Who do you think you are?

From the desk of Fr. Ignatius Waters CP

Sunday 29th May 2016

When George Bush Senior was President, he was doing the public relations bit by visiting a Nursing Home. He met a wizened old man hobbling along a corridor, took the man by the hand and said, “My good man, do you know who I am?” The old man replied, “No, I don’t, but if you ask one of the nurses maybe she’ll be able to tell you!”

Nearer to home, I heard of an old man in Monaghan who was too fond of the bottle and was staggering home one evening, the worse for wear, called a young lad he met and asked him, “Tell me, a vic, who am I and where am I going?” And we all know the TV programme, “Who do you think you are?”

Strange though it may seem, today’s feast of Corpus Christi, the Body of Christ, answers these questions far more truly and deeply than does our name, our genealogy, where we come from or where we’re going! As Jesus nourishes us with his body and blood in the Eucharist, we are to nourish and encourage and love one another in everyday life.  Jesus gives us his real presence in the Eucharist so that we may become his real presence in the world. We must not separate Eucharist in church from Eucharist in the world.  If we do, it’s not the Eucharist as Jesus intended it to be. These are his words to St. Teresa of Avila and they explain all this far better than any words of mine:

“I have no hands now but yours

To embrace my wounded people;

I have no eyes now but yours

To look with compassion on my suffering people;

I have no tongue now but yours

To speak encouraging words to those without hope;

I have no feet now but yours

To bring the good news of freedom to my oppressed people;

I have no ears now but yours

To listen with compassion to my people’s pain”.

So that’s who you are.

You are the body and blood of Jesus in the world.