“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
Let us be honest with ourselves. If Jesus were to stand before us now and repeat what he told his followers, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you;… for my flesh is food and my blood is drink.” How many of us, starting from the Church hierarchy, will accept that? This is without the understanding we have now?
It looks ordinary when we read it these days because we have better understanding of the body and blood of Jesus in the Eucharist. However, I believe that majority of us would have done the same or even worse than the people of Jesus’ time.
Even as we understand today the mystery of the body and blood of Jesus in the Eucharist, so many Christians are still doubtful of the true presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.
This includes even some clergies who are the main protagonist of the mystery of the body and blood of Jesus.
It was for this reason that the Eucharistic miracle occurred in Lanciano Italy when a priest doubted the true presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. The consecrated host turned into flesh and was bringing out blood. This miracle occurred to make us understand that the Eucharist is truly the body and blood of Jesus.
Coming to the reason why it was somewhat shocking to the people who heard Jesus say you must eat his body and drink his blood for the first time. we read that “The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, ‘how can this man give us his flesh to eat?’”
However, two groups of people emerged from this understanding of eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Jesus.
The first group is those who did not understand the mystery of the word incarnate and therefore understand Jesus just as Son of Joseph and Mary.
The second group are those who believed and must have deepened their faith as they heard Jesus teach so clearly and profoundly.
But when Jesus talked about eating his flesh and drinking of his blood what was he talking about?
First, Jesus was speaking about the Eucharist. And Jesus made us understand that Eucharist is truly His Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity.
Secondly, The Eucharist is a profound mystery of faith and those who are without faith and without a basic understanding of the Eucharist, this teaching was senseless and unteachable.
Third, since our deepest connection with Eucharist is of spiritual nature, we must listen to Jesus’ words with the spiritual gift of understanding so that we are not among those who are confused.
Fourthly, we must be open to gift of the Holy Spirit that opens our minds to the deep spiritual truths Jesus is revealing. If we attempt to listen to this teaching using our human reason alone, we will never understand.
What happens to us each time we approach the altar to receive the Eucharist?
1. We must prepare ourselves remembering that he who is coming into us truly is Jesus Christ, it’s not bread or wine but the true flesh and blood of Jesus.
2. We must have a deep spiritual hunger and thirst for God, receive Him in faith, love Him deeply as we consume Him.
How do we approach Eucharist?
We pray that Almighty God may bless us and protect us from evil through Christ our Lord Amen.
Have a good and wonderful Sunday.
Rev. Fr. Anene is the Parish Priest of Church of the Archangel, Gaduwa, Abuja.
