Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,
We begin today a four-part homily series on chapter six of St. John’s Gospel. Much of that chapter is known as the “bread of life” discourse. In the section we hear today, after Jesus had miraculously fed the five thousand with the five loaves and two fish, the crowds came looking for Jesus.
Jesus says to the crowd, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” He identifies Himself as “bread” and in future passages will go on to explain that more.
We might tend to think that Jesus’ description of what we now know as the Eucharist is only about spiritual nourishment, food for the journey of life. While it is that, it is so much more,
This weekend’s homily will speak of the Eucharist as a means that Christ chose to be “present” to His bride, the Church, until He returns in glory. Everything about Jesus, His incarnation, passion, death and resurrection, is all prompted by divine love for us. He came to save His beloved creatures. We can never begin to grasp the great mystery of the Eucharist without first realizing that it is all about God’s love for us.
The Eucharist reveals a spousal kind of love that Christ has for His bride, the Church. Jesus, as He prepared to leave this world, wanted to remain close to His disciples not only as God, but also as man. He showed his self-sacrificing love for us by dying on the cross, and instituted the Eucharist as a sacrament by which he would continue to dwell with His people, His bride.
The earthly ministry of Jesus was limited by space and time, but as God, Jesus desired to leave for all humanity the gift of Himself, His body, until He will return in glory at the end of days. He did not want all those generations born after 33 AD to be deprived of contact with His sacred humanity. Jesus devised a means, in the Eucharist, to be present not just in one place but in all the churches in the world, through all ages, even though He has bodily ascended to His Father in heaven.
Jesus is present to us, body, blood, soul and divinity in the Most Holy Eucharist.
Sincerely yours in Christ Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life,
