"I have come not to do my own will but the will of the One who sent me." The Eucharist is the ultimate expression of Jesus' coming on earth - his Incarnation - to share his life. His gift of self to a needy world, the crowd before him, unfortunately has become a harmless ritual which has ceased to challenge us. We stand, sit, pray, listen, sing, receive the sacred Body of Jesus but it is not an event anymore in our lives. The celebration involves neither risk nor strain. The respectability and orthodoxy have been maintained. It is routine and its uniqueness is suppressed while repetitiveness prevails.

Unless we renew our sense of the Eucharist's significance, the ultimate preciousness of our existence disappears and Christian life becomes meaningless. The Eucharist teaches us how to stand alone - and not be alone! To reveal God as a refuge and strength and not a security blanket! Each Eucharist is an event where we die to ourselves and rise with Christ. Our encounter with Christ will transform us or condemn us to eternal hunger for the One Bread we rejected out of our own foolishness, pride or apathy!

While acknowledging the value of the Sacraments and good works, we should not forget what Jesus taught: none of our efforts can substitute for the grace of being chosen by the Father to come to know the truth: His Son.