John 6:51-58

Proverbs 9:1-6

Psalm 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7

Ephesians 5:15-20

John 6:51-58

Jesus said to the crowds:

“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.”

The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying,

“How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

Jesus said to them,

"Amen, amen, I say to you,

unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,

you do not have life within you.

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood

has eternal life,

and I will raise him on the last day.

For my flesh is true food,

and my blood is true drink.

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood

remains in me and I in him.

Just as the living Father sent me

and I have life because of the Father,

so also the one who feeds on me

will have life because of me.

This is the bread that came down from heaven.

Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died,

whoever eats this bread will live forever."

Opening Prayer: Lord God, I greatly desire to live forever. I know that this life is a test and that I can choose for you or against you. I have heard the words of your Son and I welcome them, just as I welcome him in the Eucharist. Help me to always remain in him.

Encountering the Word of God

1. The Bread of Life Discourse as a Dialogue: We have been reading from the Bread of Life Discourse in the Gospel of John for several Sundays. The Bread of Life Discourse is not a monologue. It is a dialogue – a back-and-forth between the crowds and Jesus. Jesus challenges the crowds and, in turn, the crowds ask Jesus many questions. When Jesus challenges them to work for the food that endures for eternal life, the crowds ask how they can accomplish the words of God (John 6:27-28). When Jesus challenges them to believe in him, they ask him for a sign, a sign greater than the manna in the desert (John 6:30). When Jesus promises that God will give them the true bread that gives life, they ask for the bread (6:34). In response, Jesus identifies himself and his flesh as the Bread of Life, the bread that gives eternal life (6:48-51). Today’s Gospel contains the response of the crowds, who began to quarrel about how exactly Jesus could give them his flesh to eat. Each time the crowds ask a question, Jesus answers it and tries to bring them more deeply into the mystery of the Eucharist.

2. Eating Jesus’ Flesh and Drinking His Blood: How Jesus will give his flesh as food and his blood as drink will become clearer at the Last Supper when Jesus transforms and brings to fulfillment the Passover sacrifice and meal. But even in his response to the crowd’s question about how he will give his flesh as food, we can discern the revelation of the mystery of the Eucharist. First, Jesus says that they need to eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man. The title, “Son of Man,” points the crowd to the prophesy of Daniel. By referring to this prophecy about this mysterious divine and human figure, Jesus, indicates to them that he is not asking them to cannibalize his earthly flesh. “Instead, the meal he will give is ‘not the physical flesh of the earthly Jesus, but the Spirit-filled flesh and blood of the heavenly Son of man.’ In other words, the heavenly Son of Man will give heavenly, rather than ordinary, food and drink” (Pitre, Jesus and the Last Supper, 204). Second, drinking blood is connected to sharing in and receiving life and to making atonement for sin. Therefore, if Jesus’ disciples want to share in the eternal life he is offering, then have to partake not only of his body but also of his blood. “In so doing, they will be empowered to receive the eternal life of the messianic Son of man, whose flesh and blood will be given precisely in order to atone for sin – i.e., ‘for the life of the world’ (John 6:51)” (Pitre, Jesus and the Last Supper, 205). Third, eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking his blood is connected to the resurrection from the dead: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:54). This alludes to Isaiah’s prophesy of an eschatological banquet followed by bodily resurrection (Isaiah 25:4-8). The food and drink that Jesus gives is a kind of pledge of bodily resurrection: “The messianic Son of man will not only receive an everlasting kingdom, as in Daniel; he will also give everlasting life and bodily resurrection to those who partake of the eschatological banquet. And this eschatological banquet will consist of nothing other than his own flesh and blood” (Pitre, Jesus and the Last Supper, 209). Jesus promises real food and drink. And so, when the crowds ask: “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” (John 6:52), Jesus responds: I will not give you ordinary food and drink or ordinary flesh and blood. I will give you miraculous food and drink. I will give you the flesh and blood of the Son of Man under the form of true food and true drink (Pitre, Jesus and the Last Supper, 211).

3. Eating Wisdom’s Food and Drinking Wisdom’s Drink: In the First Reading, taken from the Book of Proverbs, God’s wisdom is presented as a noble and elegant woman who invites everyone to a feast that bestows both wisdom and life. In Proverbs, the image of feasting and eating the food and drink that wisdom provides is primarily a metaphor for reading and learning the principles of wisdom contained in the Book of Proverbs. But it also foreshadows the meal that God would one day provide that gives wisdom and eternal life to his people (see Bergsma, The Word of the Lord: Year B, 353). The words of Jesus in the synagogue of Capernaum about eating his flesh and drinking his blood are not simply a metaphor for believing in him. They are words about the mystery and sacrament of the Eucharist, the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ given to us under the consecrated species of bread and wine (CCC, 1413).

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, I will receive you in the Eucharist today at mass. I pray that I grow in my faith and understanding of this great mystery of the memorial of your passion, death, and resurrection. As I eat your Body and drink your Blood, I hope that it brings me to a greater unity with and deeper love for my brothers and sisters.

Living the Word of God: Can I dedicate time to reading and reflecting on the Catechism of the Catholic Church (nn. 1322-1419) on the Sacrament of the Eucharist this month? Would this help me explain and defend the Church’s understanding of the Eucharist to others?