Published in the bulletin of Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Knoxville, TN, on the 5th Sunday of Lent.
My dear Parishioners,
Peace! There are fourteen (14) In Brief passages in the Catechism of the Catholic Church regarding the Sacrament of the Most Holy Eucharist. The following is a reflection on article 1406.
“Jesus said: ‘I am the living bread, come down from Heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever (…). Whoever eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood has eternal life (…) He remains in Me and I in him’ (Saint John 6:51, 54, 56).”
The most frequently cited source for the Catechism of the Catholic Church is the Holy Bible, Sacred Scripture. Here, when treating the Eucharist this is evident. When considering the Eucharist the Church turns in a special way to the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Saint John, which has been called in part ‘the Bread of Life’ discourse. This passage from Holy Writ contains a description, a promise and two great mysteries.
In describing the Holy Eucharist, the Lord Jesus speaks of ‘Living bread come down from Heaven.’ This is both an allusion to the ‘manna in the wilderness’ and a contrast with it (cf. John 6:31; Exodus 16:4). Both the Eucharist and the manna are of heavenly origin, but manna was a food which perished as did they who ate it, whereas the Eucharist endures and preserves the souls of them who receive it well (cf. John 6:32; Exodus 16:19–21). The manna is a prefiguration of the Eucharist.
The Lord makes a promise when teaching about the Holy Eucharist: ‘Whoever eats this bread will live forever.’ The word here translated as ‘eats’ comes from the Greek word trogo which is a verb literally meaning to chew or gnaw. This sort of vocabulary leads to eucharistic realism. When your dog is gnawing or chewing on a bone, there is something real going on there. So too, when we eat the flesh of the Son of Man we are nourished spiritually, by His grace.
One great mystery of the Eucharist is that it enables us to actually eat the Flesh and drink the Blood of the eternal Son of God made man. Throughout the Old Testament there are about 250 references to bread as food and another 175 about drinking wine. It is one thing to have an ordinary meal, breakfast, lunch, dinner. It is something else altogether when what is consumed is God Himself. When we eat an ordinary meal the food becomes a part of us. When we receive the Eucharist well we become a part of Christ, His Mystical Body, Mother Church, which leads us yet to another mystery.
Another great mystery of the Eucharist is how it is a sacrament of union. Worthy reception of the Eucharist introduces afresh the person who receives and the Lord who is received. Of old it was said of Israel “what nation has God so near” (cf. Deuteronomy 4:7). There is no distance between the one who receives the Eucharist well and the Lord Jesus who is received.
God bless you!
Father John Arthur Orr