Given Catholic teaching, it is not surprising to learn that
a common accusation against early Christians was that of cannibalism. Non-Christians were not allowed to the whole
of Christian worship, but rumors spread about phrases caught like eat my flesh and drink my blood, and in some ways it’s not an outlandish accusation
but upon further scrutiny it’s just not applicable. Eating the flesh of a human being is a very
different thing than consuming the body of the living God. One reduces men to animals, the other
elevates man beyond angels.
Jesus is very clear in the sixth chapter of John’s Gospel,
his flesh is true food and his blood is true drink, “whoever eats my flesh and
drinks my blood remains in me and I will raise him up on the last day.” Sounds pretty important, right? In fact, he was so clear about it that he
lost a large number of disciples over it.
They left. This is a hard
teaching, they said, who can accept
it? Even the apostles found it difficult
to hear, but Peter in a moment of wisdom, instead of leaving, gave the perfect
response to difficult teachings, “to whom else would we go? You have the words
of eternal life.” You see, the
temptation is to take all the things we like about Jesus and run with them
glossing over that which challenges us.
When I first heard the idea, I have to admit it sounded
ridiculous, but I knew that if it were true, I could not be any closer to the
Lord than to receive him into my very being, and I knew that if it weren’t true
then Catholics were worshipping a piece of bread, and this is a very bad
idea. It turns out its true. Jesus unites himself to us through this
sacrament in a way that provides for a foretaste of Heavenly communion, the
union with God that is the goal and joy of the Christian faith isn’t something
we have to wait for, salvation isn’t something that comes after we die; eternal
life isn’t something to be hoped for only after this valley of tears but amidst
it. We live eternal life now because
Jesus is made known to us in the breaking of the bread and as he himself said,
“eternal life is knowing [God] and him whom he has sent.”
+ Br. Joseph Michael Fino, CFR
Paterson, NJ
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