From: John 6:51-59

The Discourse on the Bread of Life (Continuation)

(Jesus said to the Jews,) [51] “I am the living bread which came down from Hea-
ven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall
give for the life of the world is My flesh.” [52] The Jews disputed among them-
selves, saying, “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?” [53] So Jesus said
to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and
drink His blood, you have no life in you; [54] he who eats My flesh and drinks My
blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. [55] For My flesh is
food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. [56] He who eats My flesh and drinks
My blood abides in Me, and I in him. [57] As the living Father sent Me, and I live
because of the Father, so he who eats Me will live because of Me. [58] This is
the bread which came from Heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who
eats this bread will live for ever.” [59] This he said in the synagogue, as he taught
at Capernaum.

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Commentary:

49-51. The manna during the Exodus was a figure of this bread—Christ Himself —
which nourishes Christians on their pilgrimage through this world. Communion
is the wonderful banquet at which Christ gives Himself to us: “the bread which I
shall give for the life of the world is My flesh”. These words promise the manifes-
tation of the Eucharist at the Last Supper: “This is My body which is for you” (1
Corinthians 11:24). The words “for the life of the world” and “for you” refer to the
redemptive value of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. In some sacrifices of the
Old Testament, which were a figure of the sacrifice of Christ, part of the animal
offered up was later used for food, signifying participation in the sacred rite (cf.
Exodus 11:3-4). So, by receiving Holy Communion, we are sharing in the sac-
rifice of Christ: which is why the Church sings in the Liturgy of the Hours on the
Feast of Corpus Christi: “O sacred feast in which we partake of Christ: His suf-
ferings are remembered, our minds are filled with His grace and we receive a
pledge of the glory that is to be ours” (”Magnificat Antiphon”, Evening Prayer II).

52. Christ’s hearers understand perfectly well that He means exactly what He
says; but they cannot believe that what He says could be true; if they had un-
derstood Him in a metaphorical, figurative or symbolic sense there would be no
reason for them to be surprised and nothing to cause an argument. Later, Jesus
reaffirms what He has said—confirming what they have understood Him to say
(cf. verses 54-56).

53. Once again Jesus stresses very forcefully that it is necessary to receive Him
in the Blessed Eucharist in order to share in divine life and develop the life of
grace received in Baptism. No parent is content to bring children into the world:
they have to be nourished and looked after to enable them to reach maturity.
“We receive Jesus Christ in Holy Communion to nourish our souls and to give us
an increase of grace and the gift of eternal life” (”St. Pius X Catechism”, 289).

54. Jesus clearly states that His body and blood are a pledge of eternal life and
a guarantee of the resurrection of the body. St. Thomas Aquinas gives this expla-
nation: “The Word gives life to our souls, but the Word made flesh nourishes our
bodies. In this Sacrament is contained the Word not only in His divinity but also
in His humanity; therefore, it is the cause not only of the glorification of our souls
but also of that of our bodies” (”Commentary on St. John, in loc.”).

Our Lord uses a stronger word than just “eating” (the original verb could be
translated as “chewing”) which shows that Communion is a real meal. There is
no room for saying that He was speaking only symbolically, which would mean
that Communion was only a metaphor and not really eating and drinking the Bo-
dy and Blood of Christ.

“All these invitations, promises and threats sprang from the great desire which
(Jesus) had of giving us Himself in the holy Sacrament of the altar. But why
should Jesus so ardently desire us to receive Him in Holy Communion? It is be-
cause love always sighs for, and tends to a union with, the object beloved. True
friends wish to be united in such a manner as to become only one. The love of
God for us being immense, He destined us to possess Him not only in Heaven,
but also here below, by the most intimate union, under the appearance of bread
in the Eucharist. It is true we do not see Him; but He beholds us, and is really
present; yes, He is present in order that we may possess Him and He conceals
Himself, that we may desire Him, and until we reach our true homeland Jesus
Christ wishes in this way to be entirely ours, and to be perfectly united to us”
(St. Alphonsus Liguori, “The Love of Our Lord Jesus Christ Reduced to Practice”,
Chapter 2).

55. In the same way as bodily food is necessary for life on earth, Holy Com-
munion is necessary for maintaining the life of the soul, which is why the Church
exhorts us to receive this Sacrament frequently: “Every day, as is desirable, and
in the greatest possible numbers, the faithful must take an active part in the sac-
rifice of the Mass, avail themselves of the pure, holy refreshment of Holy Commu-
nion and make a suitable thanksgiving in return for this great gift of Christ the
Lord. Here are the words they should keep in mind: ‘Jesus Christ and the Church
desire all Christ’s faithful to approach the sacred banquet every day. The basis
of this desire is that they should be united to God by the sacrament and draw
strength from it to restrain lust, to wash away the slight faults of daily occurrence
and to take precautions against the more serious sins to which human frailty is
liable’ (Decree of the S.C. of the Council, 20 December 1905)” (Paul VI, “Mys-
terium Fidei”).

“The Savior has instituted the most august sacrament of the Eucharist, which
truly contains His flesh and His blood, so that he who eats this bread may live
forever; whosoever, therefore, makes use of it often with devotion so strengthens
the health and the life of his soul, that it is almost impossible for him to be poi-
soned by any kind of evil affection. We cannot be nourished with this flesh of life,
and live with the affections of death. [...]. Christians who are damned will be un-
able to make any reply when the just Judge shows them how much they are to
blame for dying spiritually, since it was so easy for them to maintain themselves
in life and in health by eating His Body which He had left them for this purpose.
Unhappy souls, He will say, why did you die, seeing that you had at your com-
mand the fruit and the food of life?” (St. Francis de Sales, “Introduction to the
Devout Life”, II, 20, 1).

56. The most important effect of the Blessed Eucharist is intimate union with Je-
sus Christ. The very word “communion” suggests sharing in the life of our Lord
and becoming one with Him; if our union with Jesus is promoted by all the sacra-
ments through the grace which they give us, this happens more intensely in the
Eucharist, for in it we receive not only grace but the very Author of grace: “Really
sharing in the body of the Lord in the breaking of the eucharistic bread, we are
taken up into communion with Him and with one another. ‘Because the bread is
one, we, though many, are one body, all of us who partake of the one bread’ (1
Corinthians 10:17)” (Vatican II, “Lumen Gentium”, 7). Precisely because the Eu-
charist is the sacrament which best signifies and effects our union with Christ, it
is there that the whole Church manifests and effects its unity: Jesus Christ “in-
stituted in His Church the wonderful sacrament of the Eucharist, by which the
unity of the Church is both signified and brought about” (Vatican II, “Unitatis Re-
ditegratio”, 2).

57. In Christ, the Incarnate Word sent to mankind, “the whole fullness of deity,
dwells bodily (Colossians 2:9) through the ineffable union of His human nature
and His divine nature in the Person of the Word. By receiving in this sacrament
the body and blood of Christ indissolubly united to His divinity, we share in the
divine life of the second Person of the Blessed Trinity. We will never be able to
appreciate enough the intimacy with God Himself—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—
that we are offered in the eucharistic banquet.

“We can therefore do nothing more agreeable to Jesus Christ than to go to Com-
munion with the dispositions suitable to so great an action, since we are then
united to Jesus Christ, according to the desire of this all-loving God. I have said
with ‘suitable’ and not ‘worthy’ disposition, for who could communicate if it was
necessary to be worthy of so great a Savior? No one but a God would be worthy
to receive a God. But by this word suitable, or convenient, I mean such a dispo-
sition as becomes a miserable creature, who is clothed with the unhappy flesh
of Adam. Ordinarily speaking, it is sufficient that we communicate in a state of
grace and with an anxious desire of advancing in the love of Jesus Christ” (St.
Alphonsus Liguori, “The Love of Our Lord Jesus Christ Reduced to Practice”,
Chapter 2)

58. For the third time (cf. 6:31-32 and 6:49) Jesus compares the true bread of
life, His own body, with the manna God used to feed the Israelites every day du-
ring their forty years in the wilderness—thereby, inviting us to nourish our soul
frequently with the food of His body.

“’Going to Communion every day for so many years! Anybody else would be a
saint by now, you told me, and I...I’m always the same!’ Son, I replied, keep up
your daily Communion, and think: what would I be if I had not gone’” (St. J.
Escriva, “The Way”, 534).

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

Mass Readings

First reading	2 Kings 4:8-11,13-16 ©

One day as Elisha was on his way to Shunem, a woman of rank who lived there pressed him to stay and eat there. After this he always broke his journey for a meal when he passed that way. She said to her husband, ‘Look, I am sure the man wno is constantly passing our way must be a holy man of God. Let us build him a small room on the roof, and put him a bed in it, and a table and chair and lamp; whenever he comes to us he can rest there.’ One day when he came, he retired to the upper room and lay down. He said to his servant Gehazi, ‘Call our Shunammitess. Tell her this: “Look, you have gone to all this trouble for us, what can we do for you? Is there anything you would like said for you to the king or to the commander of the army?”’ But she replied, ‘I live with my own people about me.’ ‘What can be done for her then?’ he asked. Gehazi answered, ‘Well, she has no son and her husband is old.’ Elisha said, ‘Call her.’ The servant called her and she stood at the door. This time next year,’ he said ‘you will hold a son in your arms.’

Psalm	Psalm 88:2-3,16-19

Second reading	Romans 6:3-4,8-11 ©

When we were baptised in Christ Jesus we were baptised in his death; in other words, when we were baptised we went into the tomb with him and joined him in death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father’s glory, we too might live a new life.

But we believe that having died with Christ we shall return to life with him: Christ, as we know, having been raised from the dead will never die again. Death has no power over him any more. When he died, he died, once for all, to sin, so his life now is life with God; and in that way, you too must consider yourselves to be dead to sin but alive for God in Christ Jesus.

Gospel	Matthew 10:37-42 ©

Jesus instructed the Twelve as follows: ‘Anyone who prefers father or mother to me is not worthy of me. Anyone who prefers son or daughter to me is not worthy of me. Anyone who does not take his cross and follow in my footsteps is not worthy of me. Anyone who finds his life will lose it; anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it.

‘Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me; and those who welcome me welcome the one who sent me.

‘Anyone who welcomes a prophet will have a prophet’s reward; and anyone who welcomes a holy man will have a holy man’s reward.

‘If anyone gives so much as a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is a disciple, then I tell you solemnly, he will most certainly not lose his reward.’