In the Gospels we often see Jesus sitting at the table with his disciples, teaching them as they eat together. In fact, one of the complaints of Jesus’ enemies was that he shared his meals with all the wrong people. He often ate with foreigners, tax collectors and others who were considered ‘sinners.’

In today’s Gospel, Jesus goes further. Not only will he call his disciples to sit at the table with him, but he will give himself to them completely. Jesus’ own Body and Blood will be the sacrifice that takes our sins away, and the food that sustains us for eternal life. It was a shocking teaching, and many of Jesus’ disciples rejected it.

Today on the Feast of Corpus Christi, the Body and Blood of Christ, we celebrate God’s greatest gift to us. Jesus is really present in the Eucharist and we are invited to receive his Body and Blood under the appearance of bread and wine. It is a belief that is just as strange and shocking to us as it was to Jesus’ first disciples. But what is even more shocking is that we are all invited to the Lord’s table. St Paul tells us that we are all one body because we share one bread. However sinful or unworthy we may feel, we are invited to receive the Body and Blood of Christ.