Eucharist: The Food for the Journey
Rev. Marcel Emeka Okwara CSsR
Homily for the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
St. Gerard Majella Church, Baton Rouge, LA, USA
August 9, 2015
What does it really mean to share communion with another person? The most dramatic and yet familiar image of communion between persons can be found in the marriage bond. The book of Genesis 2:24 tells us that, “a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh;” the two are united in an intimate communion of life and love. This very covenant between a man and a woman is by nature life-giving. For this reason, we say that the bond of marriage exists for the sake of both life and love.
This is how it is with the Eucharist. Our communion with Jesus Christ is, in fact, a spousal union. He is the Bridegroom, and we, the church, are his bride. We are intimately united with him in the Holy Eucharist that we become one body with him. By eating his Body and drinking his Blood, we are materially and substantially united with him in an intimate communion of life and love. If we receive him worthily, with hearts truly open to the grace that is offered to us in this sacrament, we share in his very life and through him partake in the life of the Blessed Trinity as well. This marriage relationship with Christ Jesus, by its very nature, is life-giving and makes us fertile. The union makes us generators and givers of life to those who hunger and thirst for God.
In today’s first reading taken from 1 Kings 19:4-8, we see an indication of this mystery in the story of Prophet Elijah in the desert. Prophet Elijah was being hunted down by Jezebel, the wife of King Ahab, for silencing the false prophets of a false god, Baal. In a message to Elijah, Jezebel said, “May the gods strike me dead if by this time tomorrow I don’t kill and destroy you.” Frightened by her threat, Elijah escaped and ran into a desert. Having walked a whole day in the desert, he was tired. In his fatigue, he prayed, “Lord, this is too much for me. (Please) take away my life; I might as well be dead!” As he was sleeping under a tree, an angel of God came to him with heavenly bread and said: “Wake up and eat.” When Elijah got up, he found a loaf of bread and a jar of water near his head. He ate and drank, and lay down again. Later, the angel came back and said to him, “Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you.” He ate again and was strengthened both in body and in spirit to continue his journey to the mountain of God’s presence, which is an earthly image of heaven.
People of God, if Elijah can get strength and encouragement by consuming the bread and water an angel offered him, we, who have the special privilege of living during the time of grace of Jesus Christ can even get much more strength, healing, power, encouragement and grace. Jesus, our Most Holy Redeemer, the One greater than all the angels, the One whom all the angels worship is offering us the real Bread, his Body, and the real Drink, his Blood. In today’s Gospel he says to us, “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” (John 6:51). He is inviting us to share communion with him. To refuse the invitation to partake in the Bread of Life is to refuse life itself. The Eucharist is the food for the journey. And if we receive him in the right disposition, St. Augustine says, “We become what we receive—that is, the body of Christ.”
The Eucharist is our food for the journey of discipleship. The words of the angel to Prophet Elijah, “get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!” (1 King 19: 7) explains it all. The journey of life is long! It could be steep as well. It may be an uphill or downhill journey. We may travel on sunny, pleasant conditions. We may also travel on a cloudy, foggy, and dark night. But no matter what the journey brings, we will surely get to our destination if we are united with the Lord. The Eucharist embodies the transformative power of the Cross. It contains Jesus’ everything, given to us so that we might live more fully here in this world and be ultimately granted a share in the marriage feast of the Lamb in the Kingdom. As we feed our body with material food for its sustenance, let’s not forget the most important food of all—the Eucharist. It’s the food that nourishes and strengthens us both in body and soul to undertake the journey of life with ease.
