Today’s Gospel comes from the instructions the Lord gave the Twelve Apostles before sending them out on a short mission. In this excerpt, the Lord delivers bad news and good news. The bad news is that following Him requires complete surrender and a life of self-sacrifice. The good news is that if you live unselfishly for the sake of the Gospel you will be rewarded.

Each time two or more of the Lord’s disciples gather to celebrate the Eucharist, we do it with the intent of being in the Lord’s presence and eating the supernatural food that sustains our souls on our journey through life. Therefore, “the Eucharist is the most precious possession which the Church can have in her journey through history,” and “this explains that lively concern which she has always shown for the Eucharistic mystery” (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 9).

The book of Exodus tells the amazing story of the true God coming to dwell among His people. Today’s first reading from Exodus finds the people of God early in their wilderness journey, arriving for the very first time at the mountain of God—known as Mount Sinai, or Mount Horeb in the book of Deuteronomy.

The Church celebrates the Solemnity of Corpus Christi with such joy and devotion. It stems from the profound love we, the faithful, have for the Eucharist. It is often surprising to learn that this feast was not added to the Church calendar until the 13th century, as we naturally assume it was one of the very first. This delay reveals something about the early Church. The first generations of Christians believed so deeply in the Real Presence of the Lord that they did not need a specific feast day to remind them of it.