In Last Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus continues His teaching on the Eucharist, that He is the Bread of life. The people in His hometown of Nazareth knew Jesus and His parents Joseph and Mary, so it was hard for them to believe that He had come down from Heaven. But earthly knowledge and reasoning were not enough, it was time now for an act of Faith.

In the first reading, the prophet Elijah is fleeing for his life from the wicked pagan Queen Jezabel who had pledged to kill him after he had humiliated the four hundred prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel and had them put to death by the sword.

During his long journey through the wilderness to Mt Horeb he felt exhausted and wished to die. Lying down, he fell asleep, but was awakened by an Angel who offered him a jar of water and a scone baked on the hot stones. The Angel told him to rise and eat or else he would not have strength for the journey ahead. Strengthened by this miraculously provided meal he walked for forty days and forty nights until he reached the holy mountain (also known as Mt Sinai) on the Sinai Peninsula. This was the same mountain where Moses received the Ten Commandments. He could only have made this journey through wilderness because of the meal the Lord provided for him.

In the Second Reading St Paul reminds us, that faith in Our Lord and all the benefits that come from it, is not a question of a moment, but it is instead a process. This involves conversion and purification, which is sealed by the Holy Spirit.

At times in our lives, we find ourselves weary, but the Lord who strengthened the prophet Elijah, with bread miraculously supplied through the Angel; feeds us with Himself in the Sacrament of the Eucharist to strengthen us for the journey through the wilderness of this world to reach our destination in Heaven.

Jesus forcefully reminds us that we need to receive Him in the Eucharist, in order to participate in the divine life: 

He who eats this Bread will live forever. 

The Eucharist helps us overcome temptations and nourishes the divine life of grace within us, first received in Baptism. It also strengthens the graces received in Holy Matrimony and the Ministerial Priesthood. Our Lord as the Good Shepherd feeds and nourishes His sheep above all through His Word and the Eucharist. 

Jesus is the source of all grace. Unlike the manna the Israelites received in the desert, which was inanimate and dead, the Eucharist is the “Living Bread”, because it is Jesus, present Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in every Consecrated Host. He conceals Himself under the appearance of bread, so as not to frighten us. But He is totally present in the Eucharist, as the Church teaches. Many Eucharistic miracles testify to this. This is why we should receive Holy Communion with the greatest reverence and respect.

It reminds me of the story of Marion Carroll from Athlone in Ireland. She was suffering from multiple sclerosis and went on pilgrimage with her Diocese to the famous Shrine at Knock. Due to her condition, she had to travel on a stretcher in an ambulance. Marion hadn’t walked for years and was expected to die soon. She had to be fed, washed and changed. Her Parish Priest was already working on her funeral homily.  Arriving at the Basilica in Knock, she received the Anointing of the Sick along with other sick people before Mass. During the Mass, when she received Holy Communion, she felt an unusual pain in her heels, which then went away and all other pains in her body disappeared too. At the end of Mass, during prayers for the sick, her Bishop walked around the Basilica blessing the sick with Jesus in the Monstrance.

Suddenly she heard the words: 

The lame shall walk. 

Then she experienced a magnificent feeling, a wonderful sensation, like a whispering breeze telling her that she was cured. Marion asked to have the stretcher opened and he two legs swung out and she stood up for the first time in three years. She was later examined by doctors who found that she was completely healed. This defied medial explanation.

Marion was cured by Jesus in the Eucharist. St Alphonsus Liguori, the great saint and Doctor of the Church had a strong devotion to the Eucharist and he wrote: 

Of all devotions, adoration of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is the greatest after the sacraments, the one dearest to God and the one most helpful to us. 

The Eucharist is a priceless treasure. By not only participating Holy Mass and receiving Communion, but by praying before the Blessed Sacrament in Eucharistic Adoration, we are enabled to make contact with the very wellspring of grace. The Eucharist brings us union or communion with God, this is why we have the term: Holy Communion. Jesus is our strength for the journey towards Heaven, let’s hunger for the Eucharist and not restrict reception only to Sunday Mass;  but instead come to Mass during the week as well and join in Eucharistic Adoration available 24/7 at our Divine Mercy Shrine at Maryville in Lower Chittering.

As the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: 

The Holy Eucharist is the “source and summit of the Christian life,” (CCC 1324).

O Sacrament Most Holy, O Sacrament Divine, All Praise and all Thanksgiving be every moment Thine.