6th Sunday After Pentecost Homily

The Eucharist should be central to our life of faith. As we are told from the Second Vatican Council, the Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Christian life.”

In the modern age we have the opportunity to receive the Eucharist on many occasions. There is nothing wrong with this, but we cannot allow ourself to take this gift for granted. As the Catechism instructs, “The Sacrament of the Eucharist is called Holy Communion because by this sacrament we unite ourselves to Christ who makes us sharers in His Body and Blood to form a single body. We enter into communion with Him, one bread, one body one in Christ.”

From these words we should see the importance that the Eucharist plays within our life. Through the Eucharist we enter into communion with Christ, not as a symbol. We make this petition when we pray the Our Father, “give us this day our daily bread.” A more perfect translation would state, “supernatural bread” which made to the gift of the Eucharist.

In our Gospel Christ looked upon His disciples and saw them to be in need. He provided not only for their physical hunger by feeding their body, but also provided for their spiritual hunger by feeding their soul through this foreshadowing of the Eucharist. In the end this gift was so abundant that we are told that there were seven baskets of bread left over.

So too when we consider the Eucharist should we think of the many graces which most perfectly flow to us. Through these graces we receive an increase of sanctifying grace, we are aided in times of temptation, we receive an increase of the theological virtues, we grow in holiness, and we are prepared for the glory of the resurrection on the Last Day.

We should always be found thankful for this gift because there is nothing which is mundane when it pertains to the Most Holy Eucharist. Saint Thomas Aquinas realized this and expressed this through his many prayers to the Eucharist. He wrote prayers which reminded people to pray prior to Mass in preparation for this gift that they would receive as well as prayers for after Mass made in thanksgiving for what we have received.

There are some who receive our Lord in Holy Communion and habitually come late and others who leave right after receiving Holy Communion as if the rest of Mass holds no importance. If we come late we miss the introductory rites of the Mass and the readings and if we leave early we miss the blessing of Christ who sends us forth from His midst to live the faith in the midst of this world.

Let our heart always dwell with Christ and His presence among us. Throughout our day let us make visits to the Blessed Sacrament. Some may be able to do this by frequenting our adoration chapel while others can simply allow their mind to be taken to Christ presence for a moment of prayer. As Christ provided for the needs of the multitude, so to does He continue to provide for our needs. Blessed be Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.