On Sunday, May 6, Patrick was delighted to receive his First Holy Communion. With Theresa’s and my help, he had been patiently preparing at home since September and in our parish’s First Communion class since January. As the day got closer, we used Preparing for My First Holy Communion and Patrick carefully contemplated what he would offer to Jesus each day. All week, he told me, “Only [this many] days until my First Holy Communion.”

A few days after the First Holy Communion, I was happy to receive a link to photos that were taken during the Mass. Tbey told me what I already knew: Patrick took the reception of this Sacrament very seriously.

Unfortunately, in the days following his First Holy Communion, Patrick came down with a bad cold and a vomitting flu bug. This means that he has not received Holy Communion since May 6, but he will be doing so today and he is very excited.

“‘I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the desert, and have died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that if anyone eat of it he will not die. I am the living bread that has come down from heaven. If anyone eat of this bread he shall live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.’

“The Jews on that account argued with one another, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’

“Jesus therefore said to them, ‘Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has life everlasting and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, abides in me and I in him. As the living Father has sent me, and as I live because of the Father, so he who eats me, he also shall live because of me. This is the bread that has come down from heaven; not as your fathers ate the manna, and died. He who eats this bread shall live forever”‘
(John 6:48-59).