Bishop reflects on Gospel of St. John

Posted July 31, 2003
Homily 2: 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Last week we began reading the sixth chapter of the Gospel of St. John, the miracle of the multiplication of loaves and fishes. We also began our reflections on the new encyclical of the Holy Father on the Eucharist. Today we continue that work.

We find Jesus and the crowds today on the other side of the lake from where the bread had been multiplied. The crowds come looking for Jesus and he is blunt with them about their curiosity. They are seeking him for superficial reasons. He wants to give them imperishable food.

In the course of the dialogue, Jesus refers to Moses and the manna that was a gift from God to the Israelites during their desert experience after their exodus from Egypt. That gift of God through Moses was a sign. But the Father has now sent "One" who can feed them and slake their thirst forever. This heavenly food, this wisdom banquet, is Jesus himself.

The very seal of authenticity, of life, is set upon the Son, the Lord Jesus, by the Father. Recognizing Jesus by faith is the most crucial "work" that any person can do. We note that Jesus is preparing the way for his announcement of the Eucharist by bringing to light the freedom of the Exodus of old, the "gift" of the manna, a gift to nurture and sustain, and then startling the crowds by showing them there is a new heavenly bread... He himself in person. To have access to the Eucharist is to first have belief in Christ, the One sent by the Father to reveal who God is and God's desire to save us. One who knows and believes this will never perish in eternal death, but will have life.

In light of Jesus' words about faith in him as the Bread of Life, let us now turn briefly to chapters one and two of the Holy Father's encyclical. Chapter one is called "The Mystery of Faith" and chapter two, "The Eucharist Builds the Church."

In chapter one the pope emphasizes that the Eucharist is indelibly marked by the event of the Lord's Passion and Death, not only as a reminder of these but as the sacramental re-presentation of the Cross and Resurrection as anticipated at the Last Supper. For this reason, the Eucharist is not just one precious gift among many others, but as the gift par excellence. It is the gift of Christ in person. Since the gift participates in the divine eternity, it is not confined to the past, but transcends all time. We are brought to the Passion in the Mass and the Passion is brought to us. In fact the event of salvation becomes present and the work of our redemption is carried out. The Eucharist as sacrificial memorial is the most genuine universal charity that has ever existed.

Jesus' self-giving for us is more obvious. What we might forget is that his total self-giving is first and foremost a gift to the Father, an oblation the Father accepted and sealed in the resurrection of his well-beloved Son.

At Mass, the re-presentation of this gift involves a most special presence. We call that presence "Real" not as a way of excluding other types of Christ's presence, but because it is a presence in the fullest sense: "a substantial presence whereby Christ, the God-Man, is wholly and entirely present." Thus the consecration effects the change of the whole substance of the bread and wine into the substance of his Body and Blood. This mystery of faith is a mystery of love. Before it, human reason experiences its limitations. The mystery is received in faith!

In chapter two, the Holy Father takes up a theme already present in his reflections in chapter one, namely the meaning of communion. In the Sacrament of the Eucharist the unity of the faithful, who form one body in Christ, is both expressed and brought about. There is a causal influence here. At the Last Supper, by offering the apostles his body and blood as food, Christ mysteriously involved them in the sacrifice to be completed at Calvary and sealed in the Resurrection. This lays the foundation for the People of the New Covenant, the church.

For all time thereafter, the church is built up in unity and communion by partaking of that food. Each one of us receives Christ and Christ receives each one of us. This mutual abiding involves also the whole church living in communion. Far from closing in upon itself, the abiding of all in Christ and with one another gives the church power to carry out the mission of proclaiming and living the Gospel. The seeds of disunity, which daily experience shows to be so deeply rooted in humanity as a result of sin, are countered by the unifying power and grace of the body of Christ, the church.

Even as Christ invited the crowds in the Gospel today to come to him as Bread of Life, so he invites us all into the mystery of faith today. May the faith we profess and the Eucharist we celebrate give us deeper reverence for the Eucharist and bring about a more intense living of unity in the Body of Christ, the church.