June 7, 2026 ~ The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ ~ Year A

Spiritual Reflection

June 7, 2026 ~ The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ ~ Year A (PDF)

“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and
drink his blood, you do not have life within you.” Jn 6:53

The great mystery of faith that we ponder during Holy Mass is the foundation of all of our interior lives. That is why we must try to live by the Eucharist in our daily lives rather than limit ourselves to living by the Eucharist only during the Liturgy. Living by the Eucharist in our daily lives means to be open to everything that we experience during the Liturgy and to assume this attitude of openness in the concrete realities of our everyday lives. It is important not to divide up our day in such a way as to dedicate one hour to God and then the rest of the day to the temporal world.

By offering ourselves as a sacrifice to God during Holy Mass, we give our Lord the right to constantly and freely do what He pleases with what we offer to Him. In the attitude of spiritual poverty, by dispossessing ourselves and by trying to lovingly and submissively accept everything that He Himself desires to give us as alms, we can give ourselves over to God’s disposition.

If extended beyond the time of the Holy Mass and into our daily lives, identification of ourselves with Christ’s Sacrifice means to give up our own rights and freedoms. It means to attempt to accept everything, but especially those things which are contrary and disagreeable to our nature. In this way, together with Christ, we will be able to give to the Father an offering of our lives. The prayer that concludes the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola expresses this attitude of being entirely at God’s disposal: “Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my intellect, and all my will – all that I have and possess. Thou gavest it to me: to Thee, Lord, I return it! All is Thine, dispose of it according to all Thy will. Give me Thy love and grace, for this is enough for me.” This prayer concisely expresses the spirit of true offering and total bestowing. Such a prayer conveys the Christian attitude of Christ’s complete poverty and sacrifice. Such an attitude communicates the true gift of one’s self and the conscious agreement to allow God to be in control of one’s life and to direct it. The sincere Christian attitude entails giving up a life that is organized according to one’s own desires and ideas – a life that does not count on God and on His will.

The Church encourages each one of us to assume the attitude of acknowledging our evil and awaiting God’s mercy during the Liturgy of the Eucharist. To live daily by the Most Holy Sacrifice, we should assume this attitude as often as possible in our everyday activities and work. Precisely in this attitude of contrition, we have the possibility to open ourselves up to the Lord, who speaks to us not only during the Eucharistic celebration, but also in every moment of our lives. . .

Holy Communion, which we receive in a sacramental way during Holy Mass, is a call for us to aspire to live in communion with Jesus also in our daily lives. Our communion with Jesus is communion between a contrite sinner and his Redeemer. The contrite sinner is the one who acknowledges his own evil and trustfully stretches out his hands toward the Redeemer, Jesus.

S. C. Biela, Open Wide the Door to Christ, pp. 85-88

References from the Catechism of the Catholic Church

1846 The Gospel is the revelation in Jesus Christ of God's mercy to sinners. The angel announced to Joseph: "You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." The same is true of the Eucharist, the sacrament of redemption: "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."

1393 Holy Communion separates us from sin. The body of Christ we receive in Holy Communion is "given up for us," and the blood we drink "shed for the many for the forgiveness of sins." For this reason the Eucharist cannot unite us to Christ without at the same time cleansing us from past sins and preserving us from future sins.

1394 As bodily nourishment restores lost strength, so the Eucharist strengthens our charity, which tends to be weakened in daily life; and this living charity wipes away venial sins. By giving himself to us Christ revives our love and enables us to break our disordered attachments to creatures and root ourselves in him.

Questions for Reflection

1.             What is my most prevalent approach to the Eucharist? How do I experience the Eucharist in my daily life?
2.             How do I experience God’s love when I find myself limiting the Eucharist to the Liturgy? How can I respond?
3.             Mary, the mother of God was fully opened to the action of God’s grace. How can she inspire and guide me in the prayer of awaiting the Eucharist and living from it in my daily life?

Prayer after Sharing

Thank you, God, for allowing me to see the truth about my weaknesses and how it calls upon the abyss of your merciful Love.