Today our Catholic Church celebrates and emphasizes the sacredness of the Real Presence of Christ in the Body and Blood consecrated at the Mass. Unlike many of the Christian denominations (of which the Catholic Church is not—a denomination; for one did not denominate from anyone but rather we are the Church which Christ founded and from us all the denominations come—by human and not Devine origin [Henry VIII, Martin Luther, and Calvin to name a few]), we believe in the Real Presence of Christ in our Eucharistic meal: Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. It is Christ who suffered, died and Rose from the dead for our salvation. It is Christ—and none other—who said, “Take this all of you and eat of it; for this IS my Body which will be given up for you.”
 
This is why the Church has taught from her beginnings the sacredness and holiness of the Eucharist. This is why we receive the Body and Blood of Christ in a state of grace; we receive it with reverence and realize that God has given us in Christ and His precious Body and Blood a most sacred gift which will lead us to eternal life, unending joy. Again, this is why we come to the altar at Communion time with respect, in silence and with joy; we come not as if we are at Stop and Shop or on the ball field but rather in the house of the Lord—a sacred and holy place where God dwells and calls us to come and dwell with Him. We do not receive it in the midst of chaos, nor do we take it in our hands while chewing gum, in argument with others, or without recognizing the Love that Christ has for each and everyone one of us. We come with the belief that God will save us, that God will give us His strength through this Eucharist to overcome the evil and indifference of the world; to be joyful Christians imitating Christ in-and-through our daily activities of life.

When King Herod was upset with Jesus he asked “Who then is this, about whom I hear such  things?” when considering the wondrous things Jesus was doing for the people to whom He preached, healed and cared. If we claim to be imitators and Disciples of Christ in our world—and if a modern-day King Herod were among us today asking that same question about us or our parish—what would the world’s answer be? Would we be accused in a Christian courtroom of being Christ in the world in which we live?

As we approach the altar we should not be under the idea that since there is a routineness to receiving the Sacred Body and Blood each weekend that this is just an ordinary ritual practice, but rather we should remember that this is an extraordinary gift from God—and this special gift will transform and inform us so that we can truly be His disciples acting in His Name to feed the hungry, care for the sick, shelter the homeless, teach the ignorant, welcome the stranger, and comfort the lost, the wondering and the lonely. In essence, we can be Christ to another in need. That will answer any “Herod-like questioner” who asks us, “Who then is this, about whom I hear such things?”