First Reading: Prov 9:1-6
Second Reading: Eph 5:15-20
Dear friends, this twentieth
Sunday in Ordinary Time invite us to focus on the central mystery of our
catholic faith; the Eucharist. The Lord who made His dwelling among humans
through His physical presence has not left that presence. He continues to be
present physically among humans across the world in the form of the Eucharistic
bread. In the gospel passage of today, Jesus stresses that eating of His body
and drinking of His blood is necessary for eternal life. The consumption of His
body and blood ensures His presence in the person who consumed it. Jesus
insists on this eating, so that He could abide in us. The life of Jesus depends
on the life of God the Father who sent Him. As the Father lives, so the Son.
Without the life of the Father, the existence of the Son is impossible and vice
versa. Their divine intimacy, one feeding on the other, one causing the other
to exist is inseparable. Jesus invites us to have this form of intimacy with
Him. He is calling us to place our existence wholly on Him.
We take food to nourish our
body and improve our physic. The body takes what is necessary from the food
that we consume and sends the rest away. Our body has control over food that we
intake. On the contrary, the spiritual food of Eucharist preserves what is
needed for our soul and sends all the dirt away. Here, the food takes control
over the being who has consumed it. Yes, Jesus is present everywhere. His power
could be sensed in all places. However, there is a difference between the
invisible presence of Jesus in all places and His concrete and lasting presence
in the Eucharist. In the gospel, Jesus affirms firmly that we need to eat His
body and blood to abide in Him. Thus, it is not enough to be satisfied with the
spiritual presence of Jesus. We need to allow Jesus to be physically present in
us. The presence of Jesus in the Eucharistic bread is true, real and
substantial. Once, the priest invokes the presence of God’s Spirit upon the
gifts in the Holy Mass, the presence of Jesus is made manifest concretely in
the bread and wine until they are consumed and dissolved. No circumstance or
accidents (irreverence) can take away the presence of Jesus from the bread and
wine. That’s the reason why the Catholic Church offers atonement whenever
tabernacles are vandalized and holy species are treated contemptuously. Even
the priest who has the power to invoke the spirit to transform the bread and
wine into the most holy body and blood of Jesus cannot remove the real presence
of Jesus from the Eucharist at any circumstances and conditions. Therefore,
after the distribution of communion in the Holy Mass, the Eucharistic bread is
either preserved in the tabernacle or consumed so that any potential
irreverence is averted.
This teaching is hard to
accept. It needs wisdom beyond human prudence to comprehend. In the first
reading, wisdom is presented as lady who is ready with food made up of all
ingredients. That food is none other than wisdom itself. The banquet of the
wisdom is given to the simple and the lowly. They are invited to partake in the
banquet of wisdom, so that they can lay aside their simplicity and walk in the
way of insight (Prov 9:6). Similarly, the eating of Jesus’ flesh and blood will
enable us to understand the mystery that is present in the Eucharist. In both
the meal – wisdom and Eucharist – it is a banquet. It cannot be eaten alone.
There is a community aspect which is present inherently. The Lord throws the
party of wisdom and His Body and Blood to the multitude. We receive wisdom of
the Lord and Eucharist in the community. The celebration of Eucharist we listen
to the Wisdom of God (God’s Word) and receive communion as community. As St.
Paul says in the second reading let us not be foolish, but understand what the
will of the Lord is (Eph 5:17). It is the will of the Lord that we make His
presence felt in us concretely through the consumption of the Eucharist. Our
eternal life consists in receiving His Most Holy Body and the Blood in the form
of bread and wine. Let us carry out this will of the Lord faithfully without
any doubt and irreverence. May the Wisdom of the Lord guide us to understand
this central mystery of the Catholic Church.
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