6/11/2023 (Sunday) Today’s gospel reading: John 6:51-58

51 Jesus said to the Jewish crowds: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live for ever. The bread that I will give him is my flesh, which I give so that the world may live.”
52 This started an angry argument among them. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” they asked.
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 The living Father sent me, and because of him I live also. In the same way whoever eats me will live because of me.
58 This, then, is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the bread that your ancestors ate. They later died, but those who eat this bread will live for ever.”

6/11/2023 (Sunday) Today’s gospel reflection: John 6:51-58

On the night before His passion and death, Jesus instituted the Holy Eucharist where He transformed bread and wine into His Body and Blood, shared them with His disciples and instructed them to do it in remembrance of Him. The Apostles did as they were instructed as we can read in the epistle of Saint Paul thus, “For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 11:23-27)

The Eucharist therefore is a celebration of the real presence of Jesus in the community and in ourselves. In this way, Jesus does not only live among His people. By receiving Him in the Eucharist, He comes to live within our bodies. He becomes an integral part of ourselves. We become one with Jesus. We become the Body of Jesus! Let that sink in. Jesus is truly alive in our muscles and blood vessels. He truly remains in us and we remain in Him (John 6:56). This adds meaning to the words of Saint Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)

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Jesus has given Himself, both body and blood, to us. Let us then give ourselves in service to others. We don’t receive Jesus for ourselves but that we ought to follow His commands and examples. If Christ truly lives in us, let others see it by our sacrificial love to humanity.

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