WONDER OR WANDER?

JN 6: 51-58

At about the same time this year, two incidents grabbed the headlines in religious news. One was an alleged miracle in the U.S. when instead of insufficient supply of consecrated Hosts during Communion, a eucharistic minister observed the Body of Christ seemed to have multiplied for the recipients. Another was the case of a Filipino high schooler in a Catholic school who instead of consuming the Body of Christ in communion, brought home the sacred Host and subjected it to a “food review” he later posted on Twitter. The incident caused the cessation of Masses in the school in the middle of the Lenten season.

Here we see the Holy Eucharist, the Body of Christ consecrated at every Mass, receiving mixed responses from Catholics today. On one hand, there is astonishment and increase of fervor. On the other hand, an unbelief that leads to lack of reverence and trivialization. This makes our feast and the Gospel message today urgent as we grapple with the meaning of what we do each Sunday, of what happens at every Mass, of how we perceive the Lord’s teaching about the presence and power of His Body and Blood in our lives.

As Catholics, we believe that when we come together to worship, Jesus becomes present in the bread and wine, transforming these into his own Body and Blood. In a powerful and yet silently mysterious way, we are united with the Lord as we receive Communion.  Even after Mass, we believe the Lord is present in the tabernacle of every church, where the sacred hosts, His Body, is kept for veneration.

Today’s gospel repeats Jesus’ teaching, a hard teaching indeed: “I am the Living Bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever.” At the Last Supper, he will say: “Take this all of you and eat; this is my Body given up for you.” The Jews knew of the bread from heaven that Moses gave them to eat in the desert, sign of God’s providence and care. With Jesus’ Body and Blood in the sacrament of the Eucharist, the whole world will know that God still feeds and nourishes, cares for and protects his people through a new presence.

This is not easy to believe, and that is why some disciples of Jesus left as soon as he made this claim (see Jn 6: 66). Protestant Christians do not accept this to be true, although a growing number of Evangelicals/ Pentecostals are beginning to take a second look. Catholics and Orthodox put faith in Jesus’ words and believe in the reality of Jesus’ presence in his Body and Blood.

As you attend Mass this week, offer to the Lord your own response to his words. Do you really believe he loves you so much as to give you his Body today? Is there any resistance or doubt to this teaching? Ask the Lord to lead you to deeper faith and fuller trust in his message of love.

ourparishpriest 2023

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