Homilies
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
August 20, 2006
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What’s the Meaning?
In today’s readings for the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Jesus lays down the doctrine regarding the saving grace that comes from eating and drinking his flesh and blood.
First, we hear the poetic version from the Book of Proverbs. Wisdom invites us to come and feast at the banquet: “Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed.” We hear that Jesus has established the Church, built upon her seven sacraments: “Wisdom has built her house, she has hewn her seven pillars.” And because Jesus has been sacrificed on the Cross, we can now drink his blood at the altar: “She has slaughtered her animals, she has mixed her wine, she has set her table.” But only the pure of heart are able to accept the invitation: “Whoever is simple, let him come.”
In the Epistle, Saint Paul exhorts us to take advantage of the invitation. He tells us to act truly wise, to make the most of our time so that we might be filled with the Holy Spirit. Saint Paul is speaking to fools (fools like you and me) who profess to follow Jesus and yet take the Eucharist for granted.
“Do not be foolish,” says Saint Paul, “but understand what the will of the Lord is.” Don’t get drunk on wine, but drink deeply of the Holy Spirit, giving thanks to the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
After this exhortation to give thanks to the Father, we hear Jesus teach us exactly how to do so. In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us to eat and drink of the Eucharist. (Eucharist is the Greek word for giving thanks.)
Now up to this point in the Gospel, “bread” could easily have been understood only as a metaphor for Jesus, or Wisdom, or guidance. But now Jesus makes it abundantly clear that the bread isn’t like him but is him. He himself is “the living bread which has come down from heaven.” Like the manna which fell upon the desert during the Exodus, this bread is from heaven, i.e., it is a gift from the Father. But unlike the manna, this bread is a “living bread.” This bread is able to give eternal life. “If any one eats of this bread,” says Jesus, “he will live for ever.”
- Then come the even the more amazing claims by Jesus:
- - The bread I will give is my flesh.
- - Unless you eat the flesh and drink the blood you are not really alive.
- - But if you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you will have true life.
- - And, on the last day, I will raise you up to glory (both body & soul).
- - For my flesh is true food.
- - And my blood is true drink.
It is difficult to dance around this teaching of Jesus. In plain language, he is telling us that only by consuming his body and blood will we ever acquire true life. By being nourished on this food, we will pass beyond this mere shadow of existence and live life to the full in heaven. Said negatively, we cannot truly live unless we eat his flesh and drink his blood. Just as we must eat and drink each day to nourish our animal side, we must also eat and drink of this food to nourish our spiritual side. And this spiritual food—as unbelievable as it may sound—is the very flesh and blood of Jesus.
After making such an amazing promise, Jesus is soon to make good on it. At the Last Supper, he institutes the Eucharist. Holding the bread for all to see, he says: “This is my body, take and eat.” And holding the chalice filled with wine, he says: “This is my blood, take and drink.” And finally, by saying to the 11 bishops who are present with him at the ceremony: “Do this in memory of me,” Jesus ensures that the miracle will continue. Every member of the Church can now be fed with the bread of life. (Lk. 22:19–20; Mt. 14:22–23)
What’s the Message?
But the willful Jews kept saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
Sadly, we ourselves ask the same sort of question. Every time we fail to take advantage of receiving the Eucharist, we are asking the very same willful and self–satisfied question: “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” But our version of the question is a bit different, something like: “My spirit has heavenly words and thoughts to feed upon, how can I possibly need the so–called flesh and blood of the Eucharist?”
But Jesus tells the willful Jews (and willful us) that the new bread he is offering is, “not like that which the fathers ate and died. He who eats this bread will live for ever.”
The Law, i.e., what is written in Scripture, is not enough to make us able to live the supernatural life, says Jesus. We need to undergo a change of our whole being—body and soul. And the food and drink Jesus is offering is essential in working this change.
The angels are pure spirits, horses and eagles and the like are pure animals. Man, however, is a spiritual animal. He is a spiritual being that lives among the animals. If a man lives a successful life, his whole being becomes ordered to the spiritual part of his nature. The spiritual part spiritualizes the whole.
Ironically, it is not the sophisticated intellectual who usually succeeds in doing this. It is the little old lady who receives daily Communion at Mass each morning. “Whoever is simple, let him come,” says Proverbs in today’s readings.
Many, many Christians (even Catholic Christians) in some way deny the Real Presence. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat,” many ask. Even many sophisticated theologians have tried to explain away the Real Presence. But the message of Jesus in today’s readings is obvious: "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” The choice is ours. We can accept this teaching as true and try to live accordingly, or stand with the self–satisfied men who murdered him and say: “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
What’s the Response?
A good response to today’s message is to strive to become simple. To reflect on the little old lady who walks to Mass each morning, so that she might receive the Eucharist. If what Jesus is saying is true, this little old lady, as simple as she may seem, has something that we don’t.
If we take life seriously, if we really want to be successful in life, we must humble ourselves enough to imitate the little old ladies at daily Mass. What do they know that we don’t know? How is it that they are able to put so much stock in the Eucharist?
The next thing to do is to begin to imitate these truly simple people. And the obvious place to begin is in receiving Holy Communion each day. To make an act of the will to accept the imperative of Jesus, and then to live accordingly.
We can look to our Father in Heaven to give us the strength to change. We can start by joining with the Psalmist in today’s Mass:
I will bless the Lord at all times;
his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul makes its boast in the Lord;
let the humble hear and be glad.
Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.
Amen.
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Contribution by Brother Anthony Myers
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