I was celebrating the Eucharist this morning when I was caught by a delightful surprise. When I said the words for the consecration, it seemed to me that Jesus asked me to do something.

How many of us have had the opportunity to give blood. Many times the blood mobile comes and parks in our church parking lot. Giving blood truly saves lives. We give our blood to strangers and without payment. Well, I think the cookies and the people taking the blood who pamper me is a great payment.

It takes time to give blood. We have to slow down for a while after we give blood in order for our bodies to restore the blood we give. While we watch our blood leave our bodies, we marvel at how God created and sustains our lives.

For me, the Eucharist is not an option. It isn’t about just going to church, great music or even a great homily. I really need to be filled up with the Body and Blood of Jesus. I can’t even imagine going a week without that food that sustains my body, life and spirit. Eucharist is more than soul food…it is more important than my next breath!

So when we are at Eucharist, Jesus speaks to us through his priests:

“Take this all of you, and drink from it: this is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant. It will be shed for you and all so that sins may be forgiven. Do this in memory of me.”

So Jesus came to me today and sat with me at the table. I was not alone. Jesus poured out his blood into the chalice. It was as if I took my cup and placed it beneath his heart as he hung upon the Cross. Out poured water and blood. Do you remember the wedding at Cana when he turned the water into wine? Then Jesus asked me to receive the gift of his blood.

As I drank the Blood of Jesus, I knew it poured into my heart and soul as well as every fiber of my being. My body, mind, spirit and soul absorbed all the nutrients from heaven and earth. I realized how hungry I had been and how my hunger and thirst had been totally satisfied.

I was all alone, but I sang an old song from my youth. You might remember it:

Look beyond the bread you eat; see your Savior and your Lord.

Look beyond the cup you drink; see his love poured out as blood.

1) Give us a sign that we might believe in you.

Moses brought us manna from the sky.

Look beyond the bread you eat; see your Savior and your Lord.

Look beyond the cup you drink; see his love poured out as blood.

2) I am the bread which from the heavens came;

those who eat this bread will never die.

3) The bread I give you will be my very flesh;

my blood will truly be your drink.

4) This man speaks harshly; who can listen to his word?

We shall no longer follow him.

5)You, my disciples, will you also leave?

Lord, to whom can we go?

Darryl Ducote wrote this song in 1969 through Damean Music. I remember singing it at Mass when I was a little kid. I sometimes spontaneously sang it after Communion at St. Williams in Tewksbury, Massachusetts. Shoot, I even sang it in the bathroom to the irritation of my family.

Here is the point of what I am trying to say:

My entire life is centered on the Body and Blood of Jesus. No Christian can really survive very long without the Life Sustaining Nourishment of Jesus. It breaks my heart to see so many people who have been duped to believe that they don’t need Eucharist. Saint John the Evangelist is quite clear about this in his sixth chapter. Jesus says that you will know his disciples by their fruit. The fruit of the Tree of Life is crushed grapes that have become the blood of Christ. Without the blood of Christ coursing through my veins…I am truly NOTHING.

There is no better gift that I could give anyone in this world except the blood of Jesus. NO GIFT! The Blood of Christ needs to flow through each of us like a river. If we try to contain it, we will stagnate. We become instruments of peace and springs of life giving water.

Jesus gives us his blood each and every day. However, we must go to the foot of the cross to receive it. Then he asks us, begs us…GIVE BLOOD!

The analogy:

Jesus has transfused me with His eternal blood to have “life within me.”

I give my mortal blood for the life of others. Do the same.

GIVE BLOOD!!!

Love, joy, peace and blood,

Father Ron Moses +

www.tearinthedesert.com

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