vladimirgrebenar 
If we were to tell a man who claims to believe in God, but does not believe in everything in the Church, that there is a cure that can prolong a man’s life by over a hundred years, that person would probably start asking questions about the place and price of that lie or at least made a joke about it. However, if we were to tell that very same person that there are churches in virtually every place in the world where the true Body of Christ, which is the cure for death and which gives eternal life, can be received for free, such a person would probably refuse to continue talking about that testimony. People with such a worldview would argue that talking about these religious topics is a private matter, not a public one.
Such people forget that the Feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ is a public holiday and a non-working day for all people. Why do many people who consider themselves believers and righteous people prefer to listen to the lies of the world over the words that the Lord Himself has revealed to us in the light of truth? Jesus gave us the answer: “light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19). Therefore, the talk of the True Light and the Body of Christ cannot be listened to by people whose lives are shrouded in darkness. But God did not give His Son to be the light of the world only for the short time He lived in Israel, but to give Christ as light for us for all eternity.
That is why it is written: “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light” (Eph. 5:14). The light of Christ illuminates the truth and separates the truth from the lies, and when man lives according to the Truth, he fulfills his mission on earth and achieves the purpose of his existence. Jesus Christ is the light given to us by God, the Father, to start business and life initiatives through Him.
Indeed, God has allowed the Light to truly remain with us until the end of time, for Jesus reveals to the apostles just before His death, ”I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you” (John 14:18). How did Jesus get back to us and where can He be seen? The answer to this question was given by Jesus several times through the act of the Holy Eucharist, which He Himself held on earth before He ascended to heaven in body and spirit. More precisely, Jesus Himself held the first Holy Masses.
The first Holy Eucharist took place during the Last Supper, just before His death. On Holy Thursday, Jesus instituted and held the first Holy Mass and gave the disciples to eat the source of life: ”And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you” (Luke 22:19-20).
Then that same night Jesus voluntarily surrendered to go on the cross the next day and gave His Body and shed His Blood for us on the cross and thus held another Holy Mass on Calvary, offering Himself as a sacrifice: ”And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom” (Mark 15:38). Through His sacrifice on the cross, Jesus opened access to the “Holy of Holies,“ which was not allowed to be approached by anyone except the High Priest once a year, and which was veiled by a large curtain in the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. The Holy of Holies is the Body of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament to which we have access and which can be eaten after Jesus’ death on the cross.
After resurrecting on Sunday, in front of two sad disciples returning from Jerusalem to Emmaus, Jesus held the third Holy Mass: “as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight” (Luke 24:30-31). So, from Holy Thursday night to Sunday evening, Jesus held three Eucharists. The first Holy Mass was a non-blood sacrifice, the second was a blood sacrifice, and the third was a non-blood sacrifice again.
Where did Jesus go when He gave two disciples out of His hands to eat bread? Jesus entered into that bread which became His living Body, and they ate that Body by which the Light of God entered into them, for they immediately marveled at themselves: “Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?“ (Luke 24:32).
This is exactly what happens at every Holy Mass. The Bread becomes the same Body that was crucified on Calvary. The wine becomes the same Blood shed on the cross! If anyone doubts this Truth and seeks rational evidence, let them visit the Shrine of the Most Precious Blood of Christ in Ludbreg and investigate the event, or investigate the Buenos Aires event where the consecrated host was transformed into Body and Blood in 1996, which was scientifically proven!
Jesus held the first Holy Mass before His death at the Passover Supper to consecrate all the Passover sacrifices in the past until Moses’ time, and even more, to consecrate all the sacrifices of bread and wine until the High Priest Melchizedek’s time, who, inspired by the Holy Spirit in ancient times, offered mysterious sacrifices, awaiting salvation by the sacrifice of bread and wine. Thus, Jesus gave the Old Testament the final seal of fulfillment, because all the sacrifices of the Old Testament from ancient times are consecrated and realized in the Messiah.
Jesus, as God living in eternity, dedicated His sacrifice to the whole of human history, from Adam and Eve to the end of time, to human history, and revealed to each individual the full meaning of existence. That is why we are called to live for Christ by doing the will of God, and that is why human history is divided into time before and after Christ! God has given everything into the hands of His Son, and Jesus warns us, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:53-54).
Jesus is the sure victor over Satan and death, but many do not realize that this is known and seen by faith, not rational ability, because God allows all who love darkness more than Light to fall away, all who stubbornly think and do not want to eat Body and Blood of the Son of God nor do the will of God!
The body of Christ is the source of life and inspiration for man. Our strength is renewed through this sacrament. The moment of receiving and the time immediately after eating the Body of Christ are the moments of life when we are united with God. Many believers wonder why they do not feel anything in those moments, because it seems to them as if nothing is happening. However, the experience that nothing happens in people’s hearts when they receive Christ in the Blessed Sacrament is actually a reflection of the state of their spirit and relationship towards God.
If man does nothing special for Christ, then he cannot expect Jesus to do anything special for him. If a person does not seek God and does not experience Him in everyday life, he cannot expect God to experience him in the sacrament of Holy Communion. It would be said among the people: “the approach equals the results.” In contrast, many who listen to the word of God and seek the will of God in their lives know what a great source of inspiration and life the Body of Christ gives and what a spiritual grace and comfort it is to receive Jesus into oneself.
What happens when a person receives the Body of Christ? The mighty Light by which God created the visible world and humanity enters man. In that Light there is the source of life, and that divine power renews and builds our spirit. Heavy spiritual burdens, pains, sufferings, torments, and other uncomfortable feelings are overcome before the power and might of the Body of Christ which dispels the darkness of evil and sickness in man. The body of Christ is a superior intelligence that inspires man to greater degrees of creativity and ability to work. It motivates for achievements that are beyond our natural abilities.
The heights and depths of the meaning of our existence can never be reached without union with Christ in the sacrament of Holy Communion. Life takes on a new dimension and man discovers the vast expanses of the spirit waiting to be realized. A man who has experienced the fullness of God’s grace through the sacrament of the Body of Christ cannot skip the daily Holy Mass. The Holy Mass becomes his central event in each day, and the rest of the day turns into doing God’s will in daily obligations for which Jesus in the sacrament gives strength and inspiration.
The Holy Body of Christ – what an immeasurable wisdom and power of life can be found in it! God mysteriously hid in a piece of bread to be revealed by all who seem small like little children, and remained hidden from the overly proud, conceited, and haughty who were seduced by their own reasoning and the father of the devil’s lies. Such people ask themselves: “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” (John 6:52). But Jesus does not compromise this truth and answer: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you” (John 6:53).