Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Beginning two weeks ago, and for the next few Sundays, we will be hearing from the Gospel of John. Specifically, John Chapter 6, otherwise known as the Bread of Life Discourse. These Gospel readings are foundational for our Catholic faith. Here Jesus lays the Theological groundwork for His eventual Institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper.
In the Gospel reading this Sunday, Jesus begins to “double down” on His teaching. He hears the crowds murmuring against Him and instead of “walking back His teaching” and explaining to them that He is “like” the bread of heaven or is a symbol of the bread of Heaven, He in fact says it twice more “I am the Bread of Life.” and a few lines later “I am the Living Bread that came down from Heaven”, before finally concluding with His most controversial phrase so far, “Whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I give is my flesh for the life of the world.” Many hear this, and as we will see in coming weeks, many begin to leave Him because of this teaching. They say “How can this man give us His flesh to eat”. Even His closest friends say to Him “this saying is hard, who can accept it?” And it is hard. As it was for the disciples back then, so it is for us now. We now know that Jesus fulfills this promise through the Eucharist. And yet we often find it hard to focus at Mass, to wrap our minds around the fact that what was a moment ago just a wafer of bread and a chalice of wine, and still looks and tastes the same, is not just transformed, but Transubstantiated, into the Body and Blood of Christ. But just as it was for the disciples back then, our lack of faith doesn’t change the Truth.
It is a Truth that when we receive “Communion” we are eating the Flesh of Christ. And, as Catholics, we should be approaching this most sacred gift of Our Lord with reverence, with awe, with joy and with a fervor that simply won’t allow us to miss a Sunday Mass for all the usual unacceptable reasons. “I forgot” or “I was too busy” or “I was traveling” all sound ridiculous when faced with the truth that we have just missed the opportunity to receive God Himself, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity into our very bodies. To have that most intimate of communions with the Creator of the Universe, the Word Made Flesh, Jesus the Christ.
Coming right after our National Eucharistic Congress, which took place in Indianapolis at the end of July, we are now hearing in the Gospels Jesus expounding upon the far-reaching truth of His sacrifice. And if you weren’t able to attend, or haven’t had the opportunity to listen yet, I highly recommend and encourage you to listen to Fr. Mike Schmitz’s talk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2QtWaEFq3E . In it he explains the meaning and history of the story of our salvation as it relates to Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and His offering of Himself to us in the Eucharist. And above all, go to Mass. Go as often as you are able and fall in love with Jesus more and more each day.