In the worlds of both the Old and New Testaments, bread was a vital part of everyone’s diet. The bread in those days was not like the bread we eat today. It was made from course, ground barley. To our palates it probably would not taste very good (like cardboard). It was either shaped like a stone or flat like a pancake and baked in an oven, over a fire or under ashes. When people ate bread, they broke their portion off with their hands often using it like our eating utensils toady. In scripture bread signifies food in general. It still does.
Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. And the focus of today’s readings is the Eucharist, the Body and Blood of Christ. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, we are taught that “The Eucharist is "the source and summit of the Christian life" (CCC 1324). In our first reading from the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses reminds the Children of Israel how God sustained them during the 40 years they wandered in the desert. Now, as they wait on the plains of Moab, preparing to cross the Jordan River and enter into the Promised Land, Moses wants them to remember the covenant God made with them. Once they cross the river, they no longer will need manna because God, is leading them "into a good country, a land with streams of water, with springs and fountains welling up in the hills and valleys, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, of olive trees and of honey ..." (Dt. 8:7-8). So, Moses charges them to remember, "that not by bread alone does man live, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of the LORD" (Dt. 8:3).
Thousands of years later, God made a new covenant with the world. St. John tells us in his Gospel "the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). In today's gospel, John 6:51-58, Jesus, the Word made flesh, told the children of Israel and he tells us "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." Unlike perishable manna, the bread Jesus offers, "endures for eternal life" (John 6:27). The children of Israel ate manna "but they died" (John 6:49). Those of us who eat the living bread offered by Jesus will not die because the Word made flesh sustains both spirit and life (John 6:63).
Participation in Eucharist is the core of our Christian life because every time we receive Jesus in the Eucharist, we are infused with his Spirit and become one with him. Jesus says, "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him" (John 6:56). Through the mystery of the Eucharist, in the elements of bread and wine, Jesus is a very real presence in our lives. When we receive Eucharist, Jesus dwells in us individually and communally. Our communion with Jesus Christ makes us a community, one body. St. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:16-17, "The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf." We become the Body of Christ in our world. Let us all pray that the world can recognize the presence of Jesus in us as we strive to fulfill his mission.
Lord Jesus Christ,
you us to be your body
for the life of the world.
Nourish us here with your word of life,
give us your body to eat
and your wine of joy to drink,
so that we may become more like you
and learn from you how to live
not for ourselves only
but for God and for the people around us.
Make us of one mind and heart,
that the world may recognize
that you are alive in us.
Be our Lord, now and for ever.
Amen.
