June 3, 2015 Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ (First Communion Sunday)

Today as we celebrate the feast of Christ’s Body and Blood and first communion, our gospel returns us to Holy Thursday and the feast on the evening before Christ’s death. Like any celebration of a feast, the disciples prepared a meal to share together. Evan and Harper, when you were born, one of the first things you did was eat, seek nourishment. It is necessary for all living beings to receive nourishment in order to live and to grow. As you have gotten older you have come to experience and eat different kinds of food and to like some more than others. You have learned how a family shares their life and experiences at home and at family meals. You know that on big days there is a sharing of a lot of people around the table. Yes, food is a big way we celebrate life and share it with others.

This morning you will for the first time share in our Eucharistic meal and receive Christ’s Body and Blood for the first time. Like the disciples in the gospel today we are gathered around this table or what we call an altar and are going to do together what Jesus did that evening with his disciples. We will share this very special family meal, a meal that is Jesus Body and Blood. When we were baptised, Jesus and his Spirit came to us and filled us in a special way. But now we are to receive very special nourishment, Jesus himself. He give us his very body, his very blood, Himself as food to energize and nourish us for all that we do to live out our lives united with him in a special way. This is a day you will remember and relive many times as the years go on. Remember too, as we grow and as our lives change over the years ahead, Jesus is still going to be here still will be ready to nourish and prepare us for all that comes our way. He is the greatest teacher of what love is and the journey to God. His love certainly filled your parents who have shown you the love that has brought you here today. God has given us Jesus and now you share in the way that Jesus has given himself to us.