Many years ago, a poor family from a tiny Yugoslavian village emigrated to the United States. It was made up of a father, a mother, a teenage boy, and four little girls. A week before their ship sailed, the family’s relatives and friends threw a “going-away’’ party for them. They gave the family practical gifts of several loaves of bread and several blocks of cheese. A week later the family boarded an Italian ship. Since they had never been out of their village, and since few on board spoke Yugoslavian, they were overwhelmed by what they saw and heard. It was a cold winter day, so the family went immediately to their third-class cabin below deck. There they stayed to themselves and ate their bread and cheese sparingly to make it last the entire ocean voyage. On the last day of their journey the weather cleared a bit, and the teenage boy was growing restless. So he asked his father for permission to go above to explore the ship. When the boy didn’t return within the hour, the father went looking for him. He found him in a big dining room, sitting at a table, eating from a plate overflowing with meat, vegetables, and even dessert. The father’s heart stopped. He had visions of spending his first days in the United States in prison. For there was no way he could pay for all the food his son had ordered and was eating. When the boy saw how frightened his father looked, he said: “Don’t worry, Dad, it’s free. While we’ve been fasting on rations of cheese and bread, everyone else has been feasting on banquets like this. They’re included in the price of the ticket.’’

There are many people in the world today who are like that poor Yugoslavian family. They are journeying through life, totally unaware of the incredible Banquet of Life that God offers them in the Eucharist – Holy Communion, and it’s included in the ticket of life. Jesus refers to this incredible banquet in today’s gospel: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If you eat this bread, you will live forever. By eating the Body of Christ, we are transformed into Christ, who will live forever. When you pause to ponder this great mystery, you can’t help but marvel at what an incredible gift it is. What a tragedy to go through life totally unaware of this incredible gift. What a tragedy indeed to go through life totally unaware that the Banquet of Life comes with the ticket of life. We take it for granted and fail to appreciate it. It is displeasing to meet people who consider the mass and communion as an imposition as a duty, a boring activity. Someone once made this observation: “When we look at the Body of Christ before receiving it in Communion, it’s hard for us to see Christ in it. But when other people look at us after we receive the Body of Christ, it’s even harder for them to see Christ in us.’’ That person’s point is that after receiving the Eucharist, we sometimes act as though we had not received it. In other words, we become so accustomed to receiving the Eucharist that we take it for granted. We fail to appreciate it, and that lack of appreciation is reflected in our attitude after Communion. What goes on in our mind and heart before and after receiving the Body of Christ? Do we speak to Jesus as to a friend? Do we give him thanks, ask his forgiveness, and talk to him about our problems? Mother Theresa of Calcutta has a beautiful phrase, which sums it all up: ‘In the Eucharist I receive the spiritual food, which sustains me in all my labours. Without it I could not get through one single day or hour of my life.’