At this time of year we move through some of the most important and meaningful passages of Sacred Scripture: in these weeks, the Gospel of John records Christ’s own clear and direct teaching about the reality and importance of the Holy Eucharist.  Various moments in the Old Testament point towards this great Spiritual Food which is the center of our spiritual life.  Moses gave the people Manna from heaven, but they still died.  Christ gives us the spiritual food of his Body and Blood, and we will live forever: nourishment that will never run out: that will never leave us in hunger, but which satisfies all our deepest needs. 

This is a remarkable thing to believe, that the Holy Eucharist, what we do right here in this place week in and week out, is really that important.  And it really separates the men from the boys, as it were.  Even Christ himself couldn’t convince everyone.  The Gospel of John records many going away sad at the Lord’s insistence that they eat his flesh and drink his blood.  And you’ll notice, when that happened, he didn’t go running after them and say, “Never mind!  It’s just a symbol…come on back.”  He had to let them go, because this was too important, too central to his message and to our salvation.  Nothing else will do: any other way we try to nourish our souls will leave us still wanting.  Christ let people go away from him rather than dilute this strength and necessity of the Eucharist.  The Church has had to let people go away over the centuries, rather than dilute this truth.  Countless scores of martyrs have died to protect and proclaim this truth.  And they did so with joy.  The Eucharist is the greatest gift that we’ve been given: because it’s the gift of God himself, given to us out of love. 

And the Eucharist is the source of hope for ourselves as well.  The fact that God can transform these rather base and common elements into His own Body and Blood: if he can do that, what can he do with you?  You are so much greater than bread: there’s so much more to work with.  The Eucharist is proof that you can be transformed too, no matter how trapped you might feel in your sins and your weaknesses.  Giving us his Body and Blood, God invites us to a foretaste of heaven, to intimate union with him; he invites us into a process of transformation at the deepest level of our souls.  This is why the Eucharist is indispensable.  Because it’s real.  It’s really the Sacred Body and Blood of our God.  Our Lord really is, himself, the Bread of Life.  And Holy Mass really is the sacrifice of Christ of the cross which makes that Sacred Bread available to us, as the source of Life is brought here to this moment for our adoration. 

And it's important to remember that God does indeedn command us to adore him.  The first three commandments are fairly regularly ignored in our day and age, but they are very important and there’s a reason they come first.  We can sometimes tend to think of our worship of God as somehow optional; like we’re doing him a favor by showing up; he’s supposed to entertain us; it’s like a hobby: a way to kill an hour on the weekend before we get on to the Titans game or whatever.  But that’s wrong.  This is our fundamental relationship: our relationship with our creator, and without this relationship none of our other relationships would make sense or even be possible.  We have to give attention to this fundamental relationship.  Every week.  Every day.  By worship.  By prayer.  By adoring God.  By making Mass and the Eucharist and our prayer life the most important things in our lives, because they are the most real things in our lives.  Our Lord is reminding us today that we cannot live life well without worship.  We cannot live life well with prayer.  We cannot live life well without thanksgiving.  Ultimately, we cannot live life well without the Holy Eucharist.  It’s the bread of life, the food of angels.  And finding Our Lord, as the Bread of our Life, in the Holy Eucharist, we find our joy and our salvation.