God came to us in bodily form and He not only completely gave up His body for us through suffering and dying on the cross, but He also gave us the ability to continually encounter Himself in bodily form through the sacrament of the Eucharist. This is probably the closest we will get to Jesus in this lifetime and it truly is a great gift!
While rote prayer, reading scriptures, and just talking to God can bring us closer to Him, nothing brings us closer than physically receiving Him into our body and soul. When we consume Him, we become like a tabernacle carrying the Son of God within us. Mary said yes and received Jesus into her body and we can also say yes and receive Him into our body as well.
If everyone could see with their eyes the miracle that happens at the altar, the Catholic Churches would be filled to the brim. How often are we daydreaming during this important part of the Mass and thinking about something irrelevant? We see the same motions and hear pretty much the same words at every liturgy, so it’s easy to think what’s happening is ordinary and unexciting. However, what’s happening is truly extraordinary. We are witnessing a miracle every Mass.
If we were going to welcome someone special into our home, we would make sure it’s clean and presentable. We should also make our souls clean and presentable to Jesus before we receive Him. When we receive Jesus with only venial sins and have remorse for them, His presence will purify our souls and cleanse us. However, the act of committing a mortal sin cuts ourselves off from Jesus and receiving Him in that state actually hurts both parties. We should first go and reconcile and reconnect with God and then, once we are in a right relationship with Him, ask Him to come into our lives. If we seriously betrayed and hurt our spouse, we would want to reconcile with them before we were intimate together. If we force something before both are in a right relationship, that would hurt the relationship even more.
In the Gospel for this weekend, Jesus was tasked with feeding many people with only a little bit of food. He not only fed them all, but they were all satisfied. There was also much leftover after the meal, signifying the immense love of Jesus for us. When we direct our gifts towards God by doing His will, He will take our few gifts and multiply the fruits of them. When we come to God for nourishment, we will not go away hungry and when we worthily receive His body, we allow His love into our whole being and become more like Him. There’s an old saying that says, “You are what you eat.” Let’s become more like Christ.
