Why do Catholics love the Eucharist so much? The answer is very simple: because this sacrament is the most beautiful thing that can happen to us in this world! And, it is available to us every single day! In the Eucharist, the Lord gives himself totally to us out of his love for us. Saint John tells us that, "the Lord loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end".

On the eve of his Passion and Death, the Lord, with great anticipation, wanted to have a special meal with his disciples. The Lord had promised his disciples a year earlier in Capernaum that he would give them his body to eat and his blood to drink as the source of eternal life. The Lord fulfilled this promise at the Last Supper.

The Last Supper was characterized by three things: the gathering of the disciples around the Lord, the identification of the Lord himself with the elements of bread and wine, and the eating and drinking of the Body and Blood of the Lord. These three things remain essential in the Eucharist.

The Mass is a communal act; it is the gathering of the Lord's disciples around him. The times I had to celebrate Mass alone during the pandemic were not the same as celebrating Mass with others. It is the Lord's presence that draws us to the Eucharist. It is the Lord's presence that gives meaning to this casual gathering of disciples, often strangers in daily life but never in the Eucharist. Here we are all brothers and sisters, gathered around our elder brother.

In the Eucharist, the Lord identifies himself with the elements of the meal: bread and wine. This is another great difference in this meal. The food and drink offered to us here are food and drink such as we cannot find anywhere else.

Finally, this food and drink are to be consumed by those attending this gathering of disciples. At the Last Supper, the Lord did not give himself to his disciples simply as a gift to be admired from a distance, but to be consumed and thus become part of them, their very flesh and blood. Through the Eucharist, we are united with the Lord. He is in us.

On this Holy Thursday, when we remember the institution of the Eucharist, we give infinite thanks to the Lord for having left us this wonderful sacrament. We thank him for his Real Presence. The Eucharist is the sacrament of love.

Today, we also ask the Lord to give us a continual hunger for the Eucharist.