Bishop Donal McKeown Lockdown is a chance to recognise that the Eucharist is not some “holy fuel”, but an “intimate communion with Jesus”, said Bishop Donal McKeown of Derry.
Speaking on Corpus Christi, Bishop McKeown said that if “we are not open to being in intimate communion with Jesus, allowing him to dwell within us, then receiving Communion has lost its roots.
“Receiving the Lord in the Eucharist is a free gift. But it came at a huge price to Jesus on the Cross. Accepting the Christ who was sacrificed on the Cross means becoming part of his sacrifice.”
Bishop McKeown des-cribed receiving Communion as a public statement that we will fulfil our part of that covenant.
“That is why participation in the full action of the Eucharist is central to the life of the Christian community,” he said.
“That is why every parish has to be actively planning so that we can be God’s people, really and not just virtually.”