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Gospel Reading for April 24, 2026 – John 6: 52-59
SO NEAR TO US
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.” These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
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We can hardly blame the Jews for not understanding what Jesus was saying, for they were rooted in the present, while Jesus was already speaking of the future—of the time when his Church would be established and the great celebration of life in the Eucharist would become a central reality in the life of the Church.
The Eucharist is described in the Catechism of the Catholic Church as the “source and summit” of Christian life, from which all ministries and works of the apostolate flow and toward which they are directed.
The Eucharist is Jesus himself—fully present: Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. Because of this, it is rightly called the fount of all blessings. As taught in the Catechism of the Council of Trent, all graces flow from Christ, and all the sacraments are ordered toward him.
How blessed we are! After returning to the Father, Jesus might seem distant—yet through the Eucharist, he is made SO NEAR TO US!
Thank you Lord, for remaining with us always!
