“Plead before the Blessed Sacrament” was the advice given to me once when I shared my concern regarding a very difficult situation that a person was going through. Taking his words to my heart, I remained daily on my knees for some prolonged moments before the Eucharistic Lord praying ardently for that person. A few days later, what seemed so impossible got realised… indeed a miracle! That episode increased my faith in the unfailing presence and providence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Likewise, I do witness in the Ealing Abbey some faithful praying very devoutly during the Eucharistic adoration…an inspiration for all of us!

Coming to today’s first reading from the book of Exodus, we see Moses ratifying God’s covenant with the people of Israel by sprinkling the blood of the animals. Whereas, the author of the letter to the Hebrews, in the second reading, highlights that the new covenant offered to us in Jesus is not with the blood of animals but with His own blood shed on the Cross, and therefore is complete and eternal. In the Last Supper account narrated in the Gospel, we have the words of Jesus: This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. All three readings insistently speak of the blood of the covenant. In the Bible, blood symbolically stands for life, the totality of the person. Therefore, in the new covenant offered to us by Jesus, we are made partners in his very life. We celebrate precisely this in today’s feast: The Body and Blood of Christ. 

Being made partners, we too are spurred to offer our lives just as Jesus did, for the wellbeing for our brothers and sisters in this ailing world. Our participation in the Eucharist becomes meaningful only to the extent we let His abiding presence pass through our life-giving gestures daily.