Each Sunday millions of Catholics gather the world over to celebrate an event of cosmic proportions: an event in which the meaning of time itself unfolds; an event of incomparable joy in which the eschatological dimension of man’s existence is encountered, and on which the foundation of hope and joy held in every Christian heart is based.
Real Presence of Christ
The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ: The Eucharist is the Life-Blood of the Christian
The Eucharist is often referred to as the “source and summit of the Church.” In receiving this “sacrament of sacraments,” our Savior comes not simply to meet us but into us, fills us with himself, and sanctifies us with his own supernatural, divine life in order to transform us into his likeness. In consuming the Eucharist, “the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 47).
Pope Francis: The Eucharist is our Spiritual Lifeblood
The Eucharist is the spiritual life-blood of the Christian because in receiving it we consume the glorified body of the Risen Lord, whose life transforms us, elevates and empowers us to become like him. Pope Francis noted that in receiving the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ, God communicates interior attitudes of holiness to us, infusing our hearts and minds with his own love and his own thoughts, through the wondrous presence of Jesus and the divine impulses of the Holy Spirit. Among these interior attitudes is “First of all docility to the Word of God.”