CorpChristiC22. Genesis 14:18-20. Through the ages Melchizedek has been seen as the prototype for what it means to be a priest. His offering of bread and wine has been traditionally viewed as a foreshadowing of the Eucharist. God is the giver of all good things.

Luke 9:11b-17. Here the goodness of God provides for the needs of his people. “They all ate and were satisfied.” That this feeding was clearly a miraculous act of God is shown by the fact that, not only were the five thousand fed, but more is left over than there was had to start with. Jesus, “looking up to heaven,” said the blessing over the loaves and fish, “broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.” Jesus here gives something of a preview of what he was to do at the institution of the Eucharist.

1 Corinthians 11:23-26. Paul passes on the words of the institution of the Eucharist that had come down from Jesus. Jesus had said that the Eucharist is his body and his blood, which means that, when we receive the Eucharist, we receive Jesus himself. In John 6:56, Jesus said: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” The very person of Jesus dwells or lives in us and we, in him. The essence of our faith is Jesus living in us. Secondly, Jesus demands or mandates that we have the Eucharist in remembrance of him. Since the Eucharist is the celebration of his offering up of himself, he wants us to receive that offering,

i.e. to receive him, as often as possible. Jesus died only once but rises endlessly in us in the celebration of the Eucharist.