God’s people in the desert were fed by miraculous provision of food and drink  and our Heavenly Father continues to feed us with the body and blood of His Son, as celebrated in the feast of Corpus Christi.

He continues to nourish us spiritually by this wonderful gift of the Real Presence, food for our souls, so that as Jesus declared, “whoever eats me will live because of me.”

 

Jesus speaks of Himself as being food for us, sent from the Father in heaven. Unlike ordinary food, which just sustains life, this food gives a life that is eternal.

 

Jesus shared table many times with His disciples and it is likely that, when sharing food with His friends, Jesus also shared His vision of God’s kingdom with them. While they were at table, the disciples imbibed something of Jesus’ mind and heart and spirit. Of all the meals, Jesus shared with the disciples, the meal that stayed in their memory more than any other was the last meal they ate together, what came to be known as the last supper.

 

Jesus intended his last supper to be a beginning rather than an end. The last supper was the first Eucharist. Ever since that night, in response to Jesus’ command, the church has gathered in his name, and has done and said what he did and said at that last supper – taking bread and wine, blessing both, breaking the bread and giving both for disciples to eat and drink.

In this way, Jesus continues to give himself as food and drink to his followers.

 

From the burning bush to the gentle breeze, God has made his presence known among us since the beginning of time. Being among us as Eucharist is a significant way of being present.

The Eucharistic presence is represented by bread and wine.

 

As we know, bread is the result of a process that begins with seeds of wheat. These are brought together and, after several stages of development, they end up as a unit which we call bread. Wine begins as a cluster of grapes. These also are processed and, again when the process is completed, they end up as a unit which we call wine. When a  group of people gather together in a church, each individual   being uniquely different,   after a certain process, which is the work of God’s Spirit, they become a unit, which we call church, or the Body of Christ.

 

As together we take the body of Christ and eat, we become more aware of ourselves as members of one body, the body of Christ. Our celebration of the Eucharist inspires us, and obliges us, to relate to each other as members of one body, Christ’s body, Corpus Christi.