“The Eucharist is so much more. It is the mystical making present of the Sacrifice of the Cross to us in our time and place. It is the mystical joining of our worship and thanksgiving to the Supper of the Lamb in the heavenly liturgy. And it is the real, true and preeminently unique Presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament given to us in Holy Communion at the celebration of Holy Mass.”

Today’s Gospel is taken from St. John and continues the short five-week break from Mark’s Gospel that we’ve been hearing during this liturgical year. The focus of the passages during these five weeks is the Eucharist and the Lord’s abundant love for each of us.

So much power and promise are contained in the sixth chapter of John’s gospel, that the Church spends these five weeks of summer, every three years, proclaiming this essential Eucharistic truth of new life in Christ.

Jesus proclaims, “Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal” (John 6:27). …

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