Vatican City, May 25, 2008 / 09:03 am
Speaking to pilgrims about the feast of Corpus Christi, Pope Benedict XVI said "the Eucharist reveals the true beauty of Christianity" and is "the school of charity and solidarity that should make us more attentive to the many people who struggle to procure their daily bread."
"One week ago our gaze was on the mystery of the Trinity; today we are invited to fix our gaze on the holy Host: and thus on God, the same Love. This is the beauty of true Christianity: The Creator and Lord of all things was made a grain of wheat in order to be sown on our earth, in the furrows of our history. He was made bread to be broken, shared, eaten; he was made our food to give us live, his own divine life.”
Pope Benedict also pointed to the fact that Jesus was, “Born in Bethlehem, which in Hebrew means ‘house of bread’.” From these origins, Jesus’ desire to feed his followers became even more explicit in his preaching. He revealed to the people that “the Father had sent him into the world as the ‘living bread descended from heaven,’ as the ‘bread of life’.”
The Holy Father elaborated on this feast of the Eucharist, calling it "a wonderful gift of Christ, who at the Last Supper wanted to leave us with this memorial of Easter, the sacrament of his Body and Blood, a token of his immense love for us."