"I am the living bread come down from heaven," Jesus tells us in today's Gospel!

Today we celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi, the Feast of the Holy Body and Blood of Christ.  In today's Gospel, John 6: 51-58, Jesus says to us:"I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." Jesus is the Bread of my life, the Sustainer of my life, the Nurturer of my life, the Strength of my life, the Hope of my life,  the Giver of all life! "Unless [I]  eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, [I] do not have life within [me]. [With those who] eat Jesus' flesh and drink of His blood[I] have eternal life [and will be raised on the lat day],"   Jesus tells me in today's Gospel.

May you and I not ever walk away from receiving this Bread of Life and cup of eternal salvation, the Blood of Christ, which is the Eucharist offered at every Catholic Mass or Liturgy.  "My flesh," says Jesus, "is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I am him/[her]. 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. [I am] the bread that came down from heaven.  ...[W]hoever eats this bread will live forever."

Hidden in that tiny wafer of bread is the God of the Universe, the Cosmic Christ, the One who rose from the dead, taking power away from the violence of death by His resurrection and ascension into heaven. Jesus transformed suffering by entering into it and continues to do so today when you and I suffer in any way!  When you and I, for instance,  hang on the cross of a terminal illness, an ugly divorce, the death of a loved one, the destruction of property, of rights, of truths that we hold dear, Jesus hangs on that very cross with us!

God is not afraid of suffering but walks with us into those places that are dangerous for us, scary for us, and abusive to us. God is right there, giving us strength, wiping our tears, and holding us in His compassionate embrace! He weeps with us and cries out in pain with us!  He knows how difficult it is to be treated unjustly, as was His only begotten Son sent into the world to show us the way  to the Father, to reveal the Father's love for us!  Yes, the Holy One, the Creator of all, knows and cares and says  when the priest hold up the Sacred Host: "This is my Body given up for you; my blood poured out for you! Take and eat; take and drink!"

The New and Eternal Covenant Given by Jesus

In the last three Gospels of this week, John 6: 44-51, John 6: 52-59 and today's, John 6: 60-69,  Jesus tells the people that He is "the living bread that came down from heaven" (Jn 6: 57). Whoever "eats this bread," Jesus says, "will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my Flesh for the life of the world" (John 6: 51).  In John 6: 52-59, the Jews are quarreling and asking: "'How can this man give us His Flesh to eat?' 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. 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 true drink. Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood remains in me and I in him'....These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum" (John6: 54-59).

In today's Gospel, John 6: 60-69, many of the disciples of stopped following Jesus, saying: "This saying is hard; who can accept it" (John 6:60)? Jesus knows what the people are quarreling about and says to them: "Does this 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, while the flesh is of no avail.  The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe" (John 6: 60-63).  To this very day many people walk away because they do  not believe the words of Jesus  concerning the Holy Eucharist celebrated by Catholics.

The Spirit that overshadowed Mary when the second person of the Blessed Trinity took on human nature is the same Spirit that overshadows the bread and wine at Mass when the priest utters the words of consecration: "This is my Body; this is my Blood". The ordinary bread and wine become the body and blood, the soul and divinity of Jesus.  Just as many of the disciples of Jesus stopped following Him when he said to them "unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink  his Blood, you do not have life within you" so, too, today do many people abandon their Catholic faith, saying: "I won't believe" or "I don't believe!"

May my faith, and yours, remain strong in Jesus' words, said by Jesus Himself in the person of the priest.  "Take  this, all of you, and eat of it, for this is my Body given up for you....Take this, all of you, and drink from it, for this is the chalice of my Blood, the Blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in memory of me" (Eucharistic Prayer II--The Word Among Us, May 2018, p. L15).