NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Today’s discourse on the Eucharist begins with Jesus’ words “I am the bread of life” which we had in the last Sunday. As the discourse continued Jesus ended up with further explanation. Let us listen again to his remarkable words, “I am the bread of life…that comes 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.” There is no wonder that the Jews grumbled among themselves, saying “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? How can he claim to have come down from heaven? Then came the simple direct statement, a declaration which contains a truth which is essential to our catholic faith, a pronouncement which was promoted by the loving concern of our all good God, a proclamation of a doctrine which men and women throughout the centuries have given their lives in martyrdom to uphold a promise which reveals the beautiful hearts of Christ. Jesus said, “The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”
Jesus fulfilled his promise on the night before he died. For his apostles and for all the generations that have followed them and will follow them until the end of the world, he instituted the Holy Eucharist. The bread we receive is the body of Jesus that hung upon the cross, broken and bruised and has given for the life of the world. It is the resurrected, transformed and glorified body of Jesus.
Here in the church we are fed with the very body and blood of Jesus Christ. Here is where we make contact with the Jesus of gospels, the Jesus of History, the Jesus who is the center of our church. Here he comes with all the graces and strengths we need, in our own personal way for our individual journey of life.
Rich and poor, saints and sinners, people of every race and culture have been called to the table of the Lord. How happy are those who have been so invited, how blessed have been those who have responded in faith. The bread and the wine which are the out ward appearances of the Eucharist may seem too ordinary, too simple in the eyes of many, but people of faith see that we have been given a great gift from God through his Son.
When we pray for our daily bread, we ask not only for the food that will sustain us on this earth but for the heavenly nourishment which will lead us to everlasting life. Make no mistake. Keep to your Catholic faith. The bread that Christ gives is his flesh for the life of the world.
