The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

Jeff Bagnall • 10 June 2025

The first reading from Genesis ( 14:18-20 ) is an isolated anecdote in the story of Abraham, which may have indicated belief in a universal god outwith the race and descendants of Abraham. There is also reference to this ‘king of the most high’ in psalm 110 celebrating the kingship of David over the Jews. The idea of a god over all the people of the world and over all creation was used in the New Testament book called Hebrews ( 6:18-7:22 ) and applied to the priesthood of Jesus as understood by Christians.

The second reading is from the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians. ( 11:23-26). This passage is about what Paul learnt from the early Christian community when he joined one group for a communal meal together. We learn from the gospels, written later than this, that Jesus had shared in meals with friends and others who invited him – he was living the very best way a human can – sharing and befriending all. This was how He just gave His life for others! Not only were there those Jews who were annoyed by what He was doing and saying – upsetting their authority, but also many of His followers easily misunderstood him: some thought of Him as a potential leader against the occupying Romans, some in addition that He might be the longed-for leader who would raise the Jewish nation to great height in the world, bringing God’s plan for them (as they saw it) to completion. It was these attitudes that would lead to His death. When Christian groups came together later, they wanted to emulate the life of Jesus. Like all like-minded groups among both the Jewish world and the wider, so-called, pagan empire, they met together and had a meal. At such meetings Paul learnt how the shared bread and wine were thought of as the life and death of Jesus both given for others. He was now reminding the Corinthian Church of this, because they were somewhat missing the point of the shared meals.

The gospel comes from Luke: most of 9:11-17. It is about the feeding of a huge crowd. This is appropriate today so that we don’t think that Jesus’ last supper was the only time he thanked God and broke food with His ‘fans’ and friends. More than the others, Luke tells of Jesus’ meals with all sorts of different persons: a banquet in the house of Levi with tax-collectors and sinners, dinner at Simon’s place including Pharisees and a ‘sinful’ woman, at the home of Martha and Mary and invited by Pharisees and lawyers. Luke portrays Jesus as a friend of everyone, sharing Himself with them and showing them the love of God. On this feast when we celebrate the ‘last supper’, we must not think of it as like a mass, but rather as a get-together giving thanks to God (which is what ‘blessing’ the bread and cup means) and showing His true self as living and willing to die for others – for all kinds of others.

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Jeff Bagnall was a lecturer for many years at Craiglockhart College teaching RE to many future Catholic Primary teachers.

31st in Ordinary Time - 2025 - Year C

22 October 2025

The first reading is from the book Wisdom ( 11:22-12:3 ). This book was written less than a century before the birth of Jesus. It came from someone in the Jewish community in Alexandria in Egypt. Jews at the time were not just in the promised land and were quite aware of the ways of thinking in the wider community about life, gods and associated mysteries. The book of Wisdom is in Greek and its ideas are a development of earlier Jewish ideas, absorbing more contemporary notions from this wider community in which they lived. And so wisdom is very important; it is used by them to refer God Himself and their idea of life now extended to even life after death which was not previously held by Jews. Our reading exemplifies the literary quality of the thoughts poetically expressed in a theology of the relationship of God with the failings of humanity and the development of creation. The second reading is from 2 Thess 1:11-2:2 . The two letters to the Thessalonians are the first surviving documents about Jesus that we have – the oldest writings in the New Testament – prior to the gospels that tell of the life of Jesus. Paul was a learned Rabbi in the Jewish community living away from the Jewish enclave in the Roman empire. The story in Acts of him being quite against Jews becoming followers of Jesus is quite reliable. However, this learned man later became a Christian and worked mostly in Roman communities making converts of Jews but especially of Gentiles. He had established a community in Thessalonica but the Jewish synagogue there was not receptive of his message that God was happy with Gentiles, so a mainly Gentile community of followers of Jesus was established away from the synagogue. However after he moved on from his short stay there, he wants and needs to writes to them from prison. It seems from the text we have that he may have given them a wrong idea of God’s being present to them even now and this being the time of the fulfilment of God’s plan for creation. Some of them had given up their regular work and way of life and were just waiting for the End-time to come. And someone may have encouraged them with this view. So Paul has to tell them to get back to regular life – as good followers of Jesus – the final End has not yet come. We are reminded by this that Christianity is constantly developing an understanding of life and creation, and we should be warned not to be so certain of what are basically mysteries – a danger the church has always suffered from.

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time - 2025 - Year C

17 October 2025

The first reading is from a wisdom book ( Sirach 35:12-18 passim ). The prologue to it was written by someone in Egypt after 132 BC, who was translating into Greek a Hebrew book of his grandfather (whose name was Jesus). The book presented the thrust of the teachings of the Bible about the Law and the wise way to live. Manuscripts of parts of the Hebrew book itself have been found but it is not part of the Hebrew Old Testament. Despite the book’s enthusiasm for the Law, in our passage it speaks of a God who treats all people fairly; it quite poetically depicts God as particularly drawn to the poor, orphans and widows, like a Judge who responds quickly to prayers after judging what is asked for and what is right. The same thoughts are expressed repeatedly in the Psalm that follows this reading. In the second reading we have some words from the second letter to Timothy which seem to genuinely come from Paul himself. He is clearly at the end of his tether and near the end of his life. He speaks of the sacrifice of his life as a libation – a drink poured out as an offering to a deity. He uses his favourite metaphors for life – a race, a competition. Some of his friends seem to have abandoned him at the difficult times of his trial or when he was in prison. He is willing to forgive, and trusts that God will reward him with entry into the heavenly kingdom. It seems from the use of “we” in Luke’s book The Acts of the Apostles that Luke was often a close and loyal friend to Paul.