Jesus shocked the religious people of his day by spending time with corrupt tax collectors, prostitutes, publicans and other known sinners as well as countless other people.
They thought this was not how a Rabbi or holy man should behave and they mocked him for it.
Jesus came for everyone, he died for everyone and he rose again for everyone.
Yet today the only people who are able to receive the Body of Jesus in the consecrated host are ‘the faithful’ who attend church and generally have been through two ceremonies of Baptism and Confirmation.
The result is that only a tiny minority of this country and an even tinier minority of the world have access to the Body of Jesus in the consecrated Host.
The Consecrated Host is believed to be so precious that every crumb has to be consumed and consecrated hosts that are left over or which are ‘reserved’ for another service are kept under lock and key and are closely guarded by the priests.
The Host has become holy food for the elite.
We believe this is a travesty of what Jesus intended.
We believe God has called us to make the Body of Jesus in the consecrated Host available to everyone, everywhere.
We believe Jesus in the Host should be available in the most accessible ways possible throughout society, even in vending machines throughout the country and world.
There are also many reasons why faithful Christian people also might not want to or be able to attend church but want to receive the Host.
For instance there are tens of thousands of elderly people who once attended Mass but who are now housebound or infirm and are left desolate because the church does not take the Host to them.
There are young families who don’t want to attend churches because few have proper provision for children and babies within their services.
There are young people for whom the church is culturally alien.
There are those whose frank modern lives makes the concept of attending repetitive patterns of worship set within a contrived community unattractive.
We live in an age when people do not live in the shadow of their priest or the church. They negotiate life and choice according to the information made available to them and they draw down the resources they believe are potent. The Host needs to be readily available for them to be able to make it their primary source of inspiration and direction.
