As the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ Corpus Christi Jenny Kraska offers a moving reflection titled “Friends, fish, and a feast that costs everything.” Her meditation leads us into the heart of the Gospel reading, where Jesus transforms a moment of physical need the feeding of thousands with loaves and fishes into a profound Eucharistic sign. This miracle is not merely about abundance but about divine intimacy: an early glimpse into the Last Supper and the boundless love embodied in Christ’s gift of Himself.
The Eucharist is the sacrament where divine friendship is made tangible. In giving us His Body and Blood, Christ does not observe our struggles from afar He enters into them. He walks alongside us in our hunger, our wounds, our doubts. He teaches, heals, and ultimately feeds us with Himself. In the Eucharist, He whispers a divine promise: “I am always with you.” It is not the love of mere obligation, but of the truest friend One who lays down His life, that we may live fully.
In Jesus, love and sacrifice are forever entwined. The Eucharist is not a transaction it is total self-gift. In a culture that often seeks the easiest way out, the altar challenges us with a different truth: authentic love demands a cost. True friendship, especially with Christ, requires everything. It’s a love that empties itself, only to be renewed and multiplied by grace just as the bread and fish fed thousands.
This solemn feast also draws our gaze to the enduring testimony of Saints Thomas More and John Fisher whose memorials are celebrated close to this feast. These heroic figures remained unwavering in their allegiance to the Catholic faith and their devotion to the Eucharist, even when it meant martyrdom under the reign of Henry VIII. Their love for Christ was deeply Eucharistic it was not a private spirituality but a courageous public fidelity. Their friendship with Jesus was firm, not fleeting; it bore the weight of suffering with joy and conviction.
St. Thomas More statesman, father, and defender of conscience and St. John Fisher bishop, theologian, and steadfast shepherd demonstrated that discipleship is not about comfort but commitment. Their sacrifice was not steeped in bitterness, but in joyful surrender. More’s final words echo still: “The King’s good servant, but God’s first.” Their deaths were not acts of rebellion, but profound affirmations of love a love grounded in the Eucharist, nurtured through communion, and perfected in the shadow of the Cross.
As we approach the table of the Lord this week, may we receive not only the Bread of Life but also the courage to become true friends of Jesus companions willing to walk His path, even when it leads through difficulty and loss. May our hearts be formed into Eucharistic hearts open to love, ready to serve, and bold enough to share Christ with a world longing to be fed. Like the Twelve who handed out the multiplied loaves, may we be sent forth as bearers of divine friendship, carrying grace to the edges of human hunger.