First Reading
Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14b-16a

1. “Do not forget the Lord, your God, …. who guided you through the vast and terrible desert … and fed you … with manna.” Can we in this pandemic virus relate to the Israelites in the desert? What is the manna God is giving us now?

2. Are there situations that require blind trust on your part? With that in mind, discuss, “Do not forget the Lord, your God, … who brought forth water for you from the flinty rock and fed you in the desert with manna, a food unknown to your fathers.”

Second Reading
1 Corinthians 10:16-17

1. Why does Pope Francis say the Eucharist is not a prize for good people?

[The] Eucharist fulfills the Covenant, which sanctifies us, purifies us and unites us in worthy communion with God. Thus we learn that the Eucharist is not a prize for the good, but is strength for the weak, for sinners. It is forgiveness, it is the Viaticum that helps us to move forward, to walk.

On the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body
and Blood of Christ, Para 6
June 4, 2015

2. “When we eat, we incorporate our food into ourselves. The opposite is true with regard to the Eucharist. When we partake of that bread we are transformed into it.” (Dianne Bergant, CSA, Preaching the New Lectionary: Year A). Explain in your own words what this means.

Gospel
John 6:51-58

1. When Jesus gives us himself in the Eucharist, does he give us his presence, or does he give us himself in the action of the whole Paschal Mystery (passion, death, resurrection)? Discuss.

2. What is different about the food God gave the people in the desert and the food he gives us? “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” We are his body now. What would Jesus be doing during this pandemic with his eyes, ears, heart, arms, legs, soul, and brain to show his love? Implications? We are his body now.