In this Gospel reading, we see Jesus embarking on the most difficult journey of his life. For ten chapters in Luke’s Gospel, beginning with chapter 9, Jesus and his disciples are on the road, making their way to the climactic moment in Salvation History. Knowing what He would suffer, Jesus still kept his “eyes fixed on Jerusalem." Do we have that same courage and dedication to God’s will?

The miracle of multiplying five loaves of bread and two pieces of fish to feed five thousand men (and as many as fifteen to twenty thousand people) is one of the most famous in the Gospels. Apart from providing for the physical needs of those present, Jesus also foreshadows the Holy Eucharist. He “multiplies” Himself miraculously by turning bread and wine into His body and blood so that we will be spiritually fed. That is what today’s Feast of Corpus Christi, which is Latin for “Body of Christ,” calls us to remember.

If we hate and discriminate other people, are we ready to receive Jesus as the bread of LOVE and wine of MERCY? If we support abortion and death penalty, are we ready to receive Jesus as the bread of LIFE and wine of SALVATION? If we are a violent, bitter and vindictive person, are we ready to receive Jesus as the bread of PEACE and wine of FRIENDSHIP?

In today’s Gospel reading, we see that God’s very life is one of communion. In the Trinity, we see a relationship of giving and receiving, a communion of life and love. God exists as a relationship of Persons. He is Three, and yet the “Lord God is One.” How are we to bring this kind of Oneness — of love and communion — to our lives now?

HOLY TRINITY SUNDAY! The TRINITY is a mystery. Its mystery is this: “One GOD in three persons… God is ONE but not solitary… One GOD but distinct from one another in their relations of origin: the FATHER who generates, the SON who is begotten, and the Holy Spirit who proceeds. The divine unity is TRIUNE.” (CCC #253-254)

In the last night of his life, Jesus prayed specifically for his followers to have unity. He said that, through unity, the disciples would bear a powerful witness to his name. Why, on the darkest night of his life, was he thinking about that? The answer is seen in his example: in unity, there is love, a sacrificial love between the Father and Son, and between all who believe in him. Christianity has survived, not because of its cleverness or power, but because of its unified love.

Today is PENTECOST SUNDAY! And Jesus greets us “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you… Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them...” (JN 20:21-23

Few of us welcome the departure of a loved one from our lives, even more so if we can’t know when we’ll see him or her again. The pain of separation is great, even unbearable. We can imagine how difficult it was for the disciples to Jesus, wondering how the future would play out as they would take on the mission He’d given them. It’s no surprise they had to be nudged into action (as is often true for us).