The Eucharist is Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for First Holy Communion

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

Sunday, July 11, 2021

The central claim of the Catholic Church is that the Eucharist is the source and summit of Christian life, which means the Eucharist is the beginning and the end. By the way, this prominent statement was made at the Second Vatican Council. Yet, 55 years after the Second Vatican Council, 70% of Catholics still do not understand the meaning of the Eucharist. Where is the problem coming from? Is this a problem of communication? Are the parents, teachers, catechists, priests, deacons and religious etc. not doing a good job? Where is this high level of unbelief coming from? What happened? How come 70% of Catholics do not believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist? You know, when it comes to the commands of Jesus Christ like, “Love your neighbor,” “Pray for those who persecute you,” “When someone slaps you on one cheek, turn the other,” many of us do not keep these commands most of the time. But there is one command of Jesus that has masterfully been followed up and down the centuries. Despite our sins, our stupidity, our weaknesses and failures, somehow the command, “Do this in memory of me” has been followed.  It is as if Jesus himself realized that he has to intervene and make sure his followers remember to repeat the amazing sacrament of the Eucharist because it is so central to what it means to be his disciples. So, despite everything, we always remember to carry out the Lord’s injunction: “Do this in memory of me.” 

For the 69% or 70% Catholics who do not believe in the Real Presence of Christ Jesus in the Eucharist, you are rejecting the most fundamental truth of our faith. And let me even say it as clearly as I can, you are rejecting the words of the Lord. You are not paying enough attention to the “source and summit of the Christian life.” If the Eucharist is merely a symbol, why do we give such reverence, such adoration, such worship, and such honor to it? If the Eucharist is merely a symbol and a sign, that’s not enough for me. At Mass, I want to receive the Lord, not a symbol.

What does John 6 tell us? This Gospel tells us that Jesus went up on the mountain, sat down and was surrounded by his disciples. When Jesus looks up, he saw a large hungry crowd and immediately asks his disciples, “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?” The disciples brought a boy who has five loaves and two fish. Jesus took them from him, multiplied them and fed the whole crowd. This is the liturgy of the Eucharist, folks. Jesus wants to teach us, but most profoundly, he also wants to feed us. After this great miracle, a twelve baskets were filled with fragments. 

In this Gospel, the crowd that witnessed and enjoyed the miracle of the loaves went to Capernaum in search of Jesus; and having found him across the sea asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” Jesus replied, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled.” Then strikingly he added, “Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his his seal.” That is, do not hunger for these passing loafs of yesterday, rather, hunger for the food that lasts for eternal life. When the people finally made their request, “Sir, give us this bread always” (John 6:34), Jesus declared and said, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst” (John 6:35). After hearing Jesus made such a bold claim, the Jews murmured and complained, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he say, “I have come down from heaven?” However, without backing down, Jesus insisted and said: “I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died, this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. 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 6:47-51). 

By this time, the Jews are no longer murmuring. Jesus’ declaration has raised the tempo. They quarreled among themselves and complained, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” (John 6:52) As if to add salt to injury, Jesus defiantly maintains: “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 (John 6:53-56).

The controversy about the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is not new at all. It started right from the very moment Jesus declares his flesh as the true food and his blood as the true drink. For a first century Jew, there is a good reason to hesitate and reject this new teaching. Scattered throughout the Old Testament are the prohibitions of the eating of animal flesh with blood. The blood is life, so they don’t eat animal flesh with blood. It was strictly forbidden. And here is Jesus whom they knew his father and mother stating that they have to eat his flesh and drink his blood. It is not only gross, but also theologically objectionable to the highest degree. So, the Jews balked and refused to accept the new teaching of Jesus. As you can see, in this Gospel passage, Jesus was given a number of opportunities to soften his teaching, to propose a more symbolic or metaphorical reading, but rather than take that path, he insists: Amen, amen, I say to you (that is, listen, listen, there is something very important coming), unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.” And to rob it in, he says, “For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.” In these words, Jesus turns the heat. He was not speaking symbolically but literally. 

After laying down this new teaching, this new marker, many of his followers turned back and will not go with him anymore. They said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it” (John 6:60). After they left, Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Do you also want to leave?” (John 6:67). Speaking on behalf of the Twelve, Peter replied, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). Now, if Jesus was speaking symbolically, his Jewish audience wouldn’t have been so upset with him; and some of his early followers wouldn’t have turned back. The reason why they stormed away in protest is because Jesus didn't compromise or soften his teaching. He knew exactly what he was saying, that is why he turned to the Twelve and asked if they were going to leave him as well. The Eucharistic Discourse of John 6 and of course the institution narratives is the great ground for the Catholic Church insistence of the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. This is not a later invention; the root is here in the Gospel of John 6. 

The Eucharist is not a symbol. It is not a sign. It is Jesus of Nazareth. The same Jesus who was born by Mary, who went about doing good, who was strongly opposed by the Pharisees and chief priests, who healed the sick, raised the dead, preached powerfully God’s love and plan for the human race, the same Jesus who was crucified, who died and is now risen is supremely present in the Eucharist. He is personally and actively present in what we receive at Mass. During consecration, the substance of the bread and wine changes and become the Body and Blood of the Lord. Believe this message not merely because I am saying it but because Jesus said so. As he laid out this new teaching, he was given multiple opportunities to pull back, to redefine, and say that he was speaking in a symbolic and metaphorical manner. Rather than do that, he doubled down. First, he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven” (Jn. 6:41). When the Jews complained that he said he came down from heaven, he insisted, “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. 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” (Jn. 6:47-51). Secondly, after the Jews quarreled furiously among themselves and said, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” (Jn. 6:52), Jesus did not back away, rather he obstinately declared, “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” (Jn. 6:53). The Eucharist is the means by which we are Christified. In both body and soul, in both mind and heart, we are Christified by the Eucharist. Our lowly body is Christified and is prepared for heaven by our contact with the Reality of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist. If Jesus spoke symbolically, he would have said so. If what he meant in these passages I have lifted from Gospel was to be understood in a metaphorical sense, he would clarified himself. If the Eucharist were a mere sign or symbol of his Body and Blood, he would have explained it. When many of his disciples decided to leave him and return to their former way of life, he would have called them back and said something like, “The bread and wine I will give you will be signs and symbols of my Body and Blood.” But that is not what he said. 

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.