June 22, 2014
Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ
1st Reading: Dt 8:2–3,14b–16a
2nd Reading: 1 Cor 10:16–17
Gospel: Jn 6:51–58
Jesus said to the crowds, “I am the living bread which has come from heaven; whoever eats of this bread will live forever. The bread I shall give is my flesh and I will give it for the life of the world.”
The Jews were arguing among themselves, “How can this man give us flesh to eat?” So Jesus replied, “Truly, I say to you, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood live with eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day.
“My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood, live in me and I in them. Just as the Father, who is life, sent me and I have life from the Father, so whoever eats me will have life from me. This is the bread which came from heaven; unlike that of your ancestors, who ate and later died. Those who eat this bread will live forever.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
Jesus said something in today’s Gospel reading that triggered in the Jews sacred memories of the experience of their ancestors in the desert. There God fed them with bread from heaven for forty years. It was when Jesus said “I am the bread come down from heaven”. Unfortunately the Jews recognized in this statement an ambitious claim of connectivity with Yahweh. Worse, Jesus claimed he had the power to turn his body and blood into food.
“How can this man give us flesh to eat?” the Jews protested. Jesus stood by his statement and even promised that he will raise up on the last day those who will eat his body and drink his blood. Had he been talking figuratively he would have reworded his claim in order not to lose a number of followers as a result of this teaching. He stood by his claim and challenged others to leave if they too found the teaching hard to accept.
If they only believed that such intimate relationship with the Father was for real it would not have been difficult for them to accept him as the Bread of Life. Jesus already manifested his power over his body when he walked over the waters. He also showed power over bread when he multiplied five loaves for more than 5,000 people. With their experience of his power over body and bread, it was not totally impossible at all for him to exercise the same power over his body. But they did not believe in him, in the first place!
To accept the teaching of the Body and Blood requires faith. We renew this faith each time we celebrate Mass. —Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: [email protected]. Website: www.frdan.org.
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