Today, Jesus specifically reveals the scope of His Incarnation: to give His life for the world. The Eucharist, in addition to being the sacrament of His permanence among us, contains the gift of His sacrifice for us.

This is made even clearer in verse 53, where the Lord adds that He will give us His Blood to "drink". These words are not only a manifest allusion to the Eucharist, but they point to what underlies the Eucharist: the sacrifice of Jesus, who sheds His Blood for us, and in so doing steps out of Himself, so to speak, pours Himself out and gives Himself to us. Thus, Incarnation and Cross come together.

—The Bread presupposes that the seed —grain of wheat— has fallen into the Earth, and "dies", and that from its death a new ear has afterwards grown. Earthly bread can become the bearer of Christ’s presence because it contains in itself the mystery of the Passion, it unites in itself death and resurrection.