Word to the Wise
Saturday, April 24, 2021 - 3rd Week of Easter - Sat
[Acts 9:31-42 and John 6:60-69]Many of the disciples of Jesus who were listening said, "This saying is hard; who can accept it?".....As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer walked with him. Jesus then said to the Twelve, "Do you also want to leave?" Simon Peter answered him, "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God."
The Gospel According to John makes it clear that Jesus' teaching about what came to be known as "the eucharist," caused a crisis of faith in some of his disciples. Those of us who are "cradle Catholics" may take this teaching for granted since it is instilled in us from infancy. For those who do not grow up in Catholic or Orthodox tradition, the eucharist remains a challenge to faith. Even in Christian traditions that lay strong emphasis on the Bible as the source of all revelation, Jesus' teaching about the eucharist is somehow swept away as a kind of "ordinance" with no change in bread or wine. What we Catholics refer to as "the Real Presence" in consecrated host and wine seems almost idolatrous to them.
Christ is "really present" in more ways than the sacrament of the Eucharist, but it is in this particular sacramental presence that Catholic faith finds its central focus. The Eucharist, as celebrated at Mass and as preserved in the tabernacle, is a physical reminder of Jesus' abiding presence with us who are the Body of Christ on earth. The Eucharist is the visible union of heaven and earth. To be unable to "receive communion" is considered by us to be a terrible deprivation.
Ultimately it comes down to Jesus' question to the disciples, "Do you also want to leave?" Peter's answer must be ours: "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." AMEN