This weekend we reach the dramatic conclusion of Jesus’ Bread of Life Discourse. I think it is dramatic because we are told that many of Jesus’ disciples “returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.” What Jesus told them was so difficult that they could no longer follow him. Their spiritual distance from Jesus was evident through their physical distance, as they were no longer near Him.

As we continue our reflection on the Eucharist, I would like to focus on the sacrificial nature of the Eucharist. This side of it can get lost on us. At first blush, the Mass can seem like it is just a meal, or that it is just a repetition of the Last Supper. But where the Last Supper gives us the form of the expression, Calvary gives us the content of what we are expressing. In other words, if we lose sight of Jesus’ sacrifice for us on the Cross at Calvary during the Mass, seeing the Mass only as a meal, then we are ripping the heart out of the entire Eucharistic Liturgy itself.