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Gospel Reading for May 09, 2025 – John 6: 52-59
PERPETUALLY
The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his Flesh to eat?”Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my Flesh is true food, and my Blood is true drink. Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.” These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
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They quarreled among themselves because they could not understand what Jesus was saying. Perhaps, if we were among them, we would be having the same reaction. In the first place, they did not accept that Jesus is the Son of God, so how else can they understand and accept something from him that seemed to be abstract?
We are the ones who have benefitted from what Jesus was saying. He was preparing them for his institution of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. Jesus was truly the teacher par excellence! He first let them experience the multiplication of bread, then moved up to making it a spiritual experience. Then, he started speaking about being the Bread of Life. He was already moving towards his goal of making his presence among us, PERPETUALLY, which as we now know, climaxed in the Last Supper. He could have made his presence among us PERPETUALLY, in another way, but he chose the most practical way – A MEAL, as we all need to eat in order to survive. However, he chose it to be a meal among friends. Not alone, but with friends; in a community.
In the olden days, the elderly in most families did not allow the members of the family who were partaking of a meal, to speak during the meal. For them, the meal is a sacred ritual, hence, silence sort of gives ambience to the sacred ritual. Nowadays, things have changed. There are families whose members are able to connect with each other only when they share a meal, given their very busy lives – in business, in jobs, in schools, etc.. It is when they feel they are members of one family.
Hopefully, the Eucharistic Meal allows us to connect with others who come to partake of it. When we are asked to greet the person next to us, we greet them naturally, and not with a smile commonly called, “frozen delight.” When we are asked to share the sign of peace, we do not just give a nod like one in the military, but express our sharing of peace with sincerity. After the mass some people start rushing to get out of the Church ahead of others, pushing them as though there was an emergency, or at the parking area where drivers of vehicles try to outsmart each other so they could leave ahead. We remember that everyone was present at the Eucharistic Meal so we treat each other with respect by moving with respectable pace, and cars alternately getting out without need of someone to manage the traffic. Imagine, if there would be a “road rage” right after a Eucharistic Meal? How shameful!
The Eucharistic Meal, especially for those who are able to attend only on Sundays, is our “baon” for the coming week. It is not just something to look forward to. It is something that will give us strength and inspiration as we go through the activities of the week ahead.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for being so thoughtful of us!
