"The miracles of the multiplication of the loaves, when the Lord says the blessing, breaks and distributes the loaves through his disciples to feed the multitude, prefigure the superabundance of this unique bread of his Eucharist. The sign of water turned into wine at Cana already announces the Hour of Jesus' glorification. It makes manifest [...]
"As our Lord compared Himself to the grain of wheat, so also He compared Himself to the vine, saying (Jn. 15:1): 'I am the true vine.' But only bread from wheat is the matter of this sacrament, as stated above. Therefore, only wine from the grape is the proper matter of this sacrament." [...]
"It must never be forgotten that our reception of Baptism and Confirmation is ordered to the Eucharist." Source: Pope Benedict XVI, SACRAMENTUM CARITATIS (Sacrament of Charity), 2/22/2007
"It is in the Blessed Sacrament that Jesus ought to be your end, therefore, perform all your actions in view of Holy Communion. Let that be the pivot of your day, the centre of your life, whence all radiates and to which all converges. Let all you do, be a preparation to receive Our Lord, [...]
"When, at the Visitation, she bore in her womb the Word made flesh, she became in some way a 'tabernacle' – the first 'tabernacle' in history – in which the Son of God, still invisible to our human gaze, allowed himself to be adored by Elizabeth, radiating his light as it were through the eyes [...]
"Grant that I may no longer seek for any other pleasure than that of giving Thee pleasure; that all my pleasure may be to visit Thee often on Thine altars; to entertain myself with Thee, and to receive Thee in the Holy Communion." Source: St. Alphonsus Liguori, Visits to the Most Holy Sacrament [...]
"The food of the soul is the Body and Blood of a God. O beautiful food! it is enough, if one thinks of it to make one lose oneself in this abyss of love." Source: St. John Vianney, The Meditations of the Curé D’Ars
"The 'cup of blessing' at the end of the Jewish Passover meal adds to the festive joy of wine an eschatological dimension: the messianic expectation of the rebuilding of Jerusalem. When Jesus instituted the Eucharist, he gave a new and definitive meaning to the blessing of the bread and the cup." Source: Catechism of [...]
"Barley bread serves to denote the hardness of the Old Law; both on account of the hardness of the bread, and because, as Augustine says: 'The flour within the barley, wrapped up as it is within a most tenacious fibre, denotes either the Law itself, which was given in such manner as to be vested [...]
"Through the sacrament of the Eucharist Jesus draws the faithful into his 'hour;' he shows us the bond that he willed to establish between himself and us, between his own person and the Church." Source: Pope Benedict XVI, SACRAMENTUM CARITATIS (Sacrament of Charity), 2/22/2007