The one who feeds on me
“For my Flesh is true food, and my Blood is true drink.” This is the central solemn affirmation of the discourse on the Bread of Life, and it is the most explicitly eucharistic. The previous declaration of Jesus as Bread of Life refers to his whole person, his words and his actions. They are lifegiving. Jesus now refers to something more specific: his Flesh is food to be eaten and his Blood to be taken as drink. Jesus does not speak in metaphors or symbols. He means it literally, but not in the way cannibals do it.
The Jews ask how Jesus can give them his Flesh to eat. Jesus makes this possible in the Eucharist where the bread is his body broken and shared, and the chalice of wine is his blood poured out and likewise shared. Again, the Eucharist anticipates Jesus’ giving of self on the cross. It also makes present Jesus’ sacrificial offering for all time.
St. Paul reminds the Corinthians of their Eucharistic Celebration: “As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes” (1 Cor 11:26).
First Reading • Acts 9:1-20
Saul, still breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, that, if he should find any men or women who belonged to the Way, he might bring them back to Jerusalem in chains.
On his journey, as Saul was nearing Damascus, a light from the sky suddenly flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” He said, “Who are you, sir?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do.” (…) There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” He answered, “Here I am, Lord.” The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight and ask at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is there praying, and in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, that he may regain his sight.” (…) The Lord said to him, “Go, for this man is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before Gentiles, kings, and children of Israel, and I will show him what he will have to suffer for my name.” So Ananias went and entered the house; laying his hands on him, he said, “Saul, my brother, the Lord has sent me, Jesus who appeared to you on the way by which you came, that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately things like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight. He got up and was baptized, and when he had eaten, he recovered his strength (…)
Gospel • John 6:52-59
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.