
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