Word to the Wise
Thursday, May 5, 2022 - 3rd Week of Easter - Thurs
[Acts 8:26-40 and John 6:44-51]Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 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."
The "bread of life" discourse seems to be really two discourses. One can go back to yesterday's scripture which also has the line, "I am the bread of life..." and compare it to today's passage which also begins with "I am the bread of life...', but there is a significant difference. In the previous part, the focus is more "symbolic" in its use of "bread of life." Faith itself becomes a kind of bread of life. In today's passage, however, Jesus becomes literally and physically the "bread of life." The reaction of the audience, as we will see at the beginning of tomorrow's passage, is to believe that Jesus is espousing a form of cannibalism.
One of the great challenges of our Eucharistic faith is to realize that the transformed bread and wine are not just sacred OBJECTS but a PERSON. Jesus' words at the Last Supper in the gospels according to Mark Matthew and Luke: "This is my body....This is the cup of my blood..." and his words in this sixth chapter of the Gospel According to John are at the center of our faith. The Eucharist is the fulfillment of Jesus' promise to be with us always. [cf. Matt. 28:20; John 14:18]. The consecrated host in a monstrance in adoration chapels is not simply an object to be adored but a person to be loved and whose life and teachings are to be lived outside the chapel! [Matt. 25:31-45]. The "communion" we receive at Mass is not simply part of the ritual but the whole point of the ritual!!! AMEN