"O precious and wonderful banquet that brings us salvation and contains all sweetness! Could anything be of more intrinsic value? Under the old law it was the flesh of calves and goats that was offered, but here Christ himself, the true God, is set before us as our food. What could be more wonderful than this? No other sacrament has greater healing power; through it sins are purged away, virtues are increased, and the soul is enriched with an abundance of every spiritual gift. It is offered in the Church for the living and the dead, so that what was instituted for the salvation of all may be for the benefit of all. Yet, in the end, no one can fully express the sweetness of this sacrament, in which spiritual delight is tasted at its very source, and in which we renew the memory of that surpassing love for us which Christ revealed in his passion." (St Thomas Aquinas)

What we receive needs to be received with the reverence and awe that the Body and Blood of Jesus deserves. It is so easy for us to approach the Eucharist with a sense of ordinariness, as we do when we eat our meals. But this is not just an ordinary meal. It is a sacred banquet to which we must come aware of our unworthiness but conscious of our need for this Gift from God. Like the parable of the wedding banquet, we must come with our garment given to us in baptism, a sharing of his divine life. We must understand when we receive this gift of the Body and Blood of Christ that we are of ourselves unworthy, but he makes us worthy by his love. For so great a guest, who comes into us to transform us to himself, we need to prepare the house of our heart to receive him and give him the place of honor, the throne of love. This disposition should continue even after we leave the church, for we carry Jesus with us as he remains in us.