Gospel
"I am the bread of life."
REFLECTION
The Eucharist is alive. Jesus said, "I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die." Jesus has revealed the great mystery of the Blessed Sacrament. With faith we can see the meaning of His Words.
Bishop Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet († 1704) made a very pragmatic and simple observation. When Jesus spoke in metaphors, analogies or parables it was obvious and the apostles noted it. If Jesus wants to tell us that something is a "sign" He would have known how to tell us. (Magnificat)
But His statement of "I am the bread of life" is simply true. The host we receive is not a piece of bread or a wafer, but actually, through the power of the Holy Spirit and by the words of Christ, have become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. He is really and mysteriously made present. (CCC 1357)
If people were to watch us receive the Body and Blood of Jesus, would they see what we believe in how we receive Jesus? Do people see reverence or are we busy nodding at people as we walk down the aisle, making a "to do" list, or mentally reviewing a recent movie or book ? Is there a change in us when we eat the Body and Blood of Jesus?
In Fatima, the angel prostrated in front of Jesus in the host. The Saints spent hours in front of the Blessed Sacrament in adoration, in gratitude, in love, in praise and in reparation.
On June 30, 1968, Pope Paul VI ended the Year of the Faith with his Credo of the People of God. Enclosed is an excerpt of this creed.
We believe that the Mass, celebrated by the priest representing the person of Christ by virtue of the power received through the Sacrament of Orders, and offered by him in the name of Christ and the members of His Mystical Body, is the sacrifice of Calvary rendered sacramentally present on our altars. We believe that as the bread and wine consecrated by the Lord at the Last Supper were changed into His body and His blood which were to be offered for us on the cross, likewise the bread and wine consecrated by the priest are changed into the body and blood of Christ enthroned gloriously in heaven, and we believe that the mysterious presence of the Lord, under what continues to appear to our senses as before, is a true, real and substantial presence.
Comments