We all know perfectly well why we should eat bread every day – in the morning for breakfast, then in school or maybe at work in lunch time, and in the evening for supper. We eat bread every day to live, to have the strength to grow and enjoy what God gives us each day.
The bread (Jesus’ body) and wine (Jesus’ blood) that He gives us on the altar have the same purpose. But it is concerned with a different life – everlasting life. And the happiness that it gives us will be even greater than our happiness on earth. It is about eternal life with God. Can you imagine – when God wanted to give us food to sustain the life of our souls, he looked around the whole of creation, but didn’t find anything suitable. So He looked into himself, and he decided to give himself for us. The truth is that only God can satisfy our soul’s hunger! What a beautiful mystery it is that only God can feed our soul.
So the first fruit of our Holy Communion at Mass is that Jesus feeds our soul and spirit by himself and prepares us for eternal life. But there is more to it. The second fruit is that through Holy Communion, Jesus draw us ever more closely to God, to Holy Spirit and to one another. In this way the Eucharist makes the Church. As the Church receives the Body and Blood of Christ, so too it becomes the body of Christ in the world. In other words: by our union with Christ in Holy Communion Jesus comes to the world again. Christ who is in heaven, has no body now but ours. No hands, no feet on earth but ours. We are His body on the earth.
Tomasz MAMELKA - Timperley 