[00:00] Praise be Jesus and Mary. In today's Gospel we continue John chapter 6, the Bread of Life Discourse.

[00:31] "I am the living bread that came down from heaven," Jesus solemnly declares, "whoever eats this bread will live forever and the bread that I will give is My flesh for the life of the world." In this Eucharistic discourse, Jesus teaches about the Eucharist very clearly, forcefully and repeatedly. In this discourse He leaves no room for any reasonable doubt whatsoever, no room to interpret

[01:10] His words merely symbolically or figuratively. All of Jesus' teachings, especially this one, must be received in faith. That's why at Mass, immediately after the Eucharistic consecration, the priest announces the mystery of faith. The Eucharist is the mystery of faith par excellence.

[01:49] Our Lord's teaching on the Eucharist was received by His followers in faith, that is the followers who would continue with Him and persevere in following Him, not all did. We'll hear about that, I think, tomorrow, how some of His followers, it's the first time and the only time it's narrated in the Gospels that a whole group of His followers

[02:22] would no longer go with Him, they would part company with Him. Because of this teaching on the Eucharist, they did not accept, receive that teaching in faith, but the others did. Led by St. Peter and his profession of faith, "Lord, to whom shall we go?

[02:53] You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that You are the Holy One of God." In his beautiful Eucharistic hymn, Adoro te Devote, St. Thomas Aquinas summarizes why the Church clings to the Eucharist in faith and will never let it go, always keep this

[03:25] faith. St. Thomas writes, "Seeing, touching, tasting are in Thee deceived. How says trusty hearing? That shall be believed? What God's Son has told me, take for truth I do. Truth Himself speaks truly or there's nothing true." The Church's faith in the Eucharist has remained unchanged and it will be that way until the

[03:56] end of time. The Church will always be the Church of the Eucharist. The Eucharist will always be the Church's greatest treasure, really is our Lord Himself, the very heart and center of her life. Is this the case in your own life? Praise be Jesus and Mary.

[04:53] Amen.