The Holy Eucharist is at the root of all holiness. How many saints have advanced to holiness through the Eucharist? Holiness has always found its center in the Eucharist. Today we are celebrating the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ. God recognizes the fact that we are material beings in embodied souls. God uses sensible signs to lead us to spiritual realities. This time, God did not just use a sign or symbol. Jesus offered bread and wine and turned it into His own body and blood. We remember the Holy Eucharist models, martyrs and saints who discovered the secret in the Body and Blood of Christ. We can not live without the Holy Eucharist. It is only through it that we can cope with the toil and exhaustion of this life journey. God is the source of every good thing and He pours it out on us from the moment of creation up to the present time. When we receive the bread and wine turned into the body and blood of Christ during the mass, He becomes a part of us. It is a call to love Him and be attached to Him. This invitation of God to all of us is not exclusive and in fact has already been started since the time of Genesis at the time of Abraham in today's 1st reading. Amen. Hallelujah!
Book of Deuteronomy 8,2-3.14-16.
…He therefore let you be afflicted with hunger, and then fed you with manna, a food unknown to you and your fathers, in order to show you that not by bread alone does man live, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of the LORD. 14 Do not forget the LORD, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery; 15 who guided you through the vast and terrible desert with its saraph serpents and scorpions, its parched and waterless ground; who brought forth water for you from the flinty rock 16 and fed you in the desert with manna, a food unknown to your fathers.”
No matter what we're going through we can always rely on God to uphold and defend our cause. If we claim to be true followers and believers of our Lord Jesus Christ then we can put a claim on these same blessings and privileges bestowed on the chosen people of God. His covenant with His people is everlasting. There is a big difference between a covenant and contract. A contract is an agreement which is all about an exchange of goods while the covenant is an exchange of relationships. God wants to have a relationship with us first and foremost and through it everything else will follow. No poet, writer or artist can ever describe in words or paint in canvass the love of God. For the immensity of its beauty and glory is immeasurable and beyond understanding. The readings for today point to the fact that we have a responsibility in our hands if we truly claim that we are a people of God. We have to follow and obey God at all times which can only be done and fulfilled if we have full knowledge of what God wants us to do. We’ve got to realize the most essential and important things in life that we sometimes lose sight of and tend to neglect. Let us not be dissuaded nor distracted by the allurement of this world and end up losing what really matters most. Our God is Perfect but we are still part of this imperfect world thus we are bound to experience the daily struggles of life. This reminds me of this incident when this lady who was already very careful in her movements still ended up scraped in her arm. She didn't even figure out how it could have happened. When we bump into something we usually develop a bruise but we would sometimes find one without knowing how it came to be. We sometimes get wounded and bruised even before we know it. Take the example of those people who are taking medications (anticoagulants) that predispose them to bruise easily. Well, things happen even if we do not want or expect it but we can always draw strength and inspiration from today's psalm knowing that God is our Mighty Healer and Savior. There are times when we are in a hurry to work things out on our own and forget to peacefully surrender all our concerns to God. That's when we end up tired and beaten because we've used up all the energy of our mind, body and soul. It's what usually happens to most of us when we are confronted with dilemmas. If we have learned how to truly wait for the Lord then we are not far from that place of peace where God is leading us. If we look back at what we've been through especially our trials and difficulties, then we can only feel so blessed and find gratitude in our hearts for all the things that lead to now. It will always be good to undergo trials and hardships in life and remain steadfast in the Lord for everything will pay off in the end. Not a single thing that we've been through for the glory of God will ever be in vain. Victory is indeed for those who acknowledge the Son Of God, Jesus Christ. It is only right that we give all glory, honor and praise to God. Amen. Hallelujah!
Psalms 147,12-13.14-15.19-20.
R: Praise the Lord, Jerusalem .
...Glorify the LORD, Jerusalem; Zion, offer praise to your God, Who has strengthened the bars of your gates, blessed your children within you, Brought peace to your borders, and filled you with finest wheat. The LORD sends a command to earth; his word runs swiftly!... (R) 19 He has proclaimed his word to Jacob, his statutes and his ordinances to Israel . 20 He has not done thus for any other nation; his ordinances he has not made known to them.
What a strong statement from Paul in today's 2nd reading. He reminds us not to become 2 face or in tagalog "doble kara" We've got to make a stand on which side we really are. Sometimes we have this notion that we can continue doing what we do even if there is something wrong with it and just compensate by offsetting it with something good. Eventually things will toll up on us and would have to make a stand so that we don't end up losing everything. We must consider everything that we do as an offering to God just like bread and wine. We offer to the Lord the work of our hands and consider it a communion and participation in the Body & Blood of Christ. We go through life without realizing this truth in today's 2nd reading. We end up missing the whole point and not reaping the benefits that we are supposed to get from it.
The Bread of Life should be understood literally and sacramentally. If we are to read the previous gospel from John we would see that Jesus makes a noticeable shift and used the verb "eats", "drinks" and "feeds". The reaction of His followers in the gospel of John 6 explain and attest to this. Jesus really meant it when He said to eat and drink His blood. It is indeed a very hard teaching that we ought to accept and believe. Take note of John 6:66 (which has the #666) " As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him." We need to be clear of this truth and be united with Christ in Holy Communion. We must receive with the proper disposition for this to take effect in our soul. Anyone aware of mortal sin and receives Communion is receiving unworthily. We must receive worthily otherwise we are putting judgment on ourselves as St. Paul says"...whoever eats in an unworthy manner is guilty of profaning our Lord..., he who eats and drinks without discerning brings judgment upon himself..." (1 Corinthians 11:29) We have to receive Christ in a state of grace. According to St. Justin, no one may take part in the Bread and Wine, the Eucharist unless he believes what the Church teaches is true and lives in keeping with what Christ taught. Unworthy Communion is a sacrilege. It outrages God more than all other mortal sins because it attacks not just the 10 Commandments but the Person of Jesus Christ. It is a profanation, crucifies Jesus Christ in our hearts and brings to ourselves chastisement. It is a greater crime than in Mt. Calvary
First Letter to the Corinthians 10,16-17.
...Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf...
If we've become too knowledgeable and badly influenced by this world then time will come when we'll find ourselves totally convinced of its ideals and truths. It would come to a point whether we like it or not when we'll find it hard to accept what God is telling us. We'll end up proclaiming one truth about God but end up doing something contrary to it. There is a battle being waged at all times for the pledge of our allegiance and we constantly and continuously become disloyal to God by not totally committing ourselves to Him. If we do not keep watch then we'll also find ourselves like the Jews in today's gospel. We have to be totally convinced of the entire truth of who God is, what God can do and how God can work in our life. Nowadays, people are starting to become more health conscious. We are very cautious of the kind of food we eat so that we can properly care for and maintain our physical body. We should have the same attitude when it comes to our spiritual well being. Today's gospel in St. John is a very hard teaching. We have to accept, believe and not walk away. The truths of the faith can only be taught and understood if we have received the Holy Spirit. The gospel reveals more and more passages pointing to the Mystery of the Trinity and the Holy Eucharist especially the oneness of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. St. Francis of Assisi is a saint that is well known and admired for his holiness during his time and up to this present day. It was said that for his way of life he followed the words of Jesus in the Synoptics (Gospel of Matthew, Mark and Luke) but it is in the Gospel of St. John that he patterned his spiritual life and manner of prayer. His prayers to God sounded as if he were Jesus Christ speaking to God the Father Himself. Our prayer should be identified with Jesus our Savior. We need to have a profound love of the Eucharist and be united and transformed by Holy Communion. In the feeding of the 5,000, those who were hungry were satisfied. The faith required of the believer is more than just being fed physically and satisfied but has to go beyond it. How long will we be hard of heart? The nature of Jesus’ death on Calvary is a sacrifice. All Christians recognize this sacrifice as a mystery. That Jesus offered His life on the cross as a supreme sacrifice but most Christians don’t realize how difficult it would have been for 1st century Jewish Christians to come to that conclusion. Why? If we were there on Calvary on Good Friday even the most devout Jewish disciples would have been unable to describe that experience as a sacrifice because for them there’s really nothing more to it than a Roman execution. It took place outside of the walls of Jerusalem , far from the place where there were no burnt offerings, odors and no priests and thus there is no sacrifice. And yet in one generation all Christians came to conclude that indeed what Jesus suffered on the cross was the supreme sacrifice. How did they reach such a conclusion? Only by looking at Good Friday in a light of what Jesus did on Maundy Thursday. When He instituted the Eucharist He didn’t simply celebrate the feast of the Passover He established the Passover of the New Covenant and it was more than just words. He took bread and said, this is my body which is given up for you and then he took the chalice and spoke about how this blood of the new and everlasting covenant will be poured out for the remission of sins do this in remembrance of me. Was this just a rhetoric and ritual or is there a reality and truth to what Jesus said and did? The proof that Jesus really gave us His body and allowed his blood to be poured out for the remission of sins is precisely given to us there on the cross. But the nature of Jesus’ death on the cross is illuminated as a sacrifice only by retracing and looking at it in the light of the Passover of the new covenant. The Eucharist and Calvary are inseparable. There are 2 sides to the same sacrifice. Jesus shows us that in His death He did not lose His life for in the Eucharist He already made His life a gift of love. This love is what conquers death and the conquest of death is what occurs on Good Friday. As Catholics we have a lot to teach other Christians who do not understand the mystery of the Mass. For indeed it’s the Eucharist that illuminates the mystery of Jesus’ death as a sacrifice just as Jesus’ death shows us that the Eucharist is more than just mere ritual but is the mystery of Jesus high priestly act of self giving love. God is humbling Himself daily in the altar in the hands of the priest. As we see bread and wine with bodily eyes we should see it as the Holy Body and Blood, living and true while we remember what He said in the scripture, "Behold, I am with you even to the end of the world." We should be always reminded of how blessed we are that we can eat the body of Christ and drink of His blood everyday if we will it during the daily masses being offered throughout the world. There is nothing more rewarding than being able to attend Holy Mass and receive the Holy Communion everyday. For those who are unable to do this, we ask God for the grace to be able to do so and for those who are already enjoying this special privilege may they cherish every moment and continue to persevere. Nothing can beat this bread, tastes so delicious and filling to the soul! Thanks to God for the Most Blessed Sacrament. Amen. Hallelujah!
John 6:51-58
“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." The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “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 is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. 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. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
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