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.
Some of the saints were so enthusiastic about this gentle word, they taught that anyone who has ever received the Eucharist will certainly go to heaven. That may be a bit of magical thinking but I appreciate the impulse.
The words "true food" and "true drink" suggest a very materialistic interpretation, as opposed to a spiritual one. They certainly belie an imaginary or fantasy eating or drinking which is rooted only in one's own imagination. There is something very real, actual or true in the Christian practice of sharing blessed bread and wine during our Sunday worship, a rite enjoyed by many Christian churches. In my own lifetime I have seen that practice gathering strength throughout the Christian world. Especially as Catholics leave the Roman Church they take their Eucharistic and Marian devotions with them, demanding of their new Protestant pastors the old familiar prayers.
The Eucharist, shared in the community of the Church, is where we meet Jesus face to face. This is where we feel ourselves swept along in a turbulent river of Grace in the mysterious life of the Holy Trinity. While every individual has his own personal experience of prayer -- and some are less involved than others -- they also surrender that isolated individuality to membership in the People of God.
Even reflecting on the process of making bread and wine can help us: billions of grains of wheat are ground into flour, mixed with the life-essential element of water, inspired and raised by the presence of germinal yeast, kneaded and molded into loaves of dough and baked into something edible, sustaining, satisfying and delicious. Grapes also are crushed, releasing their essential juices; which are fermented with the presence of alcohol and placed on our common altar. There is something very earthy and earthly about these common practices. Indigestible grains that are too hard to chew become true food. Grapes, which are sweet and delightful in themselves, become truly marvelous with new intoxicating power. Though the individual grain and particular grape were interesting, through human invention and the divine intervention they become the very Body and Blood of Jesus.
What might this mean in the "real" world of our everyday life? Recently I wrote a Letter to the Editor which (for once) was published in the Courier Journal:
In a movie theater crowded with several hundred people not even one percent of the crowd was carrying a weapon. No one wanted a shootout with this heavily armed and heavily shielded madman. Clearly he came expecting some resistance, but no one wanted to play with him. This, despite the incessant demands of the NRA that everyone should be armed and ready to defend themselves and their loved ones. We're not interested. Don't you get it?
The NRA, to promote their gun-manufacturing sponsors, want to weaponize the citizenry; but clearly the vast majority of people don't want to carry guns to churches, shopping malls, schools, grocery stores, movie theaters and public buildings. We don't want fire fights during our morning commute. We don't want to play paintball with live ammunition in our parks and forests.
My vision of society is a Catholic one, unlike that of the NRA. They are not interested in the common good, or what the community wants. They represent only individual rights. Their heroic individuals are prepared for a shootout against the State or any other group that would limit their personal freedoms, which they regard as absolute. Their heroes are Lone Rangers and Rugged Individuals, as described by their philosopher, Ayn Rand; and not the real hero who stands ready to make sacrifice for the Common Good. Their hero rides a tank; he is not meek and humble and riding the foal of an ass.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.