This is my Body. Do you Believe?

An American priest was touring the Holy Land. He especially wanted to study the places where Jesus lived, worked, suffered, died and rose from the dead. He became good friends with a young boy named Josef. The boy served Father's Mass and taught him some of the difficult Arabic words.

As the priest was about to leave for other parts of the Holy Land, he told Josef: "Not many boys and girls have the privilege of living in the land where Jesus lived. You know that God's Son, as a Boy and as a Man, walked these roads and breathed this air. Doesn't that help you to love Him more?"

Josef said: You don't have to live here to love our Lord, because now He lives in every part of the world. Every land now is a Holy Land. Wherever we are, we are in the land of Jesus." Did you ever think of this: Fort Walton Beach, FL is part of the Holy Land? Jesus Christ lives right here, right now. Do you believe that?

This is our thought on this feast of Corpus Christi, the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, when we recall that Holy Thursday, when Christ first spoke the words: "This is my Body this is my Blood." Today we celebrate the fact that these words are repeated all over the world every day, that Jesus is present on altars all over the world. He will be present on this altar. Christ lives here. This is the Holy Land. Fort Walton Beach's’s, Saint Mary Catholic Church is the Holy Land. Do you believe?

This sacred space, this church, is also Bethlehem; Jesus is born right here in every Holy Mass. This is Nazareth; Jesus grows up right here in our lives, and we listen to the scriptures.

Jesus Christ works miracles right here, spiritual miracles: He heals us of the leprosy of sin; He heals spiritual cripples, so they can walk in His way; He gives sight to those who cannot see the things of the spirit as he encourages us to see the world as God sees the world. Christ forgives sins right there in that confessional back there. Do you believe?

Most importantly, this church is the "large upper room of Holy Thursday" we heard about in today's Gospel where Jesus spoke the words of consecration for the first time. This is my body, this is my blood. Do you believe? No land could be holier than this sacred place we call a church.

Do you remember the Miracle at Cana where Jesus turns water into wine? Well this is Cana; Jesus attends every marriage in our church. He attended funerals in His homeland! He is right here when we bury our beloved dead. This is the temple at Jerusalem; Christ teaches right here through His holy presence, through His priests, through His religion teachers, through the parents of His children. Jesus was present in the villages, the churches, the streets, the fields, the lakes, the hills, and above all in the homes of the Holy Land; He is present in your homes too, for once you receive His body blood soul and divinity in Holy Communion, You are a living tabernacle of His presence. Do you believe?

Yes, you and I are actually living in the Holy Land, because Jesus Christ lives right here in our midst. When you hear those words during the consecration today. “this is my Body, this is my Blood,” The Lord is here. Jesus Christ Himself is telling you. I am here. It is my body and my blood that makes this land, this place, a very holy land, a very holy place. Do you believe? This is my body, this is my blood.