oday, we celebrate one of the most beautiful feasts of the Church, the Body and Blood of Christ, formerly known by its Latin name - Corpus Christi. The Eucharist is the “beating heart” of the Catholic Church, for everything centres on this sacrament which Christ left us on the night before he died. It was his parting gift to the Church—his own body and blood to be the life and food of our souls. He assured its continuation by ordaining his disciples and ordered them to do this in memory of him.—and I will be with you always until the end of time.

Each parish is a Eucharistic community gathered round Christ in the mass. This is the continuation of his sacrifice in  which he offers himself to his Father in heaven on our behalf,  through his priesthood.

It is difficult to understand the humility of Christ who has chosen the simplicity of this sacrament as the way in which he wants  be close to us. My flesh is real food. My blood is real drink, He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in him. Oh the he joy, the rapture, the privilege of being able to receive Our Lord in the intimacy of our own souls.  I will no longer call you servants, but  friends.

This is the sacrament Our Lord wanted everyone of his followers to have. Sadly, the Reformation caused the destruction of the unity of the Church, of which this sacrament is an enduring symbol, In the terrible frenzy, cathedrals, abbeys and churches were sacked, altars destroyed, the sacrifice of the mass forbidden and priests outlawed. Many of the magnificent architectural gems raised to the glory of God were left in ruins, and the people deprived of the nourishment of the Eucharist, very basis of their faith.

The Last Supper—Leonardo da Vinci