SOLEMNITY of the MOST HOLY BODY and BLOOD OF CHRIST

Gospel Bullet Points (John 6:51-59)

• Before His death and eventual ascension to the Father, Jesus faced a challenge: He needed to be with the Father while also wanting to be with us. To address this, He instituted the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist so that He could remain with us until the end of time (Matthew 28:20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-27).

• Furthermore, He desired for us to have life and to live it to the fullest. In the Gospel of John, He states, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you do not have eternal life within you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them on the last day” (John 6:53-54).

• Today, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ for two main reasons: 1) to give thanks to God for the permanent and ongoing presence of Christ with us in the Eucharist, and 2) to seek a better understanding of the sacrament of the Body and Blood of Jesus, allowing us to appreciate more deeply and live out the mystery of the Holy Eucharist.

• Let us approach the Holy Eucharist with renewed faith in the real presence of Jesus, who is humbly and quietly present under the appearances of bread and wine.