Yes, it's an honour to be here and I'm happy to be speaking to you myCatholic brothers, but let's talk about Jesus.

" In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.........and through him [the Word] all things came to be....... And the Word became flesh and lived amongst us." (Jn 1)

That Word who became flesh, after he was baptized, went to the wilderness and fasted for forty days and forty nights. Obviously he was hungry and so the devil challenged him and tempted him.

Remember what the Devil said? He said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to turn into loaves." But Jesus replied, "Man does live not on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." (Mt 4:3-4)

What about us? Are we living on every "word" that comes from the mouth of God? There is the written word, the spoken word and the living word.

Our Lord who is the Living Word says: "The bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world" (Jn 6:33 ) and vss. 49-51: "Your fathers ate manna in the desert and they are dead. But this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that a man may eat it and not die. I am the living bread which has come down from heaven; whoever eats of this bread will live forever, and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world."

In v. 52 we read, "The Jews were arguing among themselves, 'How can this man give us his flesh to eat?'" If they had only waited a few more days that question would have been answered.

But our lord was adamant and continued in v. 53, "Truly, I say to you, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in you."; vss. 55-57, “For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in him. Just as I, who am sent by the Father myself draw life from the Father, so whoever eats me will draw life from me."

The question of how can this man give us his flesh is answered in the gospels, for on the night of Passover our Lord instituted the Eucharist with the words, "this is my body" and "this is my blood" .

Jesus' command is take eat, take and drink. Catholics do not realize how privileged they are: what we have in the Mass is so precious. We get life from Him for He is “the Way, the Truth and the Life.” In Genesis when God created life he uttered the Word and life came to be. As is said in Jn 1:4, “All that came to be had life in him.” That is why we read in Jn 15, "I am the vine and you are the branches.”

The branches being attached to the vine depends on the vine for life and so we depend on the Eucharist (Jesus) for life. The branch that does not bear good fruit the Father who is the vine grower would chop off and burn in the fire.

The vine and the branches make one tree and so all through the gospel of John our lord prayed for us to be one with him and his Father, but that oneness can only be possible if we are bearing good fruit.

When our Lord said, "This is my body" the gospel writers used the Greek word soma . I'm always intrigued by this word and so recently when I had the privilege to travel to Greece , I spoke with our tour guide who happens to be an archaeologist and asked her the meaning of the word soma .

She said it is sometimes used to refer to just the body of someone or creature but the word soma in its fullest sense means all that it takes to make a person. She added that, "When our Lord uttered the words, 'this is my soma ', he was saying “this is all of me."

The venerable Catherine Anne Emmerich when she was taken back by our Lord to Passover said she saw all of Jesus including his divinity enter his disciples; hence why he said you would have life in you.

His wish and prayer

We Catholics are blessed because we can have our Lord entirely in us; this is his wish and prayer. Many Catholics do not believe that it is really his flesh and blood. Like some other Christians they believe it is just a symbol of his body, but as I stand here in front of you today I say many Christians died for their faith and belief in the Eucharist.

The early Church was outlawed by Rome and Christians were called cannibals because the rumour among the people of Rome was that these Christians would meet together and have a human sacrifice and eat the flesh and drink the blood of a man called Jesus Christ. So they were persecuted and hunted down.

As far as I am concerned you can call me a cannibal but I know it is the flesh of our Lord. I'm sorry I cannot explain how he does it, I just believe him because he said so. Can anyone explain how our Lord does his miracles?

Can you explain how he took a few loaves and fish and fed thousands of people? Then why do we doubt him because our eyes cannot see his body and blood in Mass, but his words say otherwise?

St. Paul in 1 Cor 11:27 says, "If anyone eats of the bread and drinks from the cup unworthily, he sins against the body and blood of the Lord”. Paul says that person drinks his own condemnation in not recognizing the Body.

He reminds us to examine ourselves before partaking of the bread because we can bring our own condemnation. Have you been examining yourselves before going to communion? What does your conscience tell you? Is it time for confession? When was the last time you availed yourselves of the sacrament?

I remember my first confession; I can tell you afterwards I felt as if I was flying and walking on air. Some Catholics told me they feel embarrassed to go, but just think of our Lord being stripped naked and crucified in front of the whole world. He did that for all of us; don't let your pride get in the way.

My own First Communion experience was an awesome one. I struggled long and hard and read so many experiences of Protestant pastors leaving their high paying ministries with material prosperity just to experience Jesus in the Eucharist.

I will give almost all that I have for my family to experience Him, if only I can make them understand. They have struggled with my decision and they cannot understand why, but I pray for their conversion and I urge you to please pray for them.

Unite with the vine my brothers and bear good fruit, good fruit will only benefit our society and our loved ones. Let me end by talking about the good fruit that a martyr of the Church bore.

When St Ignatius of Antioch was being carried to his death to be eaten alive by wild beast in the year 107 AD he said, "I am God's grain, and I'm being ground by the teeth of wild beasts in order that I may be found to be pure bread for Christ.

My earthly love has been crucified, and there is in me no fire of material love, but rather a living water, speaking in me and saying within me, ‘Come to the Father'.

I take no pleasure in corruptible food or in the delights of this life. I want the Bread of God, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, who is of the seed of David, and as drink I want his Blood, which is incorruptible love".