A Lenten Reflection
The Most Holy Blessed Sacrament of Jesus Christ; the Apex of Easter!
We can pray the rosary daily and without enumerating how many, or write volumes of knowledgeable theological explanations, and of course lift up the many souls who have lost their way. But it is through the reception of Christ himself through the holy Eucharist that all other blessed environs become just an addition to what the Body and Blood, soul and divinity of Christ that will place within us a real presence of Christ who died and rose for our sins that have eternal life.
Nothing can even resemble the realism of a personal connection with our Lord than his food and drink that is real and lasts for eternity. When he spoke to the crowds after multiplying the bread and fish to thousands his words were not symbolic or metaphorically spoken; they were real!
“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also anyone who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.” (Jn 6: 53 - 58).
An absence of being away from the Eucharist can place within us a feeling of strangeness that will reach down deep inside our spiritual sense of belonging. Without being able to receive Christ in his person can become a darkness that will make it difficult to find his protection. Make no qualms about it, receiving him at least once in life leaves an empty tank that needs to be refueled again and again. However, it isn’t a sense that is just for our own needs, it is a mandate that requires our reaching out to those who are seeking Christ in his real life presence and we must share the grace that has touched our individual lives with the Body and Blood of our Savior.
Ralph B. Hathaway