Lectio Divina, Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time August 18, 2024

READ
Jn 6:51-58
Jesus said to the crowds:
"I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
whoever eats this bread will live forever;
and the bread that I will give
is my flesh for the life of the world."

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."

MEDITATE

"I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever”

So much has been said about the Bread of Life Discourse. What can I add for a worthwhile meditation? Catholic apologetics refer to this passage when proving how Jesus himself confirms the Catholic doctrine on the Eucharist. It may just be the most Catholic passage in all of Scripture. Most importantly, it gets to the point of it all. At least for me, it tells me what to do to obtain what I am after. Sure, I love God, but really what I’m after is eternal life. And it’s strange how Jesus does not say we will never die, but he does say if we eat the Bread that came down from heaven, we live forever. Is there a difference? Since we all will still die even after receiving the Eucharist, there must be a difference. Different translations, or perhaps elsewhere in the Gospels he may say ‘You will never die’, but let’s just dwell on this passage and this translation for now. It points to the fact that receiving the Eucharist is not a way out of death. ‘You will live forever’, points to the idea that there is life after death. This connects to Christ’s teaching that we must follow him, because even he wasn’t spared from death. No servant is better than his master. If he had to suffer death, then we also will have to suffer it in order to obtain eternal life.

the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world

In the Our Father, we pray, 'Give us this day our daily bread.' There are at least two reasons for praying that. First—at least in the Our Father prayer—bread is symbolic of sustenance and providence. While carbohydrates often get a bad reputation these days, grains are still the most foundational food group for most diets, as they have been for just about every society since the beginning of history. Grains are the most fundamental food. They grow abundantly and they provide essential nutrients. When the Israelites were starving in the desert, God gave them manna, a form of heavenly bread. The foreshadowing of the Eucharist in that Old Testament story is very clear. God sustained the Israelites physically with bread, and he sustains us spiritually with the Bread of Life.

Which leads to the second reason we say 'Give us this day our daily bread' in the Our Father. It's so that when saying the prayer, we are inviting Jesus' body into our bodies. We pray the Our Father shortly before receiving Communion to prepare our hearts to receive. We do many other things, like go to Confession and make peace with our neighbors. But keep in mind that praying the Our Father is also an important part of the preparation, because in that prayer we are willfully inviting Jesus in, and this invitation makes the relationship with him go both ways. God invites us to the altar, and we invite him into the temple of our bodies by saying ‘Give us this day our daily bread.’

How can this man give us his flesh to eat?

Because he is God. God can change the substance of something without changing the form. Remember, in the Eucharist we witness transubstantiation, not transformation. People look at the form and they see bread and wine, and they say nothing has been transformed. They’re right. The basic difference between form and substance is this: The form of something is what it is made of, while the substance is what it is. Therefore, it makes sense for the Church to teach transubstantiation, because God is. He is existence. He is not that which makes up existence. He is existence itself. He said to Moses, “I am who am”. Since he is who is, he has the power to change the substance of something without changing the form. If he says he is the Bread of Life, he is the Bread of Life. If he says he is the piece of bread we receive at Communion, he is that piece of bread. He has the power to make something so by merely speaking it. He spoke the universe into existence. When he says something, it becomes the truth.

Amazingly, he passed on this faculty to priests when it comes to the consecration of the Eucharist. By the power of their words, a priest can call upon God to transubstantiate the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ.

whoever eats this bread will live forever.

These are the words Jesus leaves us with at the end of this Sunday’s Gospel. We are left meditating on them as we prepare our souls to go up to the altar. He also began with these words. He begins and ends with the salient point, because he is the beginning and the end. He is the priority, and he has the last word. In that last word, he offers us eternal life. Will we accept the offer and let him in?

 

PRAY

Precious Jesus,

When it’s hard to believe that you are the Bread and Wine I receive, help me to remember how it makes sense. Help me to remember that it makes sense for Love to desire closeness with his beloved creation. Help me to see that there is no better way to do this than by becoming food and drink for us to put inside our bodies. You knew this is the best way to be as close to us as possible, and so you created a way to make it happen. I praise you for this miracle you perform at every Mass, and thank you for the Eucharist. In the sweet name of Jesus I pray. Amen.
 

LISTEN

Many people did not want to listen to Jesus’ teaching on the Bread of Life. It was too strange and unbelievable for them. But I love what Peter says. When asked by Jesus, “Will you leave me too?”, he says, “To where shall we go? You alone have the words of eternal life.” He listened because he desired what we all desire: eternal life. And he knew that in order to obtain it, he had to listen to the one who offered it, because he had no idea how to obtain it himself. If someone tells us to do something we don’t want to do, and it’s not even required in order to obtain something we want to obtain, why would we listen? But if we know it’s the missing element that will give us what we desire most, then we will listen. So the only question that remains is, ‘Do I want to live forever?’ If so, then I should listen to Jesus.

Glory Be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

 

 

About the Author:

David Kilby is a freelance writer from New Jersey and managing editor of Catholic World Report. He received his undergrad degree in humanities and Catholic culture from the Franciscan University of Steubenville. In addition to working with the Knights of the Holy Eucharist (knights.org), he has served as a journalist for Princeton Packet Publications, and the Trenton Monitor, the magazine for the Diocese of Trenton. Some of his published work can also be found in St. Anthony Messenger, Catholic Herald (UK), and Catholic World Report. For the latter he is managing editor. Find more of his writing at ramblingspirit.com