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In today's excerpt from
John's Bread of Life discourse Jesus describes himself as the true bread
from heaven. He told the murmuring Jews, "I myself am the living
bread come down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread he shall live
forever; the bread I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world."
While the wandering Hebrews ate the manna and died none-the-less, Jesus
promised that whoever eats his flesh, the living bread from heaven, will
live forever.
Thus he taught that his flesh is real food and whoever eats this food
will live forever. A very sophisticated theology of Eucharist is
beginning to take shape here in John's rendition of Jesus' teaching.
For us modern Christians, faith leads to baptism. It might be our faith,
it might be the faith of our parents, or guardians, but somehow, faith
brought us to receive the sacrament of baptism. Faith is the Father's
gift. "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him."
Drawn by the Father we are made members of the body of Christ at our
baptism. Because we believe, we have eternal life.
All life requires
nourishment. The spiritual life is no different. How do we grow in the
life of the Lord? We are fed at his table with his body and blood. For
those who believe, his flesh is true food, his blood true drink. Not
only are we nourished by his flesh and blood, this Eucharistic food
transforms us and we become more and more what we eat.
In his letter to the
Ephesians Paul describes the behaviors we must avoid in order not to
grieve the Holy Spirit. Instead Paul urges us to imitate God's way of
love, loving others as Christ has loved us. Jesus feeds us with his
flesh and blood so that we may become even more like him. In what ways
has your Sunday participation in Eucharist transformed you? Has it
had an impact on your life outside of church?
Would you experience hunger and spiritual starvation if the Eucharist
were taken from you?
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