You are what you eat

Ideas

You are what you eat: we eat the body of Christ, therefore...

Show love and respect to the Blessed Sacrament, but the same love and respect to everyone else who receives the Eucharist, even spiritually

St Augustine instructing his Christians

The Body of Christ, not just a statement of fact, or believe in the Real Presence in the Eucharist, it is also a statement of fact that the one who receives is also the body of Christ.

How do I pad this out?

Bishop who would make the seminarians in his diocese work their summers in a nursing home caring for the sick and elderly. He said he wanted his future priests to learn through the physical care of the sick—washing, cleaning, feeding them—to learn how to correctly handle the Eucharist, the body of Christ.

The man on the Bus...

Sermon

A prompt

An illustration

A blockquote

“The Body of Christ.”

Every time we receive Holy Communion the priest of minister holds up the host and says those words. How many times have you heard them? How often had you stopped to think about them.

What do the words mean, talking about what?

If asked: most answer the host - that is the Body of Xt - Eucharistic faith

Not wrong, but is that the only answer?

Back in the early fifth centure St Augustine of Hippo asked his Christians a similar question.

Answered, not just the host, but also the one receiving...

Advert, healthy eating, a few years ago… You are what you eat.

I remember

Eat rubbish: rubbish health, eat good food, good health.

We eat the body of Christ, so what does that make us?

That’s the point Augustine is making: minister speaking not just of the host but of the person receiving: we are what we eat!

True, of course, on another level: Baptism = members of the body of Christ.

“Body of Christ” not just faith in Eucharist but faith in what happens to us at Baptism.

Implications on how we live.

Catholics have a natural respect for the tabernacle - or BlessSac inside.

Early age - probably you too Red light - first thing we look for...

Genuflect, sign of the cross [sometimes!]

We respect the Blessed Sacrament because it is truly the Body of Christ

If what St Augustine says is true then I shouldn’t just respect the Tabernacle, but all the other tabernacles = people who have received the Eucharist, who have become what tehy have just eaten.

Not just that but all the baptised!

Easier to respect the Tabernacle, or even Eucharist exposed in a monstrance at Benediction, more difficult the Body of Christ when it is in the form of real, concrete people

Story of a man on the bus...

I wish I could say… but I failed.

It is hard, but that is what our Eucharistic faith calls us to.

Our faith in the Eucharish also has implications on how we treat ourselves… respect ourselves, our bodies, treasure the gift of our lives… conduct ourselves in our relationships, with honour and dignity...

Saint Augustine told his Christians to say a strong “Amen” .. yes, I am! Yes, I beleieve it to be true

“Be a member of the Body of Christ,” he says, “so that your ‘Amen’ may be true.”

You are what y ou eat. Remember that next time you go for Holy Communion and let your ‘Amen’ confirm it.