The Sacrament of Hope

This Sunday the Church celebrates the great Solemnity of Corpus Christi calling all the Faithful to reverence and to focus on the Great Mystery of the Eucharist - the Body and Blood of Christ.

The Gospel is taken from Jn 6:51-58.

"Jesus said to the Jewish crowds: 'I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.' The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, 'How can this man give us his flesh to eat?' Jesus said to them, 'Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.'"

This Gospel is at the heart of our belief in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. I am including here a link to Father Roger Landry's homily for the Solemnity. It is dynamite. I say that because if you allow it to do so, it can cause an explosion of understanding and grace in your heart as you read it. http://www.catholicpreaching.com/index.php?content=homilies&homilies=20050529

The Eucharist is the Sacrament of hope. Jesus is real, He is alive and He comes to us and remains with us as we receive him. Let us receive him often, every day if possible. He is the source of our hope, the source of our life! May you have a blessed Solemnity - a blessed Lord's Day.