This Sunday’s readings for the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ are effectively the Church’s invitation to us to reflect on the meaning of the Eucharist for us and the way in which we integrate it into our daily lives, writes Christian Brother Julian McDonald.

The very notion of God as Trinity proclaims that love is born of God, of the relationship between Father, Son and Spirit. And, remember, we are made in God’s image, made to relate and to love. In our love for one another, we mirror the love that exists in the Trinity, and we know that we can relate back to God in love, writes Christian Brother Julian McDonald.

Today’s readings invite us to pause and reflect on the Christian community into which we were initiated when we were baptised. They also invite us to take time to ponder who it is who breathes life, love and energy into each of us individually and into the community we form together, writes Christian Brother Julian McDonald.

The Ascension is all about us, writes Christian Brother Julian McDonald. It is the signal that the mission of Jesus is being handed on to us just as it was to those first disciples. We, too, are commissioned to make real for our world the compassion, the forgiveness, the acceptance and love of Jesus. To do that, we, too, need daring, imagination and creativity, as well as faith in the Risen Jesus. Moreover, we are assured that the Spirit of Jesus has been set free to enliven and inspire us very ordinary people to witness to Jesus and make him alive

God’s Spirit, present deep within us, will prompt our hearts and minds, and help us to discover the meaning of God’s Word as Jesus proclaimed it, writes Christian Brother Julian McDonald. Then it’s up to us to translate God’s Word into appropriate action. But for that to happen, we have to first take time to reflect on Jesus’ words as they are recorded in the Gospels.