“When Catholics are asked, 'Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ?' they should answer a resounding YES! There is no closer union with Jesus than when you receive Him in the Eucharist.”

"As I read the sad statistics... that only 30% believe what the church teaches on the Real Presence of Christ, my mind went back to an earlier heresy - the Protestant Revolt. It was not the so called "selling of indulgences" that caused the painful break in our family. It was... [those] who no longer believed in the Real Presence..." Rev. Msgr. Richard L. Carroll, V.F.

Gospel Text: (JN 6:52-59)

The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying,

"How can this man give us his Flesh to eat?"

Jesus said to them,

"Amen, amen, I say to you,

unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood,

you do not have life within you.

Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood

has eternal life,

and I will raise him on the last day.

For my Flesh is true food,

and my Blood is true drink.

Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood

remains in me and I in him.

Just as the living Father sent me

and I have life because of the Father,

so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.

This is the bread that came down from heaven.

Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died,

whoever eats this bread will live forever."

These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

Today’s gospel is one of the most powerful passages in the book of John.  Jesus challenges us with a radical claim about his flesh and blood.  For some, this claim will make no sense.  Some may even feel duty-bound to resist such a claim, perhaps turning it into a metaphor or otherwise marginalizing it.  But when the beauty and truth of the Eucharist is revealed to us, this new paradigm resonates deeply.  It is also deeply embedded in the living faith of Christianity, which has been passed down to us in this present day, and which we will continue to transmit until the last generation.  Thanks be to God.