O Jesus, present in the Sacrament of the Altar,
teach all nations to serve you with a willing heart,
knowing that to serve God is to reign.

May your sacrament, O Jesus,
be light to the mind,
strength to the will,
joy to the heart.

May it be the support for the weak,
the comfort for the suffering,
the wayfaring bread of salvation for the dying,
and, for all, the pledge of future glory. Amen.

“Receiving the Eucharist means entering into a profound communion with Jesus. ‘Abide in me, and I in you’ (Jn 15:4). This relationship of profound and mutual ‘abiding’ enables us to have a certain foretaste of heaven on earth. Is this not the greatest of human yearnings? Is this not what God had in mind when he brought about in history his plan of salvation? God has placed in human hearts a ‘hunger’ for his word (cf. Am 8:11), a hunger which will be satisfied only by full union with him. Eucharistic communion was given so that we might be ‘sated’ with God here on earth, in expectation of our complete fulfillment in heaven.” – Saint John Paul II

(For the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2023)