John 6:51-58. I am the living bread that came down from heaven... Homily Fr. Raymond

Sunday, 19 August 2012

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 6:51-58.

I am the living bread that came down from heaven; 

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Raymond . . .
Sent: Sunday, 19 August 2012, 16:01
Subject: 

SUNDAY 20B           

Jesus said to the crowd “I am the Living Bread which has come down from Heaven.  Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever.”  We can note from this wonderful saying, first of all, that Jesus is speaking directly and explicitly of himself.  He is not speaking about some  sign or symbol of himself.  He is not speaking about somerepresentation of himself.  He is speaking purely and simply, and very explicitly, ofhimself; his own true, living self:  “I.... am the Living Bread”.  And then he tells us where He comes from, “I am the Living Bread which has come down from Heaven”   So, He immediately leads us into mystery, the great mystery, of the Son of God’s Incarnation and of his Sacramental Communion with us; His communion with all who can find the faith to believe in Him; His promised communion with all who have the humility and the courage to believe in the truth of his words; even though, like the apostles, when they first heard them, they just couldn’t understand them.  “This is a hard saying”, the crowd said “and who can believe it”, but the Apostles said “To whom shall we go?  It’s you who have the words of eternal life”.  This faith of the apostles is faith in Jesus at its deepest.  It is not to be defined as a faith in the truth of what Jesus says or in the power he displays in his miracles, but it is purely and simply a faith in Jesus;  a faith that trusts itself to him no matter what he says, no matter what he does; and indeed, eventually it would prove to be a faith  and a trust in him no matter what might happen to him.

The next thing we can note in these words is that he calls himself “Bread”, “I am The Living Bread”.  For the Jews of his day, as for ourselves to this day, the word “Bread” conjures up the idea of mankind’s basic need for subsistence.  Man must eat to live.  In calling himself “Bread” therefore, Jesus is implying that our very life depends on him; our very subsistence depends on our communion with him.  He puts this very explicitly in another phrase: “If you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man you cannot have life in you”.    The Sacrament of Holy Communion then is something that is much more than just a gift to us.  It is of course a gift, a most wonderful gift, a gift beyond price, but, for the life of our souls, for our life in the spirit, it is also so much more than just a gift.  It is an absolute necessity.  It is an absolute necessity for us if we are to stay alive at all.  “If you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man you cannot have life in you”.

We are not, all of us, capable of great spritual insights  into the riches of the eucharist.  We are not, all of us, capable of deep theological understanding of the mysteries of our faith.  We are not, all of us, capable of rising to the heights of great spirituality.  But we are, each and every one of us, no matter what our spiritual stature before God, we are all able to come to the table of the Eucharist and “take and eat” as the Lord commanded us.

“Do this in memory of me”