Word to the Wise
Friday, April 28, 2023 - 3rd Week of Easter - Fri
[Acts 9:1-20 and John 6:52-59]The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his Flesh to eat?" 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 food, and my Blood is true drink. Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever." [John]
The "bread of life" dialogue/discourse is presented to us in the lectionary over the course of this week, and can lose some of its dramatic quality in the process. I recommend reading the whole passage from v. 22 to v. 69 to recover the power of the scene. Today, the question posed by the "Jews" becomes the fundamental question: How can this man give us his Flesh to eat?" A survey of Catholics conducted by the respected Pew Research Center in 2019 indicated that nearly two-thirds of those surveyed did not believe the bread and wine consecrated at the celebration of the Eucharist became the flesh and blood of Christ. This startling statistic motivated the bishops in our country to inaugurate the "Eucharistic Revival" program going on in the dioceses of the USA.
Traditionally, the word transubstantiation, a term based on Aristotelian metaphysics, has been used to describe the process by which the transformation of the bread and wine can take place. But what is truly at issue is not HOW this happens but THAT it happens, regardless of the way in which it happens. If Jesus is the one whom God has sent, all things are possible to him. St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians 11:23-26 shows that this belief has been at the center of our faith from the beginning (long before the term transubstantiation came into use). The great Southern Catholic writer, Flannery O'Connor, is quoted from a conversation in which some participants were stating that the eucharist was really only a symbol. When she was asked what she thought, she replied, "Well if it's only a symbol, to hell with it!"
Tomorrow's passage, the last bit, will show that some of the disciples were unable to accept Jesus' teaching in regard to his flesh and blood as true food and drink for eternal life. The Pew survey shows that this seems still to be a problem. Do we accept the teaching or don't we? AMEN
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