Today we celebrate the feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of the Lord, Corpus Christi. The love of God is so great that he was not content with giving us everything we have, but desired to give us Himself in the Eucharist. He is the only food that gives eternal life. The Church has always considered the gift of the Eucharistic presence of the Lord as an undeserved gift, and at the same time, as a great responsibility. What would become of us without a Tabernacle to go to in moments of darkness?

Today our eyes go directly to the tabernacle in all of the churches in which Christ is present. How lonely is Jesus in the tabernacle! How he wishes to be loved by men! 

How long he waits for anyone to come to visit him!

I recently shared with Deacon Bob a very simple experience that I had in these strange days we are living in. It has helped me understand the desire of the Heart of Jesus to be loved in the Mystery of his Body and Blood.

As you know, the Bishop allowed anyone who wanted to receive Holy Communion to come to receive the Body of the Lord immediately after each Holy Mass. For several weeks we had up to 5 hours, every Sunday, at the disposal of whomever wanted to come to receive the Eucharist. As the volunteers who have helped us know, there were times when many people came and other times when hardly anyone came. There we were with the Lord in our hands waiting for someone to come to Communion. There were hours when just a couple of people came.

In those moments, I thought it was wonderful to be there.  I was happy with Jesus in the Eucharist so close to me, holding my Creator, my Redeemer, my best friend in my hands. Other times, I must confess, I got tired of waiting. I had to sit down and pray. Where were those who were hungry for the Eucharist? And in one of those moments, looking at the hosts in the ciborium, it seemed to me as if the Lord was saying to me, “Sergio, are you tired of waiting for a few minutes? I have been waiting here for two thousand years and most of the time, I wait alone ... hoping that someone will come to be with me ... " And I seemed to understand, with tears in my eyes, that the souls that make time to be with the Lord in the Eucharist, receive from Him the greatest of graces. Jesus so much desires to be loved in the Eucharist that when he sees us appear in the door of the church, his Heart leaps with joy and overflows in generosity towards that person. He can deny nothing to the friend who spends hours with Him before the tabernacle.

Without the Eucharist, a Catholic cannot live. How can we cross the desert of this life without the manna with which God feeds His people? I hope that the bishops and priests learn this lesson from today's Gospel: "If you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and you do not drink his blood, you have no life in you." In those moments of solitude with the Eucharist in my hands, waiting for some of the faithful to come to receive Holy Communion, I understood that the Heart of Jesus cannot live without us either, that his love is too great for us to understand. Christ must be crazy, as Saint Mary Magdalene of Pazzi said, to hide in the Eucharist, and that we too are crazy if we do not love his Presence among us in the Sacrament of the Altar.

Saint Paul has told us “because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf."  The most ardent desire of the Heart of Jesus is unity, harmony among his disciples, communion among us and with the mystery of the Holy Trinity: “so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me." (Jn 17:21).

Today, in this most beautiful Solemnity of Corpus Christi, we renew our love for Jesus in the Eucharist. We ask him to grant us the gift of unity for those of us who eat the same bread, especially in these days when that unity has been attacked in so many ways. May it give life to those who are condemned to die. May he forgive our offenses against the Eucharist, especially for the sins of indifference, forgetfulness or abandonment. May He grant us to live on that food that Jesus places on our lips, the food that is Himself, consecrated Bread that is "my flesh for the life of the world."