It has been rightly noted that the same four words that Jesus Christ used at the Last Supper to change ordinary bread and wine into the Holy Eucharist (“This is my body”) are used by some people today to promote abortion.
That’s a very perceptive insight—but the sad reality is it doesn’t just apply to abortion. Think, for example, of the terrorists of 9/11—or the terrorists who’ve blown themselves up in other locations of the world since then, and who’ve taken a lot of innocent people with them. This has been their attitude too, has it not? They say, “This is my body, and if I want to use it to fly a passenger plane into a skyscraper in New York City, I’ll do that.” “This is my body, and if I make the choice to blow it up (and kill some of my enemies in the process) that’s my business.”
Or how about those who want to end their lives because of a serious illness, or old age, or just because they’re tired of this earthly existence? These people also say, “This is my body.” They say, “This is my body, and I’ll kill it if I want to—or I’ll call some progressive ‘doctor’ to help me do it.”
Or how about those who engage in pre-marital sex, or extra-marital sex, or homosexual activity? How about those who use artificial contraception? When these sins are pointed out to people who are committing them, what do they often say? They say, “Hey, this is my body, and I’ll do whatever I want with it. Who are you to impose your morality on me?”
Or how about those who live selfish, materialistic lives—who don’t care at all about the poor and the less fortunate? They also say, “This is my body.” They say, “This is my body—and my number one priority! My biggest concern in life is to take care of myself and my personal needs. Let those others worry about themselves.”
All of these examples illustrate the fact that we are living right now in what might be called an “anti-eucharistic society”. When Jesus Christ said those words at the Last Supper (“This is my body”) he was speaking in a spirit of self-giving love and selfless obedience: “This is my body, which is given FOR YOU.”
But all too often when people say “This is my body” in 2025, they do so not in selfless obedience, but rather in selfish disobedience. They say the very same sentence that Jesus said, but with an anti-eucharistic attitude—in a vain attempt to justify their disobedience to the Lord. In the 6th chapter of St. John’s Gospel, Jesus says, “The bread I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world…. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.” Our Lord offered his Body—his life—on the cross, not for himself, but so that you and I might receive forgiveness for our sins and live forever.
And he gives us his Body and Blood in the Blessed Sacrament to sustain us on our journey to his eternal Kingdom. This means that, if we want to receive the Eucharist fruitfully and worthily, we need to come to Holy Communion with the very same attitude in our heart that Jesus had in his. At the consecration of the Mass the priest repeats the words of Jesus: “This is my body, which is given for you.” When communion time comes and we walk up the aisle to receive the Body and Blood of the Lord, our attitude is supposed to be, “Jesus, yes, I believe this is your body. But now, Lord, I bring to you my body. This is my body and I give it to you, Jesus. And I ask you to fill me with your presence today through this Eucharist, so that I will live, not in selfish disobedience, but rather as you lived Lord—in selfless and loving obedience to the heavenly Father.” If every Catholic received the Eucharist with that disposition of heart every single Sunday and holy day, we would soon change the world. May the change begin today, and may it start with us.
