Corpus Christi! Amen!

At homily, Fr. Paddy expounded, explained and asserted. God bless the man, he's truly one of the best preachers I have ever known. The Eucharist! Summit of the Christian faithful and, -- something that really stuck to me -- the ultimate test of faith. I truly pray that our non-Catholic brethren, aside from the Lutherans, will one day consider it and discover it. The Incarnation, right there before us, from ordinary bread to the Body of Christ. That is truly and wonderfully Christ, present before us, and shared among us, eaten as he wills to be consumed by us, so that we may be the Incarnation with him.

Today's Gospel: Jn 6:51-58 Jesus said to the Jewish crowds: "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" Jesus said to them, "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. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever."

Unless we eat, said our Lord, of his very flesh -- and so we eat. Thus do we believe, and have faith in his very words, and his words are never idle. (I was hoping that the choir would take Fr. Paddy's joke about Tantum ergo seriously. I've missed singing that.)