Body and Blood of Christ – A – June 11, 2023
We come to the midpoint of the United States bishops’ two-year Eucharistic Revival, begun last year and culminating in a national eucharistic congress in July 2024. Its purpose is “to restore understanding and devotion to this great mystery here in the United States . . . by uniting us once again around the source and summit of our faith—the Holy Eucharist” (eucharisticrevival.org).
I can only pray for its success. However, if today’s Gospel is a gauge, we may need some redirection. So far, in materials about the Eucharist, the typical images highlighted are of monstrances and not of Masses, of ordained priests and not of the entire assembly of the faithful, and of chalices and patens and not of hands outstretched to receive Christ and to be Christ for those most in need.
Jesus’s desire is clear: eat of him, drink of him, do not look at him from afar but come near to him and share him for the life of the world. Share on XNo less than eight times in today’s Gospel does Jesus say “eat,” “drink,” and “feed,” active commands that remind us that the Eucharist is not so much a noun but a verb. Jesus’s desire is clear: eat of him, drink of him, do not look at him from afar but come near to him and share him for the life of the world.
This is how we will know him and be one with him. This is how our love for Christ and for one another in the Eucharist will be revived once again.
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