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Gospel: John 6: 52-29
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.”
These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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John paints a clear picture of Christ, who gives himself to us in the Eucharist.
In today’s Gospel, for example, Jesus says:
“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. [But] whoever eats my Flesh and Drinks my Blood has eternal life.”
What marvelous news! You and I have received the pledge of eternal life.
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But what do we do with that life we’re given?
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Saint Augustine once wrote, “Become what you consume.”
Become like Christ.
We become like Christ when we feed our neighbors through our parish soup kitchen. We become like Christ when we make the effort to learn our neighbor’s name.
We become like Christ when we forgive others their trespasses. We become like Christ we offer our time.
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“Become what you consume.”
How can you and I become like Christ for others today?
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Image credits: (1) LoveSove.com (2)The Savior with the Eucharist, Juan de Juanes 1550 (3) The Passion Epidemic: Mike Patin