John 6:51-58 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time August 18, 2024 “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”
Luke 1:39-56 Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary August 15, 2024 And so, to concretize the faith in the tradition that has been practiced since the 6th century, on November 1, 1950 Pope Pius XII declared the Assumption of Mary as a dogma of the Church
August 15, 2024
John 6:60-69 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time August 25, 2024 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. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”
August 24, 2024
20th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Proverbs 9:1-6
Ephesians 5:15-20
John 6:51-58
A. Text/Context
• The 1st reading in Proverbs and the 2nd reading in Ephesians and as well as the gospel all talk to us about the bread and the wine
• Among the 4 gospels: that of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the gospel of John is the most difficult to understand because John uses many signs and symbolisms in his writings
• And in the gospel today, Jesus speaks to the people that he is the living bread that came down from heaven
• Whoever eats this bread will live forever. The people cannot understand this. And the worst that Jesus said is that the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world
• Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood will have eternal life
• Judaism forbids food with blood and during this time many have stopped following Jesus
• Remember that in the beginning Jesus has 72 disciples and in the end only the so-called 12 apostles have remained steadfast and loyal to the teachings of jesus
• But the gospel today ends with a comparison: unlike your ancestors who ate manna in the desert and yet they still die, whoever eats this bread will live forever
• This is the bread of life that Jesus is talking about. This is the body of Christ which we always receive during the Holy Communion in the form of a host
B. Human Situation
• Why is it that the little white host that we receive is known as the bread of life?
• This is one of the many mysteries that we have in our Christian faith and it is an essential part of our faith that we must believe that Jesus is present in the little host that we take during communion
• We cannot question this mystery, we cannot refute this mystery that the communion host is the bread of life because Jesus said so
• He himself said in the Last Supper that this is my body. Who are we then to question the very words of Jesus?
• That is why it is a mystery of our faith, it is the essential portion of our Christian faith to believe that Jesus is the bread of life
• With that, many have turned cold in the faith. It was understandable in the NT times because the people do not have the pre-requisite of a Catechism just like what we have today before the children can receive their 1st communion
• And even today it is really very difficult to explain why is it that the white host or the bread and wine change into the flesh and blood of our Lord during consecration
• And in fact, nobody among us can understand why the bread and the wine is changed into the body and blood of Jesus during consecration in what we call in theology as the transubstantiation
• Again, it is the body and blood of Jesus because Jesus said so
• And there are many miracle stories that will tell us that the bread and wine is really the real body and blood of Jesus. One of these is the famous Eucharistic miracle that happened in Lanciano, Italy
• A long time ago in Lanciano, Italy there was this priest who doubted that the Eucharist is the real body and blood of Jesus
• What happened is that during the mass the Eucharist literally changed into flesh floating in blood. And the priest was so shocked he swore never to doubt again
• Until now this piece of miracle is still in Lanciano, Italy. The flesh and blood have remained uncorrupted even with the passage of hundreds of years already and this is visited by thousands of pilgrims every year
• And throughout the centuries and until today the body and blood of Jesus have been subjected to batteries of scientific testing just to prove if it is the real body and blood of Jesus
• And what do they discover is even more astonishing! The scientists have found out that the flesh and blood really comes from a human being
• The flesh is a portion of a human heart and the blood is type AB
• You see, the famous miracle of the Eucharist has transcended even beyond the rigors of modern scientific testing
• And there are hundreds of many other miracles stories that the Eucharist is the real body and blood of Jesus
• There is also a case somewhere in Europe that an unbeliever has desecrated the monstrance where the Eucharist is stored for veneration
• The man thinks that the people are crazy believing that the Eucharist is really Jesus
• So that when he was alone he desecrated the host and what happened real blood flowed without control so that it reached up to the main doors of the cathedral
• Way back in 1917 in Fatima, Lucia, Jacinta, and Francisco witnessed the host and the chalice suspended in the air where blood flowed coming from the host dripping into the chalice
• That would all mean that the host as the body of Jesus already contains the blood component
• If we are wounded blood comes out. That is why if we take communion with the bread alone as a single species it is already at the same time the body and blood of Jesus because of the blood component
• From time to time God sends these miracles to prove that the Eucharist is the real body and blood of Jesus in order to dispel our doubts of the real presence of Jesus in the bread and wine
• But as a real Christian, albeit as real Catholics, we really do not need miracles in order just to simply believe
• It already suffices to believe that the Eucharist is the real body and blood of our Lord Jesus
• The Eucharist is to be understood in the eyes of faith. The bland taste of the host we receive will even be less meaningful if we will not understand the Eucharist in the eyes of faith
C. Challenge
• My brothers and sisters, this is where the challenge of the gospel today lies that we continue to believe from the deepest recess of our hearts that Jesus is present in the Eucharist
• That the Eucharist is the bread of life that gives life to the world
• It gives life to our lives as Christians because if we receive Jesus that means that we believe in him and our sins are forgiven
• Many of our sins are forgiven during the mass because the Eucharist has made it possible
• As we continue to receive the Eucharist in all the years to come, it must deepen our love and faith to our Lord
• And the most important thing, it must deepen our love to our neighbors, it must deepen our commitment to forgive the sins of others because the benchmark of a true Christian is how much he or she is able to love his or her neighbor
• Let it be that as we continue to receive the Eucharist, it will be a communion of love, glory, and salvation
• Let it not be that it will be a communion of condemnation. In this way, the Eucharist, will really become the bread of life in our life as Christians
Tap or click to download
