When we say “Give us this day our daily bread,” in the Lord’s Prayer or “Our Father,” we can be asking God for what we need for the day. But we especially ask for the Bread which is Jesus himself – the “Body of Christ received in the Eucharist.”(See Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1384)

This Sunday is the feast of Corpus Christi. For Catholics this is the greatest treasure, the Body and Blood of Christ, the Holy Eucharist- regarded as the source and summit of all we have and do as Catholics. So this Sunday Catholics reflect on the meaning of the Body and Blood of Christ in Holy Communion.

Jesus says, “I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is my flesh for the life of the world.” (John 6:51)

In this passage Jesus is preaching to the crowd who were so taken by the miracle of the feeding of the multitude that they went to find him.  

Jesus tells them that anyone who eats his flesh will have eternal life and he will raise them up on the last day. But many just walk away.

At the Last supper Jesus changed the bread and wine into his body and blood. This happens at each Mass. Catholics receive Christ in Holy Communion and we welcome him into our lives. In the Eucharist we are united with one another present and the whole Church. Catholics are sent out from the Eucharist to bring Christ to those we meet and into the world through our actions and words and the way we live.

“Give us this day our daily bread” also invites us to bring bread to our brothers and sisters in need.