Word to the Wise
Thursday, April 22, 2010 - Thursday in the Third Week of Easter
[Acts 8:26-40 and John 6:44-51]I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my Flesh for the life of the world.
One may imagine the startled looks and questions when the last line of today's gospel scripture was spoken! It's one thing to be speaking about manna and Wisdom's banquet of the word. It is entirely another to be saying that one's own flesh is part of this. The plain meaning, to the audience, (then, and to some, now) is cannibalism. Of course, the dialogue doesn't end with today's gospel! If anything, it gets more intense and emotional. The question is asked (in tomorrow's selection) "How can this man give us his Flesh to eat?" The traditional Catholic expression about the nature of the consecrated bread and wine is that it is Christ's "body and blood, soul and divinity." Jesus did not invite the audience to come up and take a bite out of him! The real immediate answer to the question is "Wait and see!" The way in which Jesus would give himself is through the sharing of a completely new kind of food - a food of faith in his power to make bread and wine into the reality of himself. The Church found an expression based on Aristotle's philosophy to explain this - "transubstantiation" - but we must always remember that this word is OUR word and not Jesus' term. He said simply, "This is my body!" "This is the cup of my blood." This is his total giving of himself in love for us. It is not just a symbol! The ring given in a marriage ceremony is a symbol of the commitment, but it is not the reality of the marriage which is the two human persons giving themselves totally to each other. The Bread and Wine of the Eucharist IS the gift of Jesus' self. There will be an important existential moment at the end of Jesus' dialogue when he asks the disciples if they are going to leave like others who found this teaching unacceptable. Stay tuned! AMEN
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