20 Ordinary: August 17/18, 2024

Throughout our reading of St. John’s Gospel over the last three weeks – Jesus has said over and over again:  I am the bread of life. . .
    So what does Jesus mean when he says he is bread - and what does he mean when he says he is life?
    For those of you here last week, I took on the second question:  what does Jesus mean when he says he is life — and promised you I would tackle the first question:   what does Jesus mean when he says he is bread – today.  So thanks for coming back.

    In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we read that on the night Jesus was betrayed, he desired to eat his last meal with his Apostles:
 it was the feast of Passover – and so it was a Passover meal which they shared.

    Now – there are specific foods to be used at a Passover Meal. . .
There would have been parsley - symbolic of spring, when Passover occurs — which is dipped in salt water in remembrance of the tears shed by the Jews during their time of slavery in Egypt. 
There are bitter herbs to remind those at the meal that the Egyptians embittered the lives of the Jews.



There is a hard-boiled egg - a reminder of the grief experienced by the Jews in Egypt – their rebirth as they passed through the waters of the Red Sea – and the new life God was offering them in the promised land.  Much like the Easter eggs we use and little bunnies –  to remind us of new life. . .
There is what is called Horoseth - a mixture of chopped apples, cinnamon, nuts and wine – a reminder of the mortar used by the slave laborers in Egypt to build buildings.
And there is wine, and lamb, and bread – and a few other things.  The point I wish to make is that there are several foods at a Passover meal – 
and yet when Jesus chose something to represent himself, and the sign of the new covenant God was making with his people – Jesus did not pick up an egg, or a sprig of parsley, or a scoop of horoseth, or even a leg of lamb – he picked up bread, broke it and said:  take this, all of you and eat of it - for this IS my body which will be given up for you.

    SO WHY BREAD:   and not an egg or a bitter herb or a leg of lamb??
I think it is because the range in the taste of vegetables and meat or any other food – varies from culture to culture and from age to age.
But there is one constant food item throughout time and across cultures  – a “universal food” if you will – and that is bread.

Bread has been part of human history for more than 30,000 years according to some scholars – beginning in Africa and the Middle East, bread has been on a journey all throughout the world.
Bread has been an indispensable key to human survival - and without bread, ordered societies would not exist.
Jesus knew the importance of bread for sustaining life – and of its universal nature – and so it was bread that he took, blessed, broke, and shared as the symbol of his life.  
For Jesus, himself, would be blessed, broken, and shared – for all people and for all times.  

As Catholics, we believe in what is called the REAL PRESENCE of Christ in the Eucharist – that is we take Jesus at his word when he says quite clearly in the Gospels – this IS my body, this IS my blood – and that once the words of consecration – the calling down the Holy Spirit upon our gifts of Bread and Wine, changing them into the very Body and Blood of Christ – Christ’s presence is there – and stays there –


Which is the historical origins of Tabernacles – where consecrated hosts, the very presence of Christ — are kept for the use of taking them to the sick — 
–and is the historical origin of Adoration – because once Christ is in the host – he always remains in the host – 
and so we adore him on bended knee when we enter and leave a Church  – and come to pray in his presence whether the host is in the Tabernacle or put into a Monstrance on the Altar.




Now you have heard me say this before - but I don’t hesitate to say it again:  WE BECOME WHAT WE EAT AND DRINK!  So by receiving the Eucharist here – eating Christ’s body and drinking his blood – we become more like Christ -
-so that when we leave here to go back out into the world – we become the real presence of Christ to others.
And something we really need to work on - is recognizing the real presence of Christ in those around us – especially those Jesus mingled with:  the poor, widows, orphans, the foreigner (which in Jesus days were the Samaritans - despised by the Jews but befriended by Jesus)
 – the broken, the downtrodden, the suffering and the sick – to name a few.

11:00 am ONLY:
    And so I say to you Jonathan – who will be receiving the very Body and Blood of Christ this morning for the first time –
And to our second graders who will begin their preparation for their 1st Communions later this year –

And to all of us –
    
    

SO:   This is important stuff we do here in this place – week after week.  
Where else can we go to get the nourishment we need to become more like Christ?

    And let’s keep this thought of Pope Francis in mind:

    The Eucharist is not a prize for the perfect – but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak.
May we find nourishment at this table – today – and come here often to receive the medicine we need because we are weak – but can be made strong through the GRACE of God.



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