1 Corinthians 11:26

The gospel makes it clear that Jesus is the bread of life, come down from heaven. As bread is necessary for the body, as manna was vital to the Hebrews in the desert, so is the Eucharist the vital link with the life of Christ. We are what we eat, and when we receive the Eucharist we are the body of Christ. This union can carry us straight from the altar into the heart of the world. The Eucharist is our bread for the journey, the whole journey from our baptism to our final union with God. In receiving the Eucharist, we receive the body and blood of Christ. We celebrate what we are, a people one with Christ and with one another for the duration of a journey that does not end but that reaches the fullness of life in God, now and forever.

This is why the Lord told us when he gave us the Eucharist at the last supper: “Do this in remembrance of me.”

Jesus gave us the Eucharist after the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes (John 6:51-58). His listeners thought it would pay to follow a leader who supplied food in such abundance. But, Jesus had another hunger in mind, another kind of life. And so, Jesus advanced the discussion and focused the hunger beyond the satisfaction of a full belly to acceptance of his very self as the source of life. This was a harder message to swallow and some could not take it. But some did, and they became the church. The disciples accepted the message and answered any objection by asking, “to whom shall we go? you have the words of eternal life.”

The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life. It always has been and always will be. Whenever people assemble to break bread and to celebrate the death and resurrection of the Lord, there is the church. The church is most itself, knows itself at it’s deepest level and celebrates itself most fully in the breaking of bread. We are all one because we all share in the bread, which is the body of Christ.

Fr. Hugh Duffy