Daily Gospel Reflection - THIS is MY Body

Friends, our Gospel today focuses on St. John’s intense meditation on the meaning of the Eucharist. The tone is set with the familiar story of the feeding of the five thousand, the only miracle story mentioned in each of the four Gospels. This scene deeply affected the first Christians.

Jesus instructs his disciples to have the crowd recline on the grass. Taking the barley loaves and dried fish, Jesus makes a meal that satisfies the enormous crowd. They are hungry, tired, and worn out from their exertions, and Jesus gives them sustenance for the day.

For Thomas Aquinas, the great metaphor for the Eucharist is sustenance, food for the journey. Baptism defines us, making us sons and daughters of God; Confirmation confirms and deepens this identity; Marriage and Holy Orders seal us in our life’s vocation. These are sacraments offered once at key moments in one’s life.

Then there is the Eucharist, which is daily food, nourishment to get us through the day-to-day. How effective would we be if we never ate, or ate only on special occasions and in a festive environment? Not very. So, in the spiritual life, we must eat and drink or we will not have the strength.

What don't you not get about the Real Presence??

Why do you dispute what is CLEARLY commanded by Christ?

John 6

60 Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?

One who believes in the Body, Blood Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ !- thats who can hear it... But not Judas... This is where he begins his betrayal of Christ - "chosen, and one who is the devil... Is your disbelief of Christ Real presence aligned with Judas then?

61 When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?

Is there confusion here? Does this offend you -are you scandalized by Christ saying we must consume him- bodily? Do you deny Christ in what he is clearly telling you here ?

62 What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?

Christ is clearly saying - If you do not believe what he is telling you here- That he must be consumed - how are you going to believe in his Resurrected Ascension?? How ?
How can you believe he was raised bodily from the dead and Ascended into Heaven? Thats a pretty outlandish thing to believe as well- Who promises that?... Can you decide- I'll believe in this... but not THAT ?? Well sorry - Christ does not give you that Option here...
If you believe in the Resurrection - then you must also believe you must eat of his Body- so that you have Life in you... He has shown you why you must believe.... and pretending it is something else... Like a symbol....who can't believe in a stupid symbol then...
If the Eucharist is just a symbol - to hell with it then- regardless of what St. Paul or anyone else says...
to hell with it...

In reference to your conversation with MurphsLaw, I researched some “I am”s.
John 6:35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
John 6:41 The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.
John 6:48 I am that bread of life.
John 6:51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
John 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
John 10:7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.
John 9:5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
John 10:9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
John 10:11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
John 10:14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
John 11:25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
John 12:46 I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
John 15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

Is it reasonable that, if the cup holds the real blood of Jesus and the wafer is the real body of Jesus, then there are other metaphors etc., that should be taken literally and not symbolically.

If scripture is taken literally, then Jesus actually, really, literally is:
Bread
Light
a Door
a shepherd
the resurrection
the life
the way
the truth
a vine

As far as the above list goes, those items that have size and mass are, well, confusing, if one is required to take them literally.

And it is written that Christians literally are “branches,” “salt of the earth,” “a city set on a hill,” “a candle on a lampstand,” “sheep,” etc., etc. We aren’t literally any of those things; symbolically, we are.

While celebrating the Last Supper with his disciples, Jesus said, “This is my blood,” but he hadn’t shed his blood until about 15 to 18 hours later. If it were his real literal blood in the cup, then didn’t he shed his blood before he shed his blood. When we eat the bread and drink the cup, we taste bread and we taste the fruit of the vine; our minds, in remembrance, symbolically focus on the Lord’s body and blood.

In my youth, when I took communion, I would swear the wafer tasted like a waver and the liquid in the cup tasted like fruit of the vine.

Right you are North....symbols AND parables abound in the Good Book..
But what I cant find anywhere in the book is where he challenged his disciples over metaphors...or that the disciples objected to them ...and had it - and walked away from Christ for good...AND that Christ LET THEM leave, and to follow him no more...when he made references to being:

Bread
Light
a Door
a shepherd
the resurrection
the life
the way
the truth
a vine

For if there was a misunderstanding about a metaphoror or innocuous symbolism...shirley Christ would not allow his Disciples to walk away...without reassuring them of said symbology, yes?- I mean... Christ had to know what he was saying. And how it was being received..

And no where else can I find where the Lord was so insistent on an understanding that he coupled their disbelief and scandal with their ability to believe in his coming resurrection and Ascension as he was equating his being a:

Bread
Light
a Door
a shepherd
the resurrection
the life
the way
the truth
a vine

So as Christ knew he was analogizing those things in your list and knew he was not really a lamp... he also had to be sincere when he asked if his Apostles "would go away as well?"...

Why would he have to ask that -if Christ didnt believe what he was saying..."THIS is MY Body"

John 6 is on a list all of its own....

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