We celebrate the body and blood of Christ not as isolated objects of adoration but as food and drink, like the manna in the desert and the water brought forth from a rock. Jesus makes it very clear how we are to approach his body and blood: “If you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you have no life in you. He who feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has life eternal….The man who feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.”

This is why the body and blood of Christ signify unity and peace: there is one Christ, and all who eat and drink the body and blood of Christ become one in the one Christ. We, many though we are, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.  There is no room for disunity among those who eat and drink the body and blood of Christ. The mysterious reality of the Eucharist is a puzzle to some, a scandal to others. It has always been so.

But for those who believe in Jesus’ teaching because they believe in Jesus Christ himself, the Eucharist is, among all his gifts to us, the most cherished and the cause of our deepest gratitude.