Homily for the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

June 7, 2026

A story is told about a village on a South Pacific island where a missionary made a monthly visit to celebrate the Mass, baptize children and new initiates, witness marriage vows, anoint the sick and pray for the recently deceased. In this particular village a unique custom is practiced whenever the missionary arrives in his seaplane.

By tradition, the village chief is the first to greet the priest when he steps on land. The two of them embrace, then the chieftain gives the priest a clump of dune grass. The priest returns the clump of grass to the chief, who then turns and gives it to the person next to him. According to island custom, the clump of earth and grass is a sacred reminder of God’s presence to the people who live with the vast ocean about them. The islanders consider it a type of sacramental symbolizing harmony and peace.

This sacred clump of grass passes from one villager to the next, throughout the entire village, until it returns to the chief, who then presents it to the priest, completing the ritual. The custom with the sacred clump of grass symbolizes that the villagers are in harmony with one another and are at peace. It is at this point that the Mass can begin, and not before.

On this particular visit the padre went about his other duties as usual. When the customary time neared for the joyous celebration of the Eucharist, word came to the priest that there was going to be a delay. It seems that there was a bitter disagreement between a father and a son, and the clump of grass had not been exchanged between them. There was no celebration of the Mass that month or the next. It took three months before harmony and peace was restored to that family and to the island village.

The faith of those islanders is really something, is it not? In the Eucharist we have communion, becoming one with Jesus Christ. We also become one with each other, a communion, or community, of faith. St. Paul put it this way in our second reading: “Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we partake of the one loaf.”

Our oneness in Christ is celebrated in the hymn One Bread, One Body: “One bread, one body, one Lord of all, one cup of blessing which we bless. And we, though many, throughout the earth, we are one body in this one Lord” (John Foley, SJ).

The islanders in the South Pacific, passing the lump of grass, understand what it means to be truly united, truly in communion with God and one another. As we honor the Eucharist this weekend, perhaps we might reflect more deeply on the challenge of communion, as we take God into our very being.