God’s plan for humanity was disrupted by eating. When Adam and Eve succumbed to the devil’s temptation and ate the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they disobeyed God. This act was original sin. By eating that fruit, they expressed their desire to live by their own standards rather than by God’s. This rebellion against God was a grave mistake. Without God, we are nothing. He is our Creator and the source of all good things. Thus, when humanity rebelled against Him through original sin, we expelled ourselves from paradise and put ourselves at the mercy of evil. This is why the world is filled with misery, suffering, and crime. Moreover, eating the forbidden fruit introduced death into the human family. God’s original plan was for us to eat from the tree of life, which would preserve us from death. But after original sin, the tree of life was off-limits; death became our constant companion and inevitable destination.

However, if God’s plan was disrupted by eating, it is also restored by eating. Since we had run away from paradise and could no longer eat from the tree of life, God devised a brilliant alternative: He brought the tree of life out to us.

This was the mission of Jesus Christ. By dying on the cross, He repaired the damage done by original sin, suffering in our place and untying the knot of our disobedience. In this way, the cross of Jesus Christ became the new tree of life. And this tree is heavily laden with supernatural fruit: the Eucharist, the body and blood of our Lord.

When we partake of this fruit, we express our repentance and our desire to return from our rebellion, to be united with Christ. This supernatural fruit is the antidote to the poison of the forbidden fruit. It is our medicine, gradually healing our selfishness and sinfulness, and nourishing Christ-like generosity, wisdom, courage, and love. This is what we joyfully celebrate on the Solemn Feast of Corpus Christi.

This is why we treat the Eucharist with special reverence. St Philip Neri, the famous Apostle of Rome in the 1500s, known for his sense of humour, understood this reverence especially well.
One lady regularly attended Mass, but she would leave before the end. St Philip noticed this and was concerned that she had forgotten how sacred Holy Communion really was. So he decided to remind her. The next time she came to Mass, he had an altar server ready with a candle and a little bell, positioned by the exit she usually used. After receiving Communion, she headed for the door as usual. But as she took her first few steps out onto the street, the acolyte was right on her heels, ringing the bell for all to hear, and holding the bright candle for all to see. Shocked and embarrassed, she turned and asked what he was doing. He answered, “Well, ma’am, you just received our Lord, so you are like a walking Tabernacle, and we have to show Him due honour.” She got the message and humbly returned to the church for the rest of the Mass.

When we receive the holy Eucharist in Communion, this is what’s happening: the redemption of the world through Christ’s presence in each of us. By making Himself present in us, He heals and sanctifies us. But He also reaches out to heal and sanctify everyone around us, every part of the world connected to us.
However, this doesn’t happen automatically. When we eat natural food, our bodies digest it and derive nourishment from it automatically, without our having to do anything consciously to make it happen. But since the Eucharist is supernatural and spiritual food, it will only nourish us if we allow it to. One way we can help activate the power of the Eucharist in our lives is to practise the discipline of silence.

You can’t put fine wine into a glass full of grapefruit juice until you pour out the grapefruit juice. Silence helps us empty the cup of our soul, so that it can receive God’s grace in Holy Communion. In silent prayer and reflection, God has a chance to speak to us, to till the soil of our hearts, and perhaps to point out some unconfessed sins that are blocking the flow of His grace in our lives.
Coming to Mass a few minutes early to recollect ourselves, staying in the church a few minutes after Mass to extend our thanksgiving, and respecting the atmosphere of silence inside the church both before and after Mass are practical ways to ensure God doesn’t spill His grace when He tries to pour it into our souls through the Eucharist.