While all the sprinkling of blood in the first reading may be a little more gory detail than you might have wanted, the story of this ritual offers you something to consider for the celebration of the Body and Blood of Christ.

MY NIECE WAS born with a heart defect and at 10 was deemed eligible for corrective surgery. Every viable family member opened a vein for this little girl and donated blood for the operation. Of course we did.

A theology professor of mine used to repeat the quip, “The Letter to the Hebrews is neither”: It’s not a letter nor is it addressed to any particular group of Hebrews.It is, however, in the style of a Jewish form of sermonizing know as midrash, where the author uses scripture to interpret another scripture or religious reality.

To receive the Body and Blood of Christ, we must first seek his forgiveness.

Observe all that I have commanded you. The obedience of the people of God is the watchword in today’s readings. In Deuteronomy Moses made the not-so-veiled point that unless the people obey the Lord’s “statutes and commandments,” the same power God used to deliver them would be turned against them.

Life makes extravagant promises when we are young, or so it seems. We can have anything! We can go anywhere! We can be anyone! As time goes on, the promise of life seems to shrink down to more modest, if disappointing, proportions.

O Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, I would like to be filled with love for you; keep me closely united with you, may my heart be near to yours. —Pope John XXIII, Journal of a Soul