20th Sunday: Him we Eat to Live for Ever

 

Him we Eat to Live for Ever

Prov 9:1-6; Eph 5:15-20; Jn 6: 51-58 (B 20)

“You will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth”

 

Today, we persevere in the interpretation of the Discourse of the Living Bread that we have been commenting these last Sundays: “I am the living bread which has come from heaven” (Jn 6:51). It has a very well thought-out, and even literary structure, full of valuable teachings. How wonderful it would be if we, Christians, could have a better knowledge of the Scriptures! We would discover the very Mystery of God that we receive as the true food of our souls, that can change our hearts.

Jesus Christ, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life, speaks of himself by saying he is the Bread of Life. And, as we know quite well, the bread is to be eaten. But to eat —we should not forget— we must be hungry (Ps 63:1). How can we understand what being a Christian really means, if we have lost our hunger for God (Ps 42)? Hunger to know Him, hunger to regard Him savior. Jesus is offering himself as the Living Bread, and it is himself who sets up the measure, and who gives himself away to us, with an overflowing magnanimity that makes us shudder with emotion.

Some of the sayings and prayers of the Mystery Religions are meaningful. In the Mysteries of Mithra, the devout prayed: “Abide with my soul; leave me not, that I may be initiated and that the holy spirit may dwell within me.” In the Hermetic Mysteries the religious said: “I know thee Hermes, and thou knowest me; I am thou and thou art I”. In the same Mysteries a prayer runs: “Come to me, Lord Hermes, as babes to mothers' wombs.’ In the Mysteries of Isis, the worshipper said: “As truly as Osiris lives, so shall his followers live. As truly as Osiris is not dead, his followers shall die no more.”

Bread of Life..., of what Life? It is quite clear that it will not allow us to live down here any longer than we should; though it may indeed change the quality and depth of every instant we live here. Let me ask myself: What life do I want for me? And let me compare it with what my present life really is. Is this what I expected? Don't we think our horizon can widen much more? Then, look much more than you and I together could ever imagine... much fuller... much more beautiful... much more... is the Life of Christ that throbs and pulsates in the Eucharist. And He is there, expecting us to eat Him, waiting at the door to our heart, patient, passionate, for He knows how to love. And, after that, the eternal Life: “Whoever eats of this bread will live forever” (Jn 6:58) —What else do we want?

“May we love you in all things and above all things and reach the joy you have prepared for us”