Daily Retreat 05/05/06

2006 May 5 Fri: Easter Weekday

Acts 9: 1‑20/ Ps 116(117): 1bc. 2/ Jn 6: 52‑59

 

From today’s readings:  “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?...  Go out to all the world and tell the Good News….  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….”

 

How Can He?

 

Of all the hard sayings Jesus unveils in His Bread of Life discourse (Chapter Six of the Gospel of St. John), the most scandalous was His shocking climax:  the Bread of Life, of which He spoke, was His very flesh for the life of the world!

 

So, it’s no wonder that the Jews were flabbergasted and quarreled about His incredible claim!  Had our Lord  merely been speaking metaphorically, allegorically, or figuratively, He certainly would have realized His obligation to clarify the natural misunderstanding that had arisen among His listeners. 

 

But instead of apologizing for stretching the poetic license, Jesus reconfirms the literalism of His words, insisting “My Flesh is true food, and My Blood is true drink.”  And the Bread of Life is not just intended as some exotic gourmet intended only for the elite, for “unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood, you do not have life within you.”

 

How can this Man give us His Flesh to eat?  For those who don’t believe in His divinity, the words of Jesus will forever be spit out as tasteless hyperbole.  But for those who recognize Jesus as the true Son of God, for those who eat His Body and drink His Blood, the Lord’s words of life are joyfully digested as the recipe for the Bread of Life, the Eucharist, the true Bread come down from Heaven, having within it all sweetness!

Fr. Rory Pitstick
Our Lady of the Valley Parish
2511 N. Elmway
Okanogan WA 98840 USA
(509) 422-5049

"Illum oportet crescere, me autem minui." John 3:30

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