Eat my Flesh and Drink my Blood

XX Sunday “B” John 6, 51-58 August 18th, 2024 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 people 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 them. Just as the living Father sent meand 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." We are at week 4 of John’s teaching on the Eucharist and today we get to the heart of the matter. If you remember Jesus began giving the people the miracle of the loaves and fish. He compared it to the gift of Manna in the dessert, next he said that he was the bread of life and today he moves from any mere spiritual understanding of the Eucharist to a clear proclamation that he is the bread of life: if you eat his flesh and drink his blood you will have eternal life. We have gone from Jesus feeding the hungry crowd to a meditation on the Eucharist. As Catholic Christians we take Jesus’ words literally and we believe that what we are about to do is to eat Jesus flesh and drink his blood. “Eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking his blood” was the way for Christians in John’s time understood their participation in the Eucharist. Last week I used Saint Alphonsus image of seeing Jesus as a friend to help us understand the Eucharist. The Gospel today deepens this understanding; the language describes an intimacy; a close relationship of Jesus to those who believe in him. By eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking his blood Jesus remains in us and we remain in him. Just as Jesus and the Father remain in one another, we remain united in Jesus by eating his body and drinking his blood. We use the word “transubstantiation” to explain what happens in the Eucharist. Real food and real drink are what “transubstantiation” is about in the sacrament of the Eucharist. Transubstantiation asks what is “real” in the Eucharist What do we believe to be most real in our lives. What is true nourishment? And what words best designate the real and true? To say that the Eucharist involves “transubstantiation” means the reality of the consecrated bread and wine, despite appearances of color and material composition, are “body, blood, soul, and divinity” of Jesus. The “real presence” of the Eucharist is Jesus Christ in his full mystery. We take Jesus’ words literally as Catholic Christians. We believe that when we receive communion we are receiving nothing less than the body and blood of Christ. It really is Jesus’ flesh and blood no matter what it might look like, or taste like. Jesus is the sustenance of our lives, the nourishment of our faith. He is our truest food and drink. “I myself am the living bread come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread shall live forever; the bread I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world.” We understanding the importance of sharing a meal together. It is more than just eathing. On Friday I stopped by Dianna’s restaurant el Italianito in the Zona Historical. After eating too much, Dianna gave me a piece of my favorite cake. It was so good! I am not sure how she made me it but it was flavorful, moist and oh so tasty. It was much more than just a piece of cake, it was a part of Dianna, and sitting down to eat it was more than filling my stomach. It was a moment of friendship and intimacy. The Eucharist begins in much the same way. Jesus offers himself to us, but it is much more than just a gift of Jesus, it is Jesus. It is a gift that we will never be able to understand but we don’t need to understand, we accept the gift as it is given. A gift of love! A gift that gives us the gift of eternal life. These weeks I have been saying again and again that the key to the eucharist is to believe and to eat. We accept Jesus’ gift of his very self because we believe and we eat his body and drink his blood because we know he loves us!