RBWords

     At this point in the "Bread of Life discourse" there is a shift in emphasis from revelation to communion.  Many scripture scholars believe that the reason for this shift is that in the process of composition, the material in today's verses may have been moved from the Last Supper to the discourse following the multiplication of the loaves, which the community had already begun to interpret in eucharistic terms.  This would explain the curious absence of the story of the institution of the eucharist at the Last Supper in the Gospel of John.  By moving this material, so the scholarship says, the Bread of Life discourse becomes shaped like the celebration of the eucharist because the first section emphasizes the revealed Jesus and the second section the Jesus who is united with the believer in true communion.  I find this explanation helpful because it connects well with the approach of the three other gospels.

     Two thoughts arise from these considerations which concern the same reality which we term "real presence."  Christ is truly present in the word revealed and proclaimed.  He is truly present in the "breaking of the bread" as well.  In both parts of the eucharistic celebration, Christ is the "bread of life."  The idea that many Catholics have that Christ becomes truly present only at the time of the "consecration" is most unfortunate.  My second thought is that we need to "balance" the individualism in John's account with the community (communion) emphasis that Mark, Matthew and Luke provide.  We don't come to the celebration just as individuals to receive our own separate "communion."   

     As we will see, all of this teaching was hard for some to hear, and may still be hard to hear.  We who attend "Mass" need to ask ourselves why we're there!  AMEN