Sunday Meditation: The Bread of Life, Do You Want to Leave?

So last week Jesus completed Hid Bread of Life Discourse, and now will respond to their reaction.  Let’s summarize first.  On the Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, we had the “sign” of Jesus’ divinity, the supernatural power to feed the multitudes, a precursor of sorts.  On the Eighteenth Sunday, we had the first part of the Discourse on the Bread of life, connecting Jesus with the Manna from heaven.  On the Nineteenth Sunday we have Jesus saying that He is the living Bread.  On the Twentieth Sunday, Jesus concludes His discourse telling us His flesh is the Bread of heaven, and that you must eat His flesh and drink His blood to have life.  Today there is a conclusion, or an epilogue if you will.  On the Twenty-First Sunday, Jesus makes clear it is not a metaphor and does not stop the listeners from leaving Him.

 

Many of Jesus' disciples who were listening said,

"This saying is hard; who can accept it?"

Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this,

he said to them, "Does this shock you?

What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending

to where he was before?

It is the spirit that gives life,

while the flesh is of no avail.

The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life.

But there are some of you who do not believe."

Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe

and the one who would betray him.

And he said,

"For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me

unless it is granted him by my Father."

 

As a result of this,

many of his disciples returned to their former way of life

and no longer accompanied 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."

~Jn 6:60-69

 

Oh, again, Bishop Barron gives the best exegesis of this passage.    

Bishop Barron I think is the only one I have come across that touches on the Ascension in Verse 62.  If Jesus were to rise to heaven right in front of you, would you not believe?  But He doesn’t.  He will save that for later.

One verse that Bishop Barron does not touch on is on verse 63: “It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail.  The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life.”  Some critics take this as proving Jesus is indeed speaking as His body and blood being a metaphor or symbol.  When Jesus says the “flesh is of no avail” and it is “the spirit that gives life” He is not referring to His flesh and spirit.  He is referring to your (or the apostles’ there) flesh and spirit.  What He is saying is that His body and blood will give your flesh life by infusing your spirit.

 

Sunday Meditation: "Do you also want to leave?"

 

But it always has struck me as Jesus putting them to the test in a way that doesn't fully reveal the full understanding of the Eucharist.  What if Jesus explained that they will be eating His body and blood under the accidents of bread and wine?  What if He explained it's only the substance of His body and blood they will be eating, not the accidents?  The accidents will remain something non-revolting?  Would everyone have left?  Maybe, maybe not.  It's only at the Last Supper that the full understanding of this passage will make sense.

Since Bishop Barron mentioned the Bob Dylan song, “Gotta Serve Somebody,"” this will be our hymn for the day.

Sunday Meditation: The Bread of Life, Continued, Part III

Jesus’ Bread of Life Discourse is so important that the Church spreads the readings across four weeks, not including the precursor which was the feeding of the multitudes.  So let’s take stock of where we are.  In the Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, we had the “sign” of Jesus’ divinity, the supernatural power to feed the multitudes.  On the Eighteenth Sunday, we had the first part of the Discourse on the Bread of life, connecting Jesus with the Manna from heaven.  On the Nineteenth Sunday we have Jesus saying that He is the living Bread.  Today, the Twentieth Sunday, Jesus tells us His flesh is the Bread of heaven, and that you must eat His flesh and drink His blood to have life.

 

Jesus said to the crowds:

"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 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."

~Jn 6:51-58

This time, Bishop Barron gives the comprehensive exegesis of this passage.   

Now, how does the body and blood of Jesus become what He says in the Eucharist?  Here you will need someone from the Order of Preachers to fully explain it.  Let Fr. Dominic Legge, O.P. from The Thomistic Institute explain the Presence of Jesus’s Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Eucharist.

 

The concepts of substance and accidents can be tricky to understand. I think Fr. Dominic in that video does about as good a job as I have ever seen.  I recommend all The Thomistic Institute videos on explaining the faith.

Sunday Meditation: "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day."

Let’s return to John Michael Talbot for an appropriate hymn, “Gift of Finest Wheat.”

 

This is not an original JMT composition.  It was composed by Robert E. Kreutz.   It is such a beautiful hymn, and I love John Michael’s rendition.

Sunday Meditation: Their Eyes Were Opened

Third Sunday of Easter, and this is not only one of my favorite passages in the Gospels, but perhaps one of the most important.  It’s a bit long, but it’s all narrative, which makes it engaging.

 

That very day, the first day of the week,

two of Jesus' disciples were going

to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus,

and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred.

And it happened that while they were conversing and debating,

Jesus himself drew near and walked with them,

but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.

He asked them,

"What are you discussing as you walk along?"

They stopped, looking downcast.

One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply,

"Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem

who does not know of the things

that have taken place there in these days?"

And he replied to them, "What sort of things?"

They said to him,

"The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene,

who was a prophet mighty in deed and word

before God and all the people,

how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over

to a sentence of death and crucified him.

But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel;

and besides all this,

it is now the third day since this took place.

Some women from our group, however, have astounded us:

they were at the tomb early in the morning

and did not find his body;

they came back and reported

that they had indeed seen a vision of angels

who announced that he was alive.

Then some of those with us went to the tomb

and found things just as the women had described,

but him they did not see."

And he said to them, "Oh, how foolish you are!

How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke!

Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things

and enter into his glory?"

Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets,

he interpreted to them what referred to him

in all the Scriptures.

As they approached the village to which they were going,

he gave the impression that he was going on farther.

But they urged him, "Stay with us,

for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over."

So he went in to stay with them.

And it happened that, while he was with them at table,

he took bread, said the blessing,

broke it, and gave it to them.

With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him,

but he vanished from their sight.

Then they said to each other,

"Were not our hearts burning within us

while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?"

So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem

where they found gathered together

the eleven and those with them who were saying,

"The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!"

Then the two recounted

what had taken place on the way

and how he was made known to them in the breaking of bread.

        Lk 24:13-35

Luke is such a great writer, perhaps the finest of the four Gospel writers.  Now, Dr. Brant Pitre provides the absolute best exegesis of this passage.  Make sure you watch both videos.  It will be well worth it.

 

 

 Next time you are on a road walking, or perhaps just on a simple street, may Jesus come up to you and start a conversation.

Matthew Monday: Matthew’s First Holy Communion

This past Saturday, May 6^th, Matthew had his first holy communion.  He was so excited.  He would come up, arms crossed to receive a blessing, with me when I received, and he has longed for the day he could receive.  Now he can.  Here are some pictures from his special day.

First each child made a banner and had it pinned up along the walls of the church.  Here’s is Matthew’s.

He was given a speaking part, the introductory proclamation. After the children walked in in the opening procession, Matthew went straight to the podium where the priest normally gives his homily, and, I assume standing on a step stool, he gave the opening remarks.  This was his speech, which he executed flawlessly:

Good morning.  Welcome to our First Holy Communion Celebration.

We come here today filled with joy and happiness.

We are ready to receive Jesus, the Bread of Life.  We believe his words : "He who eats my body and drinks my blood will live forever."

We pray that we will always receive Jesus with love and devotion.

We pray that Jesus will make us all one in his love.

We were all so proud of him.  I couldn’t get a great picture of him up there, but here he is up at the podium.

Here are some pictures inside and outside the church.  As you can see he wore an all-white suit, which he amazingly kept clean.

And then we had a nice little party for him at a local restaurant with family and friends. 

He's the joy of my life.