Thought of the Day June 10, 2020 Jesus and the Eucharist
What did Jesus teach about the
Eucharist? “I am the bread of life.
Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never
thirst....Your fathers ate manna in the desert, and they died. This is the
bread which descends from heaven, so that if anyone will eat from it, he may
not die. I am the living bread, who descended from heaven. If anyone eats from
this bread, he shall live in eternity. And the bread that I will give is my
flesh, for the life of the world.” (John 6:35, 49-52)
The response of the Jews was the
response of reason, not of faith. They debated among themselves, saying, “How
can this man give us his flesh to eat?” (John 6:53) This was the stumbling
block for them and for others, even in our own day. Last year in a Pew Research Center report it stated that only one-third of Catholics believe that the Eucharist is the actual Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.These Catholics could not put their
faith In Jesus, like the people of his own day.
When the Jews of his day bulked at
the words of Jesus concerning giving his
flesh to eat, he immediately affirmed what he had said. In fact, Jesus doesn’t
qualify his previous statement but instead he gave greater emphasis and
insistence to what he had already said. “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the
flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you will not have life in you.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise
him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. Just as
the living Father has sent me and I live because of the Father, so also whoever
eats me, the same shall live because of me. This is the bread that descends
from heaven. It is not like the manna that your fathers ate, for they died.
Whoever eats this bread shall live forever.” (John 6:54-59)
Is this what we believe without question?
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