Thankfulness

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

John 6:24-35

What is the Eucharist for us personally?

From its original word, it means "thanksgiving to God".

We say as the bread and wine are offered: "Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation,
for through your goodness we have received...the bread and wine, fruits of the earth and work of human hands..."  That is thanksgiving.

We have our whole lives to thank for.  The air we breathe, the people we meet, our homes, the food, our strength... God supplies everything for us.  Sometimes, our words of thanks come in late.  We need to be given before we can thank God.  But God already supplies us even before we can ask for the grace. 

Thank God also for the things money can't buy.  Love or compassion, sharing and caring, forgiveness, integrity.  These are all faces of goodness.

Most of all, thank Jesus in the Blessed Eucharist.  He's the only one who can give us life.  I thank the Lord for the gift of priesthood.  Every priest may be weak, but he is endowed with the gift to celebrate the Eucharist and to transbustantiate bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ to be shared to others.

Only Christ can save us, forgive us, and bring us to life.  Only Christ can supply us with the gifts of compassion and love. Only Christ can orient us to a life of stewardship.  Christ is the bread of life.