TWENTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (B) 19 August 2012
John 6, 51-58
I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real 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 live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever.”
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| Rev.Fr.Valentine de Souza S.J. |
LET JESUS FEED US
José Antonio Pagola
Translated by Rev.Fr.Valentine de Souza S.J.
According to the story of John, the Jews, unable to transcend physical and material reality, and shocked by the forceful language he uses, once more interrupt Jesus: “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” Jesus does not go back on his statement but gives his words a deeper meaning.
The core of what he explained allows us to delve into the experience of the first Christian communities as they celebrated the Eucharist. According to Jesus, the disciples not only have to believe in him, but they need to feed and nourish their lives on his very person. The Eucharist is a central experience in the lives of the followers of Jesus.
The words that follow only highlight its fundamental and indispensable nature: “My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.” If the disciples do not find nourishment in him, they will be able to do and say many things, but they should not forget his words: “You have no life in you.”
To have life in us we need to be fed by Jesus, nourished by his life giving inspiration by internalizing his attitudes and values. This is the secret and the power of the Eucharist. Only those know it who are one with him in holy communion and are sustained by his passion for the Father and his love for his children.
The language Jesus uses has great power to express his message. To whoever knows how to be fed by him, he makes this promise: Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood dwells in me, and I in him. Those nourished by the Eucharist go through the experience that their relationship with Jesus is not something external. Jesus is not a model we imitate from the outside. He nurtures our life from within.
This experience of “dwelling” in Jesus and allowing Jesus to “dwell” in us can radically change our faith. This mutual exchange, this intimate communion, difficult to express in words, constitutes the true relationship of the disciple with Jesus. This is what it means to be sustained by his life-giving power.
The life which Jesus transmits to his disciples in the Eucharist is the one he himself receives from the Father, the inexhaustible source of the fullness of life, a life that is not extinguished by our biological death. That is why Jesus dares to makes this promise to his own: “ Whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
Without a doubt, the most serious sign of the crisis of the Christian faith among us is the general neglect of the Sunday Eucharist. It is painful for whoever loves Jesus to observe how the Eucharist is losing its power to draw people. But it is even more painful to see how even as a Church we witness this fact without daring to react to it. Why?
To have life in us we need to be fed by Jesus, nourished by his life giving inspiration by internalizing his attitudes and values. This is the secret and the power of the Eucharist. Only those know it who are one with him in holy communion and are sustained by his passion for the Father and his love for his children.
The language Jesus uses has great power to express his message. To whoever knows how to be fed by him, he makes this promise: Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood dwells in me, and I in him. Those nourished by the Eucharist go through the experience that their relationship with Jesus is not something external. Jesus is not a model we imitate from the outside. He nurtures our life from within.
This experience of “dwelling” in Jesus and allowing Jesus to “dwell” in us can radically change our faith. This mutual exchange, this intimate communion, difficult to express in words, constitutes the true relationship of the disciple with Jesus. This is what it means to be sustained by his life-giving power.
The life which Jesus transmits to his disciples in the Eucharist is the one he himself receives from the Father, the inexhaustible source of the fullness of life, a life that is not extinguished by our biological death. That is why Jesus dares to makes this promise to his own: “ Whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
Without a doubt, the most serious sign of the crisis of the Christian faith among us is the general neglect of the Sunday Eucharist. It is painful for whoever loves Jesus to observe how the Eucharist is losing its power to draw people. But it is even more painful to see how even as a Church we witness this fact without daring to react to it. Why?
Spread the power contained in the Eucharist
Jose Antonio Pagola, vgentza@euskalnet.net , San Sebastian, Guipuzcoa, Spain.
English Translation by Valentine de Souza S.J. Mandal, Gujarat , India.394650
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