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.
