John 6:35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
Means Jesus was made of wheat. He was literal bread. And by eating Him, a person never becomes hungry or thirsty ever again, literally and physically.
John 6:48-51 I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
John 6:58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”
Again, meaning Jesus is made of wheat and that by eating Him a person would literally live forever.
And no spiritualizing it. That's not consistent with literal translations. If one has to literally, physically eat Jesus with the body they have now, then one should literally physically live forever in their bodies they have now.
No Catholic who takes communion would ever die a death on this planet.
Then there's this pesky verse.....
John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
Jesus says, wait a minute guys, I wasn't talking about LITERAL, PHYSICAL eating. That isn't going to help because the physical flesh does nothing. Spiritual life is given through the SPIRIT.
It's almost funny what Bible literalists Catholics become over one or two verses.
He says His flesh and blood are food and drink "indeed," just as the same translation says He is "risen indeed."
I'm making a distinction here between "really, truly, indeed" and "literally," because "really, truly, indeed" is not only stronger than "symbolically," it's actually even stronger than "literally".
"Literally" can make you think of, say "medically." For instance, if I said "You who are in Christ, you literally will not die," -- that could be taken as "You will not medically die," which is wrong. Believers in Christ do die medically.
But if I were to say, "You will not really and truly die, it indicates, not that you will never succumb to a fatal bodily disease, but that "medical definition of death" does not cover what we mean by "really" living and "really" dying.
Besides, as we were discussion here:
https://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/3769002/posts?page=341#341
\.. there's this element of synechdoche. That means saying a part, while meaning the whole,such as "All hands on deck!" which means whole men, not hands; or as Jesus said, "My Flesh," by which he mean, not chunks of dead muscle meat, carne (or Greek "sarx") ALONE, but His whole, entire, living, divine Self.
This is what He offers us: not a cannibal chili con carne, but His whole entire Self, under the forms of Bread and Wine.
This is not literal (in the sense of medical), nor is it merely symbolic (in the sense of a token, a memento), but --- a third term--- it is Sacramental, which means really and truly His Body and Blood Indeed: and since it means Him whole and living, it means INDEED His body, blood, soul and divinity.
This is His Body INDEED, just as He is risen INDEED. It's more than His body as we once knew it, but it's never LESS than His Body.
That much I think we can agree on: we participate in His One-time sacrifice, and receive Him whole, our Incarnate Lord.
My prayer for YOU is in the tagline.