In this Sunday’s Gospel reading from Luke, we see the crowds follow Jesus to a deserted place; they do so because they are hungry — not merely for bread, but for truth, healing, and hope. And Jesus, looking upon them with divine compassion, “welcomed them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed to be cured” (Lk. 9:11). Already, He feeds them with His Word and His merciful presence. But He doesn’t stop there. As the day wears on, the disciples urge Jesus to dismiss the crowd so that they may find food for themselves. Yet, the Lord responds with an unusual command: “Give them some food yourselves” (Lk. 9:13).

Here, we see the generous providence of God revealed as the Lord does not dismiss those who come to Him, but sees our need and feeds us with divine abundance. Jesus takes what little is offered, lifts His eyes to heaven, blesses, breaks, and gives it to the disciples to set before the people. This is not just a miracle of provision, but a prefiguration of the Eucharist, the true Bread from Heaven, which Christ will institute at the Last Supper and offer daily through the hands of His priests.

Through this miracle, Jesus shows us that the Father’s providence flows from the depths of His loving and generous heart. Just as He fed Israel with manna in the desert, He now feeds the multitudes in the wilderness of Galilee. But in the Eucharist, He gives us far more — not just food for the body, but His very self. For He does not remain distant from our hunger, but meets us in it, satisfies us, and transforms us – giving Himself to us without reserve, again and again. Every time we receive Him, we are drawn more deeply into that eternal exchange of love, as we are brought into communion with the divine life of the Most Holy Trinity. In the Eucharist, we find not only sustenance, but salvation.

St. Elizabeth of the Trinity writes, “When we receive Christ with interior devotion, His blood, full of warmth and glory, flows into our veins and a fire is enkindled in our depths. We receive the likeness of His virtues, and He lives in us and we in Him.” It is through receiving Him in the Eucharist and allowing Him to fully and freely live and dwell in us, that we, with St. Paul, seek to participate in and proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes again (1 Cor. 11:26).

As we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, may we renew our awe before this Mystery, and let our hearts be drawn ever more deeply into His, who offers Himself entirely to us in the Eucharist, that we might live in and with Him forever.

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By Sr. Elizabeth