Bread of Life

By: Rick Hernandez

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has decreed that starting on the Feast of Corpus Christi (June 19, 2022) and continuing for the next three years, the Catholic community in our country will be immersed in a National Eucharistic Revival. This revival is meant to re-kindle a living, loving and active relationship with Christ Eucharistic. Throughout our different dioceses and parishes, we are called into active discernment and participation in the life of the Church through Communion, Adoration, and all that it means to be Eucharistic, a life of thanksgiving.
 
The Eucharist is the main treasure of our Catholic faith, and Communion is the banquet we shall attend, where we meet Christ personally, physically, and spiritually. To those who have followed our Eucharistic meditations over the years, we invite you to go deeper into your relationship with the Eucharistic Christ and explore all that it means to live thanksgiving in the light of Christ.
 
You have probably come to know some of the writings of Saint Peter Julian Eymard, Elisheba’s patron Saint and Apostle of the Eucharist. There is not much I can say that would better present our Eucharistic treasure and joy than to use his words, so I leave you in Saint Peter Julian Eymard’s capable hands.

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“The bread of the Eucharist is primarily food for the spirit. In Holy Communion, we enjoy the Lord in and through himself. Our Lord called himself the bread come down from heaven, a bread of faith and of life. I maintain that, only in Communion, do we find an intimate knowledge of our Lord. He said: ‘he who loves me, keeps my word, and I will disclose myself to him.’ That is to say, I will reveal myself to him through love. That intimate manifestation is obtained only in Holy Communion. That joy of the spirit, that contact with our Lord in Communion, gives us a taste of God. ‘Taste and see,’ Scripture says. That taste for God is the family feeling; it brings us close to his heart. It is a knowledge by feeling and not by reasoning. In Holy Communion, we experience love, we know the heart of Jesus, we penetrate his secret.” - Saint Peter Julian Eymard
 

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“Notice what Jesus says when he first announces the Eucharist: ‘I am the bread of life: he who eats me will live for me and in me.’ The two lives are entwined: the divine life and the united life of the soul. A partnership is formed. Our Lord adds: ‘he who eats me will never die; he will live forever.’ To receive Communion is to be united to the risen Christ. Communion is a union of love. As union requires the sharing of sentiments, thoughts, joys, and sorrows, so Communion leads necessarily to a sharing of life. Communion is a heavenly banquet, the marriage feast of the Lamb.” - Saint Peter Julian Eymard
 

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“The Eucharist is the bread of the spirit. It is also the bread of life, the bread of the heart, the bread of love. It is the gift of God himself. What greater proof of his love could God give us? It is the sacrament of sacraments, preeminent by reason of the love which inspired it. It is the heavenly food by which the soul battens on God. It is, above all, the testament of God through which we find (a) understanding of the law of love, (b) the special grace to love, (c) the practice of love. For, what is love? It is giving. How do we recognize it? By what it gives. The Eucharist fulfills both conditions. Our Lord gives us all graces; he enriches us with every gift by giving himself, the fountain of all holiness. In the Eucharist, we receive the fruits of all his mysteries, past, present, and to come. We are forced to recognize God’s love in the perfect and complete gift of himself... We feel his love in Holy Communion.” - Saint Peter Julian Eymard
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As we go into this revival, let us always remember how we are called to live, in His goodness, and realize what our due is. We must acknowledge the great gift we have been bestowed. Let us recognize Him in the Eucharist and embrace Him with all that we are.

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“Adoration should not remain superficial, but reach to the heart of the mysteries. Adoration cannot be well done without Communion. Communion allows the soul to see, to understand, to contemplate, to savor; and then the soul advances, as in heaven, from light to light.” - Saint Peter Julian Eymard
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Let us pray: Lord, You are the Lord of all, yet you humble Yourself to become the Bread of Life, food for our journey home, nourishment for a rich life in You. Help us, Lord, to recognize You in the Eucharist. We pray for those of us that do not know You, do not seek You, and do not acknowledge You. Help us become aware of and thankful for Your great gift to us in the Eucharist. May you be glorified and adored in all the tabernacles of the word. Amen.
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Rick Hernandez

Common sense Catholic. Rick Hernandez is a Lay Associate of the Blessed Sacrament and a Director for Elisheba House. He lives in Trinity, Florida, with his wife Ivonne and their children. He also writes for the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament's Daily Eucharistic Reflection and for Catholicmom.com.