A reading from the gospel according to John 6:52-59:
52 The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his Flesh to eat?”
53 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.
54 Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.
55 For my Flesh is true food, and my Blood is true drink.
56 Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood remains in me and I in him.
57 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.
58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
59 These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
Reflection: Jesus gives Himself to us.
Jesus is the incarnate Son of God. In Him, the word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). In Him, the physical and the spiritual became one. That is why in many of His discourses, we can catch such terms as being born again and living water where the physical acquires a spiritual meaning.
In the gospel reading above, Jesus spoke of eating His flesh and drinking His blood. This came as shocking to His listeners who thought Jesus considered them as cannibals. Yet Jesus was just trying to concretize His teachings and His service. If He is the Word that became flesh, then putting the Word within the deepest part of our being is the same as eating physical form that can be absorbed by our cells in order for us to continue existing.
Jesus is not content in dwelling among us. He wants us to make Him part of our DNA. If we are to remain in Him, why can’t we make Him enter every part of our physical self? If eating food and drinking water can sustain our physical body then having Jesus as our daily food can sustain our spiritual wellbeing. In short, without Jesus, we have no life (John 6:57). That is why whenever we receive Jesus during Holy Communion, we allow Him to nourish us as we journey towards His kingdom.
The Eucharist is indeed a great mystery. Though Jesus has ascended unto heaven, our participation in the Eucharistic celebration makes us feel His real presence. In faith, we are made present during the last supper when Jesus Himself commanded His apostles to do it in remembrance of Him. Moreover, participating in this celebration makes us one community or one family.
When we receive the body and blood of Jesus, He becomes truly present in our physical self so that anyone who looks at us will be looking at Jesus Himself, not any different when Jesus said that anyone who has seen Him has seen the Father. For some people, this is quite very idealistic. Yet this is the vision of Jesus – that in our whole being, He is alive!
And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit.
(2 Corinthians 3:18) Thanks Roy💕
You bring out a point that to me is of crucial importance for any Christian to contemplate deeply upon!
I had written something along these lines with a lot more because of a horrid confrontation that was directed at me by other Christians and to me this is indicative of the breakdown of our Lord’s Church that’s been raging since shortly after it was formed.
The temple was the Synagogue where the Jewish Pharisees who conspired against Jesus were using the Old Testament and the old ways were to be replaced with the New Church of Christ after his death and resurrection, and eating His Body and Blood are required and proper Sacraments which He instructed Peter the cornerstone of the New and Everlasting Church Covenant to build for His Church family of believers! Some immediately did what Christ instructed much of it having to be hidden from the Pharisees and the Roman Emperor.
So division has existed for the entire time since Christ’s crucifixion and it still does now! This only proves that point! Rebellion is of the Devil and that is pure truth! If we don’t do the right thing in these serious basic precepts of the Church then we will be in transgression of God Almighty for not accepting the Body and Blood of Christ on the cross and in essence blaspheming God! We can be sure that when Jesus told Peter to build His church there was no Bible or many issues or interpretations of the Scriptures for the mostly illiterate masses of that period of history to read “the word” as your article points out was Anne’s big thing that only that meant anything, but instead there was the “Consecrated Body and Blood of Christ” the Holy Eucharist that the Apostles were to do in remembrance and practice by faith that they are eating the Body and Blood of Christ, which is a first and foremost Holy Sacrament without which you miss the whole point of having God’s Church on earth.
https://lawrencemorra.com/2020/05/31/the-grace-of-god-produces-unity-and-the-disciples-of-jesus-experience-this-concretely-at-pentecost/
But who am I but just another sinner; although I’m one who wants to see anyone who is a Christian; making certain that he or she doesn’t run amuck! Amen.
God bless.
Shalom
Brother in Christ Jesus,
Lawrence Morra III