WE Filipinos are still lucky. Our life is not as difficult as that of my parishioners in Zambia.” This is what Fr. Pat de los Reyes, SVD, a Filipino missionary to Zambia, Africa, once said in a talk he gave at Catholic Trade Manila while on home vacation.
"My woman parishioners walk six kilometers daily under the heat of the sun to fetch drinking water in cans which they carry on their heads."
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"The land is barren. Many die of starvation and the children are malnourished," he added.
This Sunday is the feast of
Corpus Christi (Body of Christ). It focuses our attention on the problem of hunger that plagues teeming millions of people, like Fr. De los Reyes’ Zambian parishioners.
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The Gospel relates about the famished thousands of people doggedly following the Lord. Instead of sending the multitude away, he fed them by multiplying the loaves of bread and fishes (Lk 9:16).
Some wag joked that the miracle happened because the Jews, known to be tight-fisted, shared their "baon" (food provision).
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"30 Die Every Minute."
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that approximately one-third of the world is well-fed, one-third is underfed, and one-third is starving.
Four million people a year die of starvation and 70 percent of children under six are undernourished. Thus, 30 persons die of starvation every minute.
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Right here in our country, a good number of families barely eat three square meals a day. Not a few in Metro Manila scrounge in garbage heaps to gather food not fit for human consumption. Some have to steal or sell their bodies in order to help feed hungry mouths in the family.
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The late Mother Teresa of Calcutta, whom the whole world admired for devoting all her life to feeding the starving and serving the "poorest of the poor," had this to say: "Poverty in the underdeveloped countries would be removed faster if we all began to share."
That’s one important message of the feast of Corpus Christi: Sharing wherever and whenever we can.
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A second message of Corpus Christi conveys that the miracle of the loaves and fishes is seen not just to feed the hungry crowd but as a sign that pointed to a greater kind of food, the Eucharist.
The Eucharist as taught by Christ was not merely a spiritual bread, but truly His body and blood.
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And down through the centuries, it has become our spiritual food at Mass. The questions are: Have we appreciated enough this gift by receiving it at Holy Mass? Do we really believe Christ’s words:
"He who eats my flesh and drinks My blood will have eternal life?’’
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FAMILY TV MASS –
which reaches out nationwide to Filipino families, the sick and elderly, is aired on IBC 13 at 6:30 to 7:30 a.m. every Sunday.
The Sunday Mass is sponsored by: CENTRAL POLICE DISTRICT headed by Regional Director Gen. Ricardo DE LEON. Tune in.
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Donations and sponsorships to maintain the TV Mass are most welcome. You may send them payable to "Family TV Mass" c/o Fr. Bel San Luis, SVD, 1420 J.P. Laurel St., San Miguel, Manila.
For inquiries, call tel: 7359176 or 735-6408. E-mail:
irsl@pronet.ph. 
