Date: Sunday, May 29, 2016
Girls and Boys: “What is your favorite meal with your family – spaghetti, Mac & cheese, pizza?” We know how important it is for families to enjoy dinner together. Jesus certainly enjoys eating with his friends and even with strangers. In our Gospel today he feeds a multitude with bread and fish. Before Jesus dies on the cross, he has a special Passover-like meal with his friends but then he takes bread blesses and breaks it saying: “This is my body.” Then he takes wine and blesses it saying: “This is my blood.” Jesus is saying to his disciples: “I am bread for you. I am wine for you.” We believe that Jesus is present in the bread and wine, his body and blood. We receive the precious gift of his very life. It is the bread of friendship, of suffering, of hope, of love and of forgiveness. The consecrated bread and wine must always remind us of Jesus suffering on the cross and giving his life for us. Holy Communion is the promise-come-true of Jesus always being with us until he comes, at the end, in fulfillment of God’s Kingdom. Boys and girls: “When did you first become a child of God and a friend of Jesus?” -- Baptism. “Are you ready to promise to continue living our Catholic faith before you make your First Holy Communion on this feast of Corpus Christi?” -- Yes.
Our response will be: “I do.”