Eucharist: The most cherished Gift

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.