Catechism Links[1]
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| “The Institution of the Eucharist” by Joos van Wassenhove, 1473-75 |
Commentary:
This reading is taken from the second address of Moses to the Hebrews. This section of the address can be called “an appeal to remembrance” since Moses is recounting all that God had done for them since they were led out of Egypt. The focus of these verses is on the feeding of the people with manna (see Exodus16; 4-16). Jesus also quoted this passage “…not by bread alone does one live” (see Matthew4:4). Beyond manna, Moses also recalls the saraph staff (see Numbers21; 5-9), and water drawn from the rock at Horeb (see Exodus17; 2-6).
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R. (12) Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Psalm 147 is a hymn of praise. In these strophes, the singer celebrates God’s gifts to his people, the gift of faith to the patriarch Jacob, and the gift of His presence in the holy city Jerusalem. These strophes are from the third section (each section offering praise for a different gift from God to his special people). This section focuses on the gift of the Promised Land with Jerusalem as its spiritual center. We see the call to praise Jerusalem, the Holy City, because in it was revealed the Word of God and a call to holiness. The Lord is praised for sending food that sustains the people. The final strophe also rejoices that the Law was handed on to them through Jacob.
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Although this is part of a comparison being brought between Christ’s sacrifice and idolatry, what is given here expresses the unity forged through the Eucharist, the only true sacrifice. The Blood of Christ and the Body of Christ shared in communion unites us spiritually and physically and we become that living Body of Christ on earth, the Church, through Jesus.
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The “Bread of Life” discourse continues and the Lord escalates his language. The people who had come to him because they had been fed with the five barley loaves just cannot make the leap from bread made from wheat or barley to the Bread of Life offered as true food and drink for the spirit. Even when he uses Manna as an example of real food they still do not see that the Son of God offers them his resurrected body as their meal and they are repulsed – especially because of the language he uses (Jesus uses the word gnaw not just eat in the original texts.).
CCC: Jn 6 1338; Jn 6:51 728, 1355, 1406, 2837; Jn 6:53-56 2837; Jn 6:53 1384; Jn 6:54 994, 1001, 1406, 1509, 1524; Jn 6:56 787, 1391, 1406; Jn 6:57 1391; Jn 6:58 1509
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Reflection:
“1323 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, and so to entrust to his beloved Spouse, the Church, a memorial of his death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a Paschal banquet ‘in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.[5]”
This definition from the Catechism of the Catholic Church describes the “why” of our celebration of the Eucharist. St. John’s Gospel describes what that meal truly was. Rather than trying to express this in our own words we once again rely on the Catechism to do that;
1374 The mode of Christ's presence under the Eucharistic species is unique. It raises the Eucharist above all the sacraments as "the perfection of the spiritual life and the end to which all the sacraments tend."201 In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist "the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained."202 "This presence is called 'real' - by which is not intended to exclude the other types of presence as if they could not be 'real' too, but because it is presence in the fullest sense: that is to say, it is a substantial presence by which Christ, God and man, makes himself wholly and entirely present. 203"[6]
All of this understanding comes from millennia of prayer, reflection, and reliance on the Holy Spirit. Faith-filled people throughout our history have gazed in awe at the Most Holy Sacrament and have been transformed by it as it was transubstantiated for us. It started as simple bread and wine and through Christ’s promise becomes the bread from heaven and the blood of our Savior, poured out for us.
There are those who do not believe in the miracle that occurs. There are many, even those who say they take what is written in the Holy Bible literally, who cannot accept that Jesus, who tells the people “For my flesh is true food,” left us his remarkable essence to unite us with God.
Today we celebrate the gift once more. We pray for those who struggle with their faith and are unable to accept the wondrous gift. Today we find ourselves in awe of the love of Christ which is beyond all understanding. And today we once more we approach the Lord’s Table in abject humility; amazed that one so perfect could embrace us in such a way.
Pax
[1] Catechism links are taken from the Homiletic Directory, Published by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 29 June 2014
[2] The picture used today is “The Institution of the Eucharist” by Joos van Wassenhove, 1473-75
[3] S.S.Commemoratio
[5] Catechism of the Catholic Church number 1323
[6] Footnotes within the text of the Catechism of the Catholic Church refer to the following:
201 St. Thomas Aquinas, STh III,73,3c.
202 Council of Trent (1551): DS 1651.
203 Paul VI, MF 39.
203 Paul VI, MF 39.
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