Introductory Prayer: Lord Jesus, you give yourself to me as food through the Eucharist. I believe you when you say, This is my Body. I place all my trust in your word, for I do want to have eternal life, I do want to be raised up on the last day. I love you for the gift of the Eucharist.

Petition: Lord, give me always this Bread to eat. Send faithful priests to feed your sheep with the Bread of Life. Lead me to know your will in my life.

Gospel: Jn 6: 51-58

Jesus said to the crowds: "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world."  The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us (his) flesh to eat?"  Jesus said to them, "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 the one 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."

1. Jesus is the Living Bread That Came Down from Heaven.

John the Evangelist tells us of Christ's power, which sheds light on the mystery of the Eucharist at the start of his Gospel: All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of men. All of creation came about through the Word of God: elements, plants, animals, and man created in the image and likeness of God. Each one of us is the work of his hands.

To preserve our material life on earth, which is brief, Christ gave us food taken from the rest of his creation, but for our soul to have eternal life, only a spiritual food would do. Christ, whose own food was to do his Fathers will, gave us himself. When we eat this food we gain the strength to do the Father's will in our own life.

2. The Fruits of Communion.

So often we seek life where it is not to be found, and we can very easily neglect to seek it where it is to be found so easily. So many unsubstantial foods clamor for our attention, such as music, gossip, fashion, attention. We are made to feel that just a little more, another gadget and we will be happy, we will be truly living. Christ reminds us that these are limited in the life and satisfaction they can give us. They do not give true life. They are not enough for true happiness. With them but without him our happiness is not lasting, it can be taken away, and it will when they break or wear out.

Christ promises several things if we make him our Food, which means if we receive him worthily, with faith, choosing to live his way.

 - We will have eternal life. Of course, as long as we live we are in danger of losing this precious gift of eternal life, Jesus does not tell us we won't have to struggle to shake off the lure of other false happinesses and false lives. However, if we strive to be faithful he will always be there.

 

- We will remain in him, and he will remain in us. We will never face any difficulty alone, we will never be alone, everything will make sense.

 

- This is the greatest gift he can give is. All the other material things are for life in this world, this food is so that we can reach life and happiness for eternity.  

 3. Does Eternal Life Attract Me? 

Often it happens that the important things do not attract us, while the unimportant do. We will make huge efforts for something as trivial as getting to a concert, yet and be very lazy when it is time to meet Jesus at Mass; we pay ten times as much for a CD as we would ever dream of putting into a collection for the poor or the missions; we diet for bodily health or vanity but we won't fast to purify our soul.

Let us ask Christ to show us his face, by increasing our faith, so that we can discover why the martyrs gladly gave up life itself in order to be faithful to him and to enter into eternal life with him. What a breakthrough it would be to do as much to acquire eternal happiness as we do to enjoy some passing happiness on earth. 

Conversation with Christ: I love you, Lord, for your Eucharist, this great gift of yourself. When your life was coming to its end and you had nothing else to give, you left us your own body to remain with us forever. This overwhelming show of love makes our hearts tremble with love, gratitude, and respect.

Questionnaire:  This optional questionnaire is intended to help  you examine your life in light of the inspirations God just gave you in these moments you spent with him in prayer.

1. How much more attention do I pay to my body and the passing things of life than to my soul and eternal life?

2. What do I need to do in order to draw all the fruits that Christ intends from the Eucharist?