Pentecost — Trinity — Body and Blood of Christ, are some of the ways God is with us ... remains with us ... sustains us.

It has been the constant teaching of the Church that, at Mass, the bread and wine become the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

The saving death and resurrection of Jesus, the paschal mystery, is made present in this sacrificial meal. The body and blood of Jesus is made present, sacramentally, to nourish us.

This weekend’s feast, the Body and Blood of Christ, is about food ... a food that, as you eat this week after week, you are being transformed, little by little into Jesus, the living Christ.

Because it is so important you are to receive once a week; fast from food for an hour before receiving; dress properly; arrive on time; act in a certain manner; be properly disposed (free from serious sin; in good standing with your marriage); prepared.

It should also have an outward effect. It can be seen in the goodness of your everyday actions.

The only thing which will stop this growth, the only diet which works, is sin, the dying of the soul.

When St. Paul wrote his letter to the Corinthians he was reminding them about who they are and about the source of their unity and strength — the Eucharist.

They apparently forgot. They had a reputation for not getting along very well together. It was reported that they argued among themselves rather frequently. They divided into factions and squabbled with one another about various issues. Quite a number of them would indulge themselves in excessive eating and drinking. And it was no secret that a number of them engaged in rather questionable behavior. There were business disputes that resulted in lawsuits.

And they forgot the rule of love.

The rule of love was written in their hearts, but needed nourishment. They, and we, cannot survive on our own.

Moses reminded his people how God had taken care of them, feeding them with manna. What is it? ... We don’t always recognize the food with which God feeds us or how God is with us in difficulties.

“Do not forget the Lord, your God, who brought you out of slavery; who guided you through the desert; who brought forth water for you from the flinty rock ... fed you with manna ... .”

Flinty rock means the hardest rock, the least likely place that water is found. God does what seems impossible, taking the most difficult places in your life and there, exactly there, helping you to find water, that is, the strength of God in you.

Moses reminds us that it is God who is there for you and will be there for you in each “hard, flinty” place — losing a loved one, a parent, spouse, or child; struggling with serious illness, even terminal illness; finding a way through a relationship that is coming apart; working through a financial crisis, accepting the trials and tribulations of aging.    

With the many concerns in our lives we come here each Sunday because we believe that the healing touch of God can, in some way, smooth the roughness invading our lives. God gives himself to us in holy Communion to transform us.

Do you remember your first Communion? Can you imagine how many times you have received Communion?

Who have you become?