Homily on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Year A

                       Why Do We Need The Eucharist? 

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Year A

Church of St. Bridget of Minneapolis, MN

Sunday, June 7, 2026

Today, we celebrate the gift of Jesus himself. We celebrate his presence under the appearances of Bread and Wine. In today’s Gospel, Jesus makes the most outrageous and controversial statement in the entire Bible, saying, “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.” I tell you, this teaching led most of his disciples to walk away from him. And after more than two thousand years, those words still drive many away from Jesus. Some leave physically by dissociating from Christ and his Church; others leave spiritually. Although they still come to Mass, they don't believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist and don't adore Jesus there. 

But why do we need the Eucharist? Life is a journey, a long journey. As we make our way through it, we need nourishment and sustenance. Just as the manna sustained the ancient Israelites as they left Egypt, the land of their captivity, for the Promised Land, the Eucharist is given to us to sustain us. Why was the manna given? After the Israelites escaped from Egypt and began heading to the Promised Land, they spent 40 years wandering in the desert. While in the desert, they faced many hardships, including hunger and thirst. Their situation grew so dire that they longed for the “flesh pots of Egypt,” the more luxurious life they had in Egypt. As they complained and lamented to Moses, their leader, the Lord sent them a mysterious substance, manna, bread from heaven. This strange bread sustained them on their long journey through the desert. What is the Eucharist? The same thing! It is food for the long journey. Like ancient Israel, we are on a long journey, a journey away from sin, through the difficulties, obstacles, and dangers of this life, to fulfillment in heaven. What do we need? We need sustenance and spiritual food. We need the manna, the bread from heaven, the Eucharist. 

Sisters and brothers, we need it, not symbolically, but really! The Eucharist is the spiritual food for the spiritual life. We need it as we make our way to heaven. The earliest description of baptism is “the gate or door to the spiritual life.” In confirmation, this spiritual life is intensified. But what will ultimately sustain the life of Christ in us? The Eucharist! If you receive the life of Christ in baptism but never feed that life, and you stay away from the Eucharist, the source and summit of the Christian life, what will happen? The life of Christ in you will wither. It will fade. So we need the Eucharist to sustain the spiritual life, the life of Christ, which we receive at baptism. 

Why do we need the Eucharist? In the Lord’s Prayer, we say, “Give us this day, our daily bread.” The translation of “daily bread” from Greek into English was poor. In Greek, the phrase is “ton arton ton epiousion.” Epiousios means “super-substantial.” What is super-substantial bread? Obviously, not ordinary bread with symbolic meaning. Not at all! It is bread that has come from heaven. It is not of this earth. Earthly bread cannot truly sustain us on this long journey. If you want to be christified, you need the super-substantial bread. 

We need the Eucharist to protect us from the real enemy and the enemies of humanity—Satan and his agents. In the Old Testament, God asked the Israelites to build the Ark of the Covenant. What was placed in that most sacred vessel? Remnants of the Ten Commandments. We know that when Moses came down from the mountain after receiving the Commandments, he found the Israelites worshipping man-made gods. In anger, he threw the Commandments to the ground, shattering them. The broken pieces of the Commandments were then placed inside the Ark. What else is in it? The staff of Aaron. Aaron was the first priest of Israel. The third thing placed in the Ark of the Covenant is manna. They took some of the manna God provided and put it in the Ark to remind them of the bread from heaven. Mark the word, “remind.” At the Last Supper, Jesus said to his Apostles, “Do this in remembrance of me,” meaning, do not forget what I have done here. And guess what? Before the Ark was lost, it was the center of Israelite life. No matter who was fighting Israel in a war, as long as the Ark was with them, they won. The Ark became a protective shield for them. In every Catholic Church and chapel, we have something that looks like the Ark of the Covenant. Inside that box-like object we call the Tabernacle, we have the Bread from heaven. In fact, what makes every one of our churches and chapels holy is not that we pray there, sing there, and gather there. It is because Jesus is really present there. That’s why we call it “Domus Dei,” house of God. In the Catholic Church, the real presence of Jesus resides. 

Why do we need the Eucharist? In John 15:4, Jesus says, “Remain in me, as I remain in you.” In verse 15, he says, “I am the vine, and you are the branches.” How can we remain in Christ? As branches, what helps us stay connected to the vine? First, baptism and active membership in the Church. Second, obedience to God’s word. Third, prayer. Fourth, partaking in the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the most concrete reality that binds us to Christ. It is the means by which we are Christified. 

God bless you!