Reflection

THE REAL PRESENCE

Throughout the Miraculous and Teaching Ministries of our Lord, Jesus warned with increasing urgency that His Passion and Death were approaching. Even so, He promised, we would never be without recourse to Him.  After demonstrating that nothing was impossible for the Author of all creation, He instituted a sacrament that would make His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity ever-available to each of us. By instituting the Holy Eucharist, Jesus assured us of His ongoing Real Presence in our lives. He invites each of us into a relationship of dependency and nourishment — a relationship we require no less real than food.  Thus, the sacred plan accounts for our hunger for more than a “long-distance relationship”. God invites us into a friendship that is not ever-distant and remote, but rather, is ever-available and present.

Pray

Pater Noster

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name;
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

R: Give us, this day, our daily bread;
     And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us;
     And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. AMEN.

Holy Scripture

John 6: 51

The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us [his] flesh to eat?”

Pray

Ave Maria

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you;
Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.

R: Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now
     and at the hour of our death. AMEN.

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