Jesus, the Bread of Life!

In today's  Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples that He is the Bread of Life come down from heaven and whoever comes to Him will never be hungry and whoever believes in Him will never thirst (John 6:24)!  In John 6:52-57)  He says to us: "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 east my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him."   Hearing this, many of the disciples stopped following him.

It is not uncommon for many Catholics to walk away from the Eucharist, no longer believing that the bread and wine are changed by the Holy Spirit into the body and blood, the soul and divinity of Christ at the consecration of the Mass!  Some walk away for other reasons!  Jesus, I believe, says to them what he said to those who walked away when Jesus made the above statement: "'Does this (for whatever reason one walked away from the Eucharist) shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life--and it is the Spirit that changes bread and wine into Christ at the consecration), while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you (through the priest at the consecration of the Mass) are spirit and life. But there are some of you who  do not believe.'   ....Jesus then turned to the Twelve, 'Do you also want to leave?' Simon Peter answered him, 'Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.'"

If God removed the veil from our eyes, we would see that the priest truly is Christ and it is Christ who says to us at the moment of the consecration: Take and eat; this is my body. Take and drink; this is my blood poured out for you!"  From that, through the grace of God,  I cannot and will not walk away!  For me, the  Mass is where we do, in memory of Jesus, what He did on Calvary: gave His all for us so that we, in turn, can give our all to others in love. And I need to be fed, nourished, strengthened and purified by "true food," the Eucharist, every day,  for that reason.

Institution of two sacraments: The Eucharist and Ordination

[O]n the night he was handed over, [Jesus] took bread and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, 'This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood.  Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.' For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup,  you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes."

In those words, Jesus instituted two sacraments: the sacrament of the Eucharist and the sacrament of Ordination.  The apostles that night, were ordained priests and entrusted with doing in remembrance of Jesus what Jesus did: changed the bread into His body and the wine into His blood.  "Do this in remembrance of me."  At every Mass, the priest consecrates the bread and wine and says to us: "Take and eat; this is the body of Jesus given up for you and the blood of Jesus poured out for you. Yes, at every Mass, when we receive Holy Communion, we "eat this bread and drink the cup...[proclaiming] the death of the Lord until he comes."  

In the responsorial psalm for tonight's Mass, we pray:  ""How shall I make a return to the Lord for all the good he has done for me? The cup of salvation I will take up, and I will call upon the name of the Lord....To you will I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving, and I will call upon there name of the Lord.  My vows to the Lord I will pay in the presence of all his people." We do that at the Mass!