The Blessed Eucharist
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man
and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and
drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last
day” (St. John 6:53).
The sacrament of the Blessed Eucharist is the Body, Blood, Soul and
Divinity of Jesus Christ under the appearances, or accidents, of bread and
wine. Unlike the other sacraments, it not only bestows grace, but contains
the Author of Grace Himself. According to St. Thomas Aquinas (S.T., III,
q. 65 a. 3), all the other sacraments point to, or are servants of, the Blessed
Eucharist.
Our Lord first promised the Holy Eucharist in St. John 6:48-51, which
reads as follows:
“I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and
they died. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man
may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from
heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread
which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
The Jews were scandalized and declared “How can this man give us his
flesh to eat?” (v. 52). Whenever His hearers misunderstood His meaning
Christ always corrected them immediately by explaining clearly what He
meant (e.g., St. John 3:3-6; St. John 11:14). On the other hand, whenever
his hearers understood Him correctly but did not believe what He said He
always repeated and stressed His statement:
“So Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of
the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my
flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last
day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who
eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living
Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will
live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not
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