"We have God before our eyes, masked in the sacred Host"

"Jesus has made Himself the Bread of Life to give us life. Night and day, He is there. If you really want to grow in love, come back to the Eucharist, come back to that Adoration.” --Mother Teresa

Gospel Text: (MK 14:12-16, 22-26)

On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread,

when they sacrificed the Passover lamb,

Jesus’ disciples said to him,

"Where do you want us to go

and prepare for you to eat the Passover?"

He sent two of his disciples and said to them,

"Go into the city and a man will meet you,

carrying a jar of water.

Follow him.

Wherever he enters, say to the master of the house,

'The Teacher says, "Where is my guest room

where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?"'

Then he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready.

Make the preparations for us there."

The disciples then went off, entered the city,

and found it just as he had told them;

and they prepared the Passover.

While they were eating,

he took bread, said the blessing,

broke it, gave it to them, and said,

"Take it; this is my body."

Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them,

and they all drank from it.

He said to them,

"This is my blood of the covenant,

which will be shed for many.

Amen, I say to you,

I shall not drink again the fruit of the vine

until the day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God."

Then, after singing a hymn,

they went out to the Mount of Olives.

I know that some find it difficult to believe that bread and wine change into the Body and Blood of Jesus. I can understand your doubts. We don’t see any change in the bread or wine. There is no difference in the taste; the bread still tastes like bread and the wine still tastes like wine. It is going against logic to say that the bread and wine change into the Body and Blood of Jesus despite no change in appearance. With our intellect we can understand that God must be keeping the universe together, that God is the origin of everything, but reason will only take us so far. Then we need to add faith to our reason and intellect. As Paul says, in the Christian life we go by faith and not by sight (2 Cor 5:7). We need to be humble and open to God performing a miracle every day in this church, the miracle of the Eucharist.

Can you be humble enough to add faith to your intellect and reason, to admit that intellect by itself does not provide all the answers, and that God can perform miracles every day making it possible for bread and wine to become the Body and Blood of Jesus while keeping the same appearance?

Can you add faith to your intellect? When you submit to God you will not lose anything, you will gain everything. There is a beautiful chant, “Trust, surrender, believe, receive.”

Add faith to your reasoning and receive the love of God for you! The Eucharist is the gift of God’s love for you.