After listening to the Eucharistic discourses from John 6 the past five weeks, the words "Eucharistic consistency" keep coming back to me in prayer. The real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist means that He wants to share His entire life and being with us, that we may become another Christ for the world and live His life anew in our own.
We conclude our Eucharistic discourse Gospels from John 6 after this weekend. Confronted with the choice to believe in the Eucharist as the real Body and Blood of Jesus, many walk away, but Simon Peter has a different response…he says, "Master, to whom shall we go?
We rarely consider the radical call in Jesus' words about Himself: "The bread that I will give is my Flesh for the life of the world. Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood has eternal life, and remains in Me and I in him.”
In 2007, I studied abroad in Rome for a semester. Every day I would pass in front of St. Peter’s Basilica to get to class. The first few weeks, I would stop in amazement before the Basilica to savor the richness and beauty of the place. As the weeks progressed, my amazement faded and even the marvel of our great Basilica became “ordinary.”
Last Sunday we began week one of five of the Bread of Life Gospels from John 6. Jesus fed the hungry crowd by performing a miracle of multiplication for them. This Sunday the crowds have grown hungry again and are back for more!