The Gospel according to John 6: 51-58

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today Jesus makes the rather startling comment that if we do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood we will not have life in us.

The Eucharist is absolutely essential to our Christian life because it is Christ received and adored, who is our God and who gives us the life, which sustains us in the Church and sends us out in our mission of witness to Jesus in home, office, factory and school.

As we call to mind our sins, let us examine ourselves on the reverence with which we receive the Eucharist and the faith with which we show him in our daily life.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today the Lord gives us a twofold invitation. In the words of the Old Testament, an invitation to food and wine. In Jesus’ own words in the Gospel, a realisation that Jesus’ words, ‘Eat my flesh and drink my blood’ are not just metaphors.

Jesus gave himself for the life of the world and redeemed us. He gives us himself in the Eucharist. Together, as believers, we come to our Lord and we acknowledge him.

Today is the last of five Sundays when we reflect upon his gift. Whether taking the words of Saint Thomas Aquinas, “The only Son of God assumed our nature so that by becoming man he might make men gods”, he turned the whole of our nature to our salvation because he offered his body to God on the altar of the cross as a sacrifice for our reconciliation.

In order that we might always keep the memory of this great act of love he left his body as food and his blood as drink to be received under the appearances of bread and wine. This Sacrament purges away our sins, increases our virtues and nourishes our minds.

In the early Church Clement of Alexandria, Origin and Eusebius understood the bread of life to refer to the revelation of God in Jesus’ teaching. John Chrysostum, Gregory of Nicea and Cyril of Jerusalem emphasised the sacramental character of Jesus’ gift of bread from heaven. This explains the reason why the Word of God and the sacrifice and sacrament of the Eucharist are found in the Mass.

Jesus’ own words, ‘If you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man you will not have life in you’, remind us that the Eucharist is absolutely essential and our present Holy Father has stressed again and again that it is essential for Catholics to attend Sunday Mass because the Eucharist gives us life. Indeed, in his Holy Thursday letter he reminded us how the Eucharist builds up the life given in Baptism.

He says, “We can say not only that each of us receives Christ, but also that Christ receives each of us. He enters into friendship with us, ‘You are my friends’ (John 15.4). And the Eucharist brings about the abiding of Christ and each of his followers, ‘Abide in me and I in you’ John 15.4” (Ecclesia Dei Eucharistia, 22).

The Pope reminds us that in the Eucharist we are one with him as he is with the Father. We are to be one with each other and the Eucharist helps us to counter the seeds of disunity by his own unifying power.

The Pope also reminds us of the importance of adoration and the worship of the Eucharist outside of Mass. He says that it is the responsibility of the pastors of the Church to encourage also by their personal witness the practice of Eucharistic adoration and Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament because it is necessary to spend time with him and to feel Christ’s infinite love so that we can be his instruments.

Indeed, the Holy Father stresses as necessary for our time, “If in our time Christians must be distinguished above all by the art of prayer how can we not feel a renewed need to spend time in spiritual converse, in silent adoration, in heartfelt love before Christ present in the Sacrament.” (Ecclesia De Eucharistia. 25)

Even the great Saint Alphonsus Ligouri wrote that “the adoration of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is the greatest, after the Sacraments, the one dearest to God and the one most helpful to us.”

The Holy Father in these years has given us the challenge of staking everything by our union with Christ, searching for holiness so that each of us can fulfil our mission in the Church and in the world. The two-fold contact with Christ in the Mass and Holy Communion and in Adoration are both communal and personal so that they prepare all of us to appreciate the great jewel which we have in the Eucharist and which we share with others in our witness to Jesus.

What more could Jesus have done for us? Truly in the Eucharist he shows us a love which goes “to the end” (Cf. John 13:1), a love which knows no measure.

+ Denis J. Hart,
Archbishop of Melbourne.

Source: Archbishop's Homily: Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time