Reflection on John 6:44-51

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Thursday, April 30, 2020

In today’s Gospel Jesus declares, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven.” Bread is good, and nourishing too. When we eat bread, it blends with our body; it is broken down and turned into fat, and the fat is stored in fat cells found around the body. Later, during activity especially physical activities, this fat is burned as energy to keep the body alive. Through this process, bread comes alive. But when we eat the Body of Christ, the Living Bread, we become alive in a way that we were not originally. In fact, we become what we eat— the body of Christ himself. St. John Chrysostom once said, “What is that bread? The Body of Christ! What do they become who are partakers therein? The Body of Christ! Not many bodies, but one Body.” 

Jesus says he is the living bread from heaven. So, what is heaven? A Nigerian Redemptorist priest, Fr. Donatus Nwachukwu, in one of his Nigerian Gospel songs said that “Heaven is the reward of righteousness.” We all believe that heaven is the final place of rest and peace for those who loved and served God. But St. Paul tells us that “Eye has not seen and ear has not heard what God prepared for those who love him.” Check the phrase, “those who love him.” This shows us that heaven is the realm of God and the realm of love. In the Eucharist, the Church triumphant (saints in heaven) and the Church militant (saints on earth) participate and share a meal together. In the Eucharist, the marriage of heaven and earth is celebrated over and over again. In the Eucharist, the fellowship and communion of the occupants of heaven and the occupants of earth goes on and on in an unbroken fashion. The Eucharist is called, “Panis Angelorum” (the Bread of Angels). Angels are God’s messengers. Throughout the Bible, angels are represented as a body of spiritual beings who intermediate between God and human beings. Although God has “made humanity a little less than angels (Psalm 8:6), angels are created beings just as human beings. The food of their nourishment, refreshment and sustenance is the Bread of life. So, it should be with us as well. For the great St. Pope John Paul II, “We are nourished with this bread to become authentic witnesses of the Gospel. We need this bread to grow in love, the necessary means for us to recognize the face of Christ in the faces of our brothers and sisters” (Homily of John Paul II on the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, Thursday 14, June 2001).

So, what is the Eucharist? It is the heavenly food that enables us to participate in the love between the Father and the Son. The Eucharist is the means through which we become Christified. In the Eucharist, the sacrifice of Christ Jesus is made fully present, and his sacrifice is the fullest expression of love of the Father and the Son for the human race. The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life. In the Eucharist, the believer encounters the Jesus of Nazareth who suffered, was crucified, died and risen. In his homily on the Solemnity of Corpus Christi in 2001, Pope John Paul II asserts that, “Christ who died and rose for us is really present in the Holy Eucharist. In the consecrated Bread and Wine, the same Jesus of the Gospel remains with us whom the disciples met and followed, whom they saw crucified and risen, whose wounds Thomas touched, exclaiming prostrate in adoration: “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28)”

Beloved in Christ, are you still looking for Jesus? Are you like some of the Greeks who came to Philip and asked, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus?” (John 12:20-21), I invite you to the breaking of the Bread (Mass). Remember, it was only when Jesus broke the bread before his two disciples who traveled to Emmaus that they were able to recognize that the stranger who joined them during their journey was no other person but the Risen Lord himself. Again, for St.Pope John Paul II, “In the breaking of the bread, the eyes of those who seek him with a sincere heart are opened. In the Eucharist, the intuition of the heart recognizes Jesus and his unmistakable love lived “to the end.” (Jn. 13:1)”

Why do we need the Eucharist? Life is a journey. And on this journey, we need nourishment. We need sustenance. We need refreshment. We need a refill. No other food can offer and guarantee us all these but the Body of Christ. Moreover, Jesus knows the brunt of this journey of life. He lived it himself. So, he journeys with us. He goes before us and offers himself to us as our nourishment and support. Through the priests of the Church, the Lord continues to say, “Give them something to eat” (Luke 9:17). The food we urgently need to continue to travel on this journey is the Eucharist, the Body of Jesus Christ, broken and offered to us. 

As you believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and receive him worthily, may you continuously become what you receive. Become the bread of life for yourself and the world. Amen.