“Unless you eat my body and drink my blood you have no life in you.”
Our Lord is not speaking of physical life (bios) nor is He referring to intellectual life (psychos) instead He is saying clearly that that soul has no aeos (eternal life) in it. So many souls today have simply made our Lord out to be one of the many ways to the happiness of heaven. No other teacher in the history of mankind ever said that the requirement for eternal happiness is dependent upon the belief in the Holy Eucharist (the Body and Blood of Christ). Catholics, young and old, have come to treat our Lord and our faith as if it were optional.
Notice that the masses followed our Lord because of His powerful works and the miracles of healing. He casts out demons; they followed Him. He multiplied the loaves and the fish and they wished to make Him their king. But when He announced the holy Eucharist; they said this saying is too hard and they stopped following Him. Our Lord turned to His apostles and asked them: “Do you wish also to leave?” Peter responded to our Lord and said “To Whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
The words of eternal life fall upon this bread and this chalice and by the power of God they cannot help but become the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ. The faith-filled Catholic accepts this holy Eucharist at the Holy Mass and is transformed mystically into the person of Christ. The Mystical Body, alias the Church, carries on the mission of her Master and seeks to bring all souls to the Holy Communion which increases the eternal life within the individual soul. The crucial truth is that outside of this communion there is no salvation. One must be incorporated into the Body of Christ in order to find eternal life and the happiness of union with the Holy Trinity.
In the Holy Trinity there is a great love affair going on and that love seeks to expand itself to all those who freely come to admit that “Jesus is the divine Son of God, the second Person of the Blessed Trinity.” With this faith comes the great work of divinizing our humanity through the frequent use of the sacraments of Penance and Holy Communion. From the happy day on which we received our first holy communion to the moment in which we receive Viaticum, every holy communion increases our growth in Christ likeness and hence elevates us more and more in the eternal happiness we so desire.
As we die to ourselves then Christ can fill up that emptiness with Himself. Hence the quickest and most efficient way to get to heaven is through daily holy mass and communion with Christ. Never forget that holy confession is the best preparation for Holy Communion. Who can teach us about this better than our dear Blessed Mother who for 30 years was daily in union with her divine Son.
So let us process with the most Blessed Sacrament into this unbelieving world and cry out our faith: Viva Cristo Rey! He lives in us through the most Holy Eucharist and He strengthens us for the battle with the world, the flesh and the evil one. In union with Him we conquer all for “greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world.” Have courage now, brothers and sisters, for the battle will be won as it has already be won through the sacrifice of the Lamb of God. Let the world know that we are happy in the gift of the almighty God of the most holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In the hearts of Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
Fr. Richard Voigt, S.D.B.
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