Do you remember your first holy communion- any part of that day when you first received our Lord in the Eucharist? We celebrate that reality today in the Feast of Corpus Christi.

For many centuries now, the Church has chosen to celebrate this day dedicated to the veneration of the Holy Eucharist following the Feast of the Holy Trinity, because the Eucharist is the integral link between God and ourselves.

Communion is a state of life within a sacrament of obedience. When we obey the commandments and the precepts of the Church, we more perfectly conform ourselves to the life of Christ. This involves a conscious dedication to know the law and desire to find the life of God within it.

Deliberately disobeying these laws disjoint our communion in the Church. Because we are a sacramental people, even our common action at Mass is an act of obedience. By not celebrating the rubric well we displace the Will of God for our own will and place ourselves outside the communion toward which baptized persons are naturally attracted.

When we consume this sacrament, and say the ‘Amen,’ we declare our unity with every act, every teaching of the Church- of Christ in His Body. We cannot consider lightly the reality of what we do. This sacrament, left by Jesus for the pilgrim Church is our only hope for eternal life.

We should remember the specialness of our first holy communion and recall from our hearts the wonder of our communion with the Church. By sacrificing our own will to that of Christ’s, we will necessarily become better expressions of love and examples of holy veneration, so deserving of so blessed a Sacrament.