June 1. This food we call the Eucharist, of which no one is allowed to partake except one who believes that the things we teach are true, and has received the washing for forgiveness of sins and for rebirth, and who lives as Christ handed down to us. For we do not receive these things as common bread or common drink; but as Jesus Christ our Savior being incarnate by God's Word took flesh and blood for our salvation, so also we have been taught that the food consecrated by the Word of prayer which comes from him, from which our flesh and blood are nourished by transformation, is the flesh and blood of that incarnate Jesus.  St. Justin Martyr

 

June 2. (Corpus Christi). Mystery of faith! Today’s solemnity has been, down the centuries, an object of particular attention in various popular Christian traditions. How many public devotions have developed around the worship of the Eucharist. Theologians and pastors have striven to make the ineffable mystery of divine Love understood in human language. The great doctor of the Church, St Thomas Aquinas, has a special place among these authoritative voices. In his poetic compositions, he sings with inspired transport the believer’s sentiments of adoration and love before the mystery of the Lord’s Body and Blood. One need only think of the famous “Pange, lingua”, which is a profound meditation on the Eucharistic mystery, the mystery of the Lord’s Body and Blood — ‘gloriosi Corporis mysterium, Sanguinisque pretiosi’.”  Pope St. John Paul II

 

June 3.  The Church’s song rings out each day against the warring cries of all her enemies. She has no fear so long as her divine healer plunges her each day into the saving waters of his blood and gives her the remedies of his body, so long as she can renew her strength daily like the eagle’s in the Mystery of the Altar.  Sr. Aemiliana Lohr

 

June 4. The decisive and dominating truth given us in our Christian faith is that the Lord is truly risen. Further, he rises in our humanity, in our flesh and blood, and with him humanity has been taken into heaven and the glory of the Heavenly Father. This fundamental doctrine of Christianity proclaims that eternal glory is now a possibility in the history of our world, of our humanity and our flesh and blood. In the flesh and blood of Christ, which is a part of this world, our reality is already in eternal glory.  Fr. Karl Rahner

 

June 5. We must approach this table with fear, for our mind must understand that reverence is due Him whose body we are coming to receive. For the mind ought to judge this way within itself, because it is the Lord whose blood we drink in this mystery.  St. Ambrose of Milan 

 

June 6. Christ washed us from our sins in His blood, not only when He gave His blood on the cross for us, or when each  one of us by the mystery of His holy Passion was  washed clean by baptism of water, but He also daily  takes away the sins of the world. He washes us from  our sins daily in His Blood, when the memory of the  same blessed Passion is renewed at the altar, when the creature of bread and wine is transferred into the  sacrament of His flesh and blood by the ineffable  sanctification of the Spirit.  Venerable Bede

 

June 7 (Sacred Heart). The purpose of the feast of the Sacred Heart is to honor with more fervor and devotion the suffering love of Jesus Christ as He instituted the Sacrament of His Body and Blood.  St. Peter Julian Eymard

 

June 8. After receiving Holy Communion, Our Lord said to her: “The Holy Sacrament is the life of your life. I give Myself to you every day with My Body and Blood, while awaiting the hour of your death when I shall give Myself to you with the abundance of My love for all eternity.  Bl. Mary of the Divine Heart

 

June 9. Behold the cup of your terrifying blood, filled with light and life. Grant us understanding and enlightenment, that with the love and sanctity of faith we might approach it and that it might be unto us for the forgiveness of sins and not for condemnation.  St. Ephrem the Syrian

 

June 10. Christ possesses a much more vigorous power, a divine power that no one can destroy. He gives us his Body and his Blood, his risen presence, his life of God. St. Oscar Romero

 

June 11.  

 

This is the holy chalice,

God's life-giving blood

which is consecrated for all mortals

by the priests.

 

This is the chalice of salvation,

God's living blood.

Come forward all peoples and rejoice for it absolves

those who partake of it.

 

This is the chalice which satisfies

the thirst of Adam's race.

Those who drink from it are delivered

from the flames of Gehenna.

 

The chosen nation prefigured this chalice.

But when he came in person,

other nations instead

welcomed him with joy.

 

The honorable priest Aaron,

prefigured this chalice

when he sprinkled the blood of birds

to signify the blood of the Lord.

 

The prophet Moses prefigured this chalice

by the lamb's blood

which he sprinkled in Egypt

to deliver the children of Israel. (Maronite Liturgy)

June 12. Just as anyone who drinks earthly and common wine might find that his mind experiences some enjoyment, and that one’s spirit is built up anew and chases away all sadness. In like manner, whoever tastes the salutary drink of the Blood of the Lord, simply loses the memory of the ‘old man’, forgets the earlier worldly conversations.  St. Gaspar Luigi Bertoni

 

June 13. Upon the Altar there takes place the transubstantiation of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. That Body which the Virgin begot, which hung upon the Cross and was placed in the sepulchre, which rose again the third day, and ascended to the right hand of the Father, this Body the Church today and everyday presents and distributes to her faithful. When the priest speaks the words: This is My Body, the essence of the bread is changed into the Body of Christ.  St. Anthony of Padua

 

June 14. Our Lord has kept bonum vinum usque adhuc, because only in this last age of the world, the Messianic age, as St John calls it, has he given to humans the good wine of his Blood in the Blessed Sacrament. Furthermore, the sweetness of the holy love of God is an inebriating draught which he keeps until the last for those who serve him faithfully.  Bl. Ildefonso Schuster

 

June 15.  Who can unfold Christ’s great mercy in redeeming the human race by the shedding of his precious blood, in handing over to his members the sacred mystery of his life — giving body and blood, whereby that body of his which is the Church is given food and drink, purification and sanctification?  Pope St. Gregory the Great

 

June 16. Let us contemplate with the eyes of our heart, Jesus, that is, our Saviour, the Lamb without spot, how He bore therein all our sins; how heavily, all alone, He trod the wine-press, that like the grape that is pressed with all care, He, too, might be pressed in the wine-press of His Passion, and might pour upon us richly, and give us to drink, the red wine of His precious Blood, so as to make us drunk with His love.  Johannes Tauler 

 

June 17. The Lord’s cup so inebriates them that drink, that it makes them sober; that it restores their minds to spiritual wisdom; that each one recovers from the flavor of the world to the understanding of God; and in the same way, that by that common wine the mind is dissolved, and the soul relaxed, and all sadness is laid aside, so, when the blood of the Lord and the cup of salvation have been drunk, the memory of the Old Adam is laid aside.  St. Cyprian of Carthage

 

June 18. When Christ, as a sign of His power, clearly

        changed the water into wine

    All the crowd rejoiced, for they considered the

        taste marvelous.

    Now we all partake at the banquet in the

        church

    For Christ’s blood is changed into wine

    And we drink it with holy joy,

    Praising the great bridegroom,

    For he is the true bridegroom, the Son of

        Mary,

    The Word before all time who took the form

        of a servant,

    He who has in wisdom created all things.  St. Romanus the Melodist

 

June 19. The blood which we receive as food does not immediately nourish us, but only after it has passed through some other stage. But it is far different with this Blood, for It at once refreshes the soul and fills it with a great power. When worthily received, this Blood repels demons. It puts them to flight and even summons to us angels and the Lord of angels. Where they see the Blood of the Lord, demons flee, while angels foregather. This Blood, poured out in abundance, has washed the whole world clean. St. John Chrysostom

 

June 20. We are first washed, then anointed, and finally drink the blood reserved for those who are free from sin. Anointed, we were made fragrant with the sweet odor of Christ. It is in this way we are made ready to come to the Table of the Lord. Having eaten this food for the strong, for those who have put on Christ, we are able to bear the cross with him and so become fully like him. This is not burdensome. It is among the greatest graces and of blessings.  Nicholas Cabasilas

 

June 21. On the Lord’s day we receive life from the sacred body of our saving Passover and our souls are sealed with his precious blood. St. Eusebius of Caesarea

 

June 22. I have come, says Jesus our Savior, that all may have life. This life is that which the sacraments minister to us as they lead us into the death and burial and resurrection that is Jesus. We can’t enter into this life without coming through the door which is Jesus. We can’t have life within us unless we eat his Body and Drink his blood. When we renounce sin and accept God’s way of mercy, love, justice and peace we begin to be transformed so that we become like Jesus. How do we know we are like him? We know it by the way we love one another, just as Jesus himself said. Nicholas Cabasalis

 

June 23. Let your secret foe see your lips reddened with the Blood of Christ. He will shudder, cower back, and flee to his dark, dank retreat. St. Peter Damian

 

June 24. The Christian is the friend and confidant, the table-companion of his God; he has eaten God’s flesh, and drunk his blood; shall he have doubts about God’s action in the world because the ecclesia, and his hand seem weak, and his enemies strong?  Aemiliana Löhr

June 25. You receive the Cup which seemingly comes from human hands. What is it to you whether the bearer of the Cup acts righteously or unrighteously? As a follower of Jesus, your concern is to act righteously; to receive the Cup with thanksgiving to God and with a living faith; and courageously to drink it to the dregs.  St. Ignatius Brianchaninov of the Caucasus

 

June 26. In the Eucharist, which we might call the sacrament of divine extravagance, God gives his grace and himself to us: Jesus Christ, who is always really present — not just during Mass — with his body, with his soul, with his blood and with his divinity.  St. Josemaria Escriva

 

June 27. When we ingest the Eucharist in reality we are ingesting the Godhead .....because His Body and Blood are diffused through our members we become partakers of the divine nature.  St. Cyril of Alexandria

 

June 28. We are Christ’s members and we are nourished by creation, which is his gift to us, for it is he who causes the sun to rise and the rain to fall. He declared that the chalice which comes from his creation was his blood and he makes it the nourishment of our blood. He affirmed that the bread which comes from his creation was his body and he makes it the nourishment of our body.  St. Irenaeus of Lyons 

 

June 29. Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.  St. Paul the Apostle

 

June 30. Truly Jesus said to the apostles, after having instituted the Eucharistic sacrament, that he would drink a new wine together with them, once he entered into his reign. He calls it “new wine,” because his body would be glorious; he says that he would drink it with them, to indicate to them their participation in his Eucharistic life. This blood, destined by God for the purification of the soul, is the blood of the Son of man who is also the Son of God, Jesus Christ. In the form of wine, He gave men and women living and life-giving blood, the true purification of souls, blood of the new and eternal covenant. Therefore, the Eucharistic existence of Christ who lives in the form of bread and wine, operates beyond this life, and gives the soul a mysterious life in Christ that never can grow less, because he is eternal by his nature. The Eucharistic body has a supernatural existence, which comes uniquely from heaven, and because of this is living and life-giving. No one can destroy it.  Bl. Antonio Rosmini