We have been reading for the past few days from John 6 — the Bread of Life Discourse. The instinct of the Church is that the privileged way we connect with the Risen Jesus is through the Bread of Life, the Eucharist. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever. Jesus is truly present with us today in the Eucharist just as he was at the Last Supper. That suggests that we might want to modify how we speak about the Eucharist. We are accustomed to saying “I receive Christ in Holy Communion.” It brings to mind your grandmother giving you a present — which you are glad to receive but grandmother goes off to bake cookies or whatever. Maybe a better expression, using a favorite term of Pope Francis, “I encounter Christ in Holy Communion.” Think of waiting at the train station for a friend. When they arrive you embrace and say, “I’m so glad you’re here. I’m so glad we can be together.” That is the Eucharist — an encounter with Christ so that, like St. Paul, we can say “it is now not longer I that live but Christ lives in me.”
