Today’s Alleluia verse is adapted from 1 Cor 5:7b-8a.  Having read the second reading, which contains those very verses, I appreciated the Eucharistic imagery that this reformulation contains — imagery that I did not pick up from that reading.

Jesus, “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29) gave us His very flesh and blood to eat in instituting the Eucharist on that fateful Thursday, just hours before His death.  He would not leave us, rather He desired to “stay with us” (a promise He explicitly fulfilled the very day of His Resurrection — cf. Lk 24:29).

“Adoration of the Lamb” (detail) by Jan van Eyck (1432)

So we should “feast with joy in the Lord” and on the Lord.  We do not confine this joy to this most joyous day, but we are to enter into this joy each time we receive the Eucharist and enter into the Paschal Mystery (the passion, death, and Resurrection of Jesus).  It is a great gift that the Lord gave us at such a tremendous cost.  And we reap all of the benefits!

Never let us miss an opportunity to approach the Lord worthily in this Most Blessed Sacrament of Sacraments!