BREAD OF LIFE DISCOURSE
Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written:
He gave them bread from heaven to eat
Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you,
it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven;
My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.
For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven
and gives life to the world.” “
Sir, give us this bread always”
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life;
whoever comes to me will never hunger,
and whoever believes in me will never thirst.
JOHN 6:31-34
BACKGROUND
The Eucharist is one of seven Sacraments. “The sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us. the visible rites by which the sacraments are celebrated signify and make present the graces proper to each sacrament. They bear fruit in those who receive them with the required dispositions. CATECHISM OF CATHOLIC CHURCH (CCC) 1131
The Eucharist is foretold in many ways in Scripture. In the Old Testament it is the chosen people fed in the desert with manna from heaven. In the New Testament we have two miracles of multiplication of loaves and fishes to physically feed the people and the announcement of Jesus to the Samaritan woman at the well that He is the living water that gives life. In John’s Gospel chapter 6 we have the Bread of Life discourse.
When Jesus finished the Bread of Life Discourse, many of his followers left. “As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. Jesus then said to the Twelve, Do you also want to leave? Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” John 6:66
You will notice Jesus does not soften His speech or describe it in a metaphorical way or chase after those leaving and say, Wait, I was only kidding. I didn’t really mean you must eat my flesh and blood. Jesus maintains the potency of His rhetoric by asking His closest disciples if they will also leave.
A new Pew Research survey finds that most self-described Catholics don’t believe in the Real Presence in the Eucharist. In fact, nearly seven-in-ten Catholics (69%) say they personally believe that during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine used in Communion “are symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ.” Just one-third of U.S. Catholics (31%) say they believe that “during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus.”
Other religious denominations with the few exceptions of some Eastern Churches do not believe the real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist (Transubstantiation) but rather some kind of sign of Jesus being with us or a remembrance of Jesus and invitation to follow Jesus and thank Him for His act of atonement on our behalf.
CCC 1376 The Council of Trent …declares that by the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread (wheat) into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine (grape) into the substance of his blood. This change the holy Catholic Church has fittingly and properly called transubstantiation.The Church professes the whole Christ, body and blood, soul and divinity, is truly, really and substantially contained in the Sacrament of the Most Holy Eucharist.
The Priest, acting in the Person of Christ and speaking Christ’s words at the consecration, transmits Christ’s words to make His presence real in the Eucharist. Transubstantiation does no violence to the appearances of the bread and wine, but on the deepest level of their reality, they have been changed, becoming for the Church the Body and Blood of Christ.
JESUS INSTITUTES THE SACRAMENT OF THE EUCHARIST AT THE LAST SUPPER
COMMENTARY
At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his Body and Blood. This he did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until he should come again…to entrust to his beloved Spouse, the Church, a memorial of his death and resurrection…a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, and a bond of charity
The Logos (Word of God) is manifested within all creation to differing degrees. The incarnate Logos, Christ, is the fullest revelation of God that we can possess on earth. The Eucharist is the sacramental extension of the Incarnation. “Abide in me, and I in you” John 15:4. . . . I am the vine, you are the branches.” John 15:5 “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him..” John 6:54 Receiving Holy Communion unites the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church, with its head, Christ.
Inasmuch as we participate in the Eucharist, we participate in Christ’s sacrifice, and this communion with Christ in His sacrifice enables us to share communion with one another. This communion is the foundation and condition for the unity of the Church.
CONCLUSION
The Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist is a core doctrine of the Catholic Church. The meaning of Eucharist is thanksgiving. We offer it at every Mass in thanksgiving to the Father for sending us such a Savior, Divine and Human, in atonement for our sins. Eucharist first of all means thanksgiving to God for all His benefits and graces that He has accomplished through creation, redemption and sanctification.
It is highly fitting that Christ should have wanted to remain present to his Church in this unique way. Though ascending into heaven after His resurrection, Jesus wanted us to have the memorial of the love with which he loved us “to the end,” even to the giving of his life. In his Eucharistic presence he remains mysteriously in our midst as the one who loved us and gave himself up for us
The Church and the world have a great need for Eucharistic worship. Jesus awaits us in this sacrament of love. Let us not refuse the time to go to meet him in adoration, in contemplation full of faith, and open to making amends for the serious offenses and crimes of the world. Let our adoration never cease.
Just as we need to nourish our physical bodies in order to have strength; to work; and to live well, so too we need to eat in the House of the Lord to have spiritual strength; the ability to learn and understand the ways of the Lord. Nourished by this heavenly food we carry on the work of Christ and His Church.
PRAYER ST. THOMAS AQUINAS BEFORE RECEIVING THE EUCHARIST
Almighty and Eternal God, behold I come to the sacrament of your only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. As one sick I come to the Physician of life; unclean, to the Fountain of mercy; blind, to the Light of eternal splendor; poor and needy to the Lord of heaven and earth. Therefore, I beg of You, through Your infinite mercy and generosity, heal my weakness, wash my uncleanness, give light to my blindness, and enrich my poverty.
Grant, I beg of You, that I may receive not only the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of our Lord, but also its full grace and power. Most loving Father, grant that I may behold for all eternity, face to face, Your beloved Son, whom now, on my pilgrimage, I am about to receive under the sacramental veil, who lives and reigns with You, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end. Amen.
