May the Lord Jesus Christ protect you and lead you to eternal life.
A nice phrase, a pious thought, and you’ve probably never heard it before. May the Lord Jesus Christ protect you and lead you to eternal life. When a priest is called to attend to a dying person, there is a ritual and a sequence that we follow. Upon arrival, we would offer the Sacrament of Reconciliation, to hear the persons’ last confession, give them Absolution, anoint them with oil in the Name of the Lord, and give them Holy Communion, if they are able to receive. What is unique about this Holy Communion is that the Body and Blood of Christ are given as Viaticum, given as food for the journey. After saying to the person, “The Body of Christ,” only on this occasion is the special formula for viaticum used: May the Lord Jesus Christ protect you and lead you to eternal life.
The Lord Jesus promises us that our reception of the bread that came down from heaven, his very body and blood, will bring us to eternal life. As Jesus says, Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him on the last day. That means that every opportunity that we have to receive Our Lord’s precious body and blood is a preparation for eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven. When we come forward to receive Holy Communion, it is Jesus Christ himself who feeds us, who draws us closer to himself, and gives us life.
And the life that Jesus has promised us is not only eternal life in Heaven, but an abundant life of grace here on earth. Jesus says, “Just as the living Father sent me, and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.” In our reception of Holy Communion, we receive a deeper union with Christ in this life. Grace fills our souls and the gift of divine life that we received in the Sacrament of Baptism, when Christ claimed us for himself, is strengthened. We are made stronger for the battle of living the Christian life when we receive Our Lord in Holy Communion.
We are made stronger, too, in our daily battle against sin. For in our reception of the Lord’s Body and Blood, our venial sins are forgiven and we are strengthened against committing mortal sins that can separate us completely from God. We receive spiritual protection in Holy Communion.
And with our union with Christ strengthened, and the power of sin over us weakened, our reception of the Eucharist impels us to share the love of Christ that is within us with those most in need. We are called through our Baptism and empowered through Holy Communion to live Christ’s own life in the world and through our hands to show his concern for the poor and the abandoned. The Eucharist inspires us to live our lives as a living sacrifice of praise to the Father as our Lord Jesus has shown us.
We pray today in this Mass for a deeper union with Christ, for the forgiveness of our sins and strength against temptation, and for the grace to look at the world with the eyes of faith and love with the Heart of Jesus. And as we approach the Altar today to receive Our Lord in Holy Communion, we ask the Lord Jesus Christ to protect us and lead us to eternal life. Amen.
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