Word to the Wise
Friday, April 20, 2018 - 3rd Week of Easter - Fri
[Acts 9:1-20 and John 6:52-59]FRIDAY, APRIL 20, 2018. ST. AGNES OF MONTALCINO, O.P. [Acts 9:1-20 and John 6:52-59] The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to earth?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true god, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I am in him.” [John] As the old saying goes: “The fat is in the fire!” The crowd thinks Jesus is advocating cannibalism! There is no question that this teaching was a dividing moment. Right after the end of the segment in today’s gospel, we are told that many considered this too much for them. They would not be alone. I have mentioned before the story of a young woman I instructed for reception into the church. At the end of our instruction I asked her what was the most difficult for her and she responded right away: “The Eucharist. If you can accept that, the rest is easy.” The Eucharist is not a matter of pretending that the bread and wine are the body and blood of Christ. We believe that the Holy Spirit transforms these two elements into the very person of Jesus. It is not a matter of cannibalism. There was only just so much of the body of Jesus! What we have is really the gift of a self that is multiplied over and over again in memory of Jesus. As the passage teaches us, this reception is a way of having eternal life in the present and a guarantee of eternal life “on the last day.” And because we are also united with Christ in baptism, we are commissioned to continue his ministry. It is not just a matter of “going to Mass and receiving communion.” That important moment is meant to be shared in daily life. Christ gives himself to us through the power of the Holy Spirit at the celebration of the Eucharist, but we “put skin on Christ” by the way we live and treat others. The host we may adore in a monstrance in a chapel setting must be translated into the compassion of Jesus outside that chapel. AMEN