Twenty-first Sunday of Ordinary Time (Jn. 6:60-69) “The Way to Complete Mass.”
Twenty-first Sunday of Ordinary Time (Jn. 6:60-69) “The Way to Complete Mass.”
Whenever I get discouraged about people falling away from Christianity I turn to this passage from St. John. I am reminded that from the very beginning people struggled to believe in what Jesus taught. People stopped following him. Was it the majority? We don’t know. Percentages of people who started and stayed Christianity aren’t given in the Gospel. We might look at the people who left the Jesus movement as spiritual seekers. The ones who don’t choose to follow Jesus weren’t bad people, but they were people who needed more time to process and commit to what Jesus was saying.
What did they struggle to believe? Many scholars would say that they fought with the idea of eating somebody’s body, of drinking someone’s blood. The whole idea seemed cannibalistic. For the Jews the human person was made in the image of God. You wouldn’t ever mutilate a human body. Even dead bodies were treated carefully. Burial practices were strictly observed.
But there was more to the rejection of Jesus’ teaching than squeamishness concerning eating flesh and drinking blood. The Jews believed in a sharp separation between the material world and the spiritual world. God was never to be equated to a material object. The first commandment was the most important. “I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt not have strange God’s before the.” The religions of the ancient world worshipped numerous God’s. Most of these God’s were depicted in statues. Non-Jews often would make sacrifices to these Gods.
Secular rulers at times would also declare themselves divine. Some of the rulers of Babylon, Egypt, Greece, Rome said they were Gods. Old Testament Jews died refusing to worship them. No man could declare himself a God. Jesus seemed to be saying the material could become sacred. He was saying that during the Eucharistic action he showed himself to be divine. Was it any wonder that people turned away?
We need to keep in mind what Eucharistic Theology says. Jesus said that the Eucharist was to remind us of the Incarnation. Jesus was divine. He became human. When he became human the whole material world was transformed. More importantly, when we celebrate Eucharist, we undergo conversion. We are reminded of the divine spirit that resides in us. But we must be careful we don’t shorten the Eucharistic action.
We remember, according to Catholic belief that there are four steps to the Eucharist ritual that Jesus used. He took bread, broke it, and said, “Take this all of you and eat it.” He took the cup and said, “Take this all of you and drink it.” If we don’t eat and drink of the body and blood of Jesus, we don’t complete the Eucharist.
All of this is shown in a very concrete way in the teaching of the church about the reserved Eucharist. The ideal at the Eucharistic meal is to consecrate only the elements that are needed for that Mass. We notice at Mass that the precious blood must be completely consumed either before Mass is ended or right after the closing rites. The Eucharistic bread is stored in the tabernacle if it isn’t consumed. But the consecrated bread doesn’t stay in the tabernacle forever. At some point, it must be eaten either at a later Mass or by those who are communicated outside Mass, like the sick or those imprisoned. The key take away is that the fourth step of the Eucharistic action must be completed because that is what Jesus said. We must eat. We must drink.
Finally, we remember that Jesus taught that the Eucharist is a reminder that our goal as believers is to become one with him. We take Jesus into our bodies when we eat the living bread and the blood of Christ when we drink from the cup. We are to become Jesus. Our hands are transformed into his hands. Our voices are to be his voice proclaiming the truth of the Gospel. Our feet are to be his feet carrying the Gospel message far and wide by the example of our lives.
Jesus doesn’t just remain in the tabernacle, but he lives in us. The question we are faced with is the question those first seekers were faced with. Will we live like Jesus? Will we follow him? As Peter says, for a Christian, there no real alternative because Jesus shows us the path we can take to the Kingdom of God.
Reflection Question:
1. What is the high point at Mass? What would Jesus say?
2. How do I carry Jesus out to the world? Is it my responsibility?
Dear Parishioners,
Fr. Doug Grandon will be here on the weekend of September 7th and 8th. Fr. Grandon is a former parochial vicar who was assigned to Sacred Heart early in this century. He now lives in Denver, Colorado. He has been a traveling Eucharistic preacher the last two years during the Eucharistic Revival. Fr. Grandon will give several talks here. The schedule for his visit is in the bulletin. Please try to attend.
August 7th and 8th will also be the weekend we start the annual ADA appeal. The goal we have for Sacred Heart Parish this year is $95,000. We will have in pew solicitation this weekend.
Every year we offer an opportunity for parishioners to join our Pastoral Council. We have several openings this year because a couple people have moved from our area, because of the death of Pat O’Brien and because of the end of two people’s terms. If you are interested in being on this advisory board, please drop a note in the collection and a parish council member will contact you. If you would like to recommend someone you can also drop a note in the collection. We always try to be open to the movement of the Spirit. New members will begin their service in January.
May Our Lady of the Assumption pray for us,
Fr. Mark