Sorrento is a beautiful town on the Amalfi Coast.  Many years ago I celebrated mass there on a Sunday morning.  After the mass I met a lady, and we had a short coversation. She was from Stockholm in Sweeden. When she was a little girl, her family were not catholic,  they brought her on a trip to Antwerp,  as they were very interested in Flemish Art.  When they visited the cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp, which is the largest Gothic Cathedral in that area – her parents were fascinated by the works of art,  but the girl was fascinated by something else. She saw a man kneeling and praying in silence. She had never seen a man kneeling and praying in silence before and she asked herself what on earth he was doing.  When she went back to Sweeden, she investigated the Catholic Religion, the mass, communion, adoration,  and sometimes she would go to mass in the Catholic Church,  and stand in the back, trying to start a coversation. As the years went by, she got married and had a family and one day she spoke to her husband,  and asked him if he would mind if she became a catholic, as it is something she had always wanted.  He was very agreeable and said I dont mind at all.  And so at over 50 years of age she prepared for her first communion and received Jesus for the firsrt time.  We can imagine how happy she was. Shortly after my ordination to the priesthood, 40 years ago this year, I was on a visit to the Discalced Carmelites in Avila, one of the cloistered nuns asked me: ‘Father what do you feel when you have Jesus in your hands at mass? This question made me more grateful for the great gift of my priesthood and the great gift of the Eucharist. Most of us have made our communion many years ago,  and no doubt we received Jesus with great joy. But maybe time has had its effect, maybe we have lost something of that love and respect.  Like anything that is repeated over and over again,  there is a danger that it may become just a ritual. This Sunday we celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi,  and we recall the wonderful gift of friendship which Jesus gives us in the  Eucharist. The Eucharist is God’s greatest gift to all of us yet so many Catholics today do not believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The Eucharist is much more than a symbol or a reminder of the presence of Christ. The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us that the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is Real because it is presence in the fullest sense. The Eucharist celebrates a beautiful event – the gift that Jesus made of his life on our behalf. During this prolonged lockdown we were unable to attend mass and receive communion and its amazing how much we missed this  gift. I remember a talk in Rome of one of the personal secretaries of St. Pope John Paul 11; he told us that the Pope served his mass as a preparation for Pope’s own Mass. St. Mother Theresa spent a lot of time in front of the Blessed Sacrament. On one occasion she was visiting New York and she had this jam packed agenda, and she wasn’t very young at this time. The Cardenal, who was accompanying her was astounded at her energy; ‘Mother Theresa where do you get all you energy from?’ From Jesusu in the Eucharist. It would be great if our next communion would be as loving and as fervent as our first communion. There is nothiing more that Jesus would like better.