when our protestant brothers and sisters critique our interpretation of the sixth
chapter of saint john's gospel they say that our lord is speaking metaphorically
when he talks about the bread of life about his coming down from heaven and about how
only those who eat his body and drink his blood will have life in them
and our lord does indeed speak of himself as the bread of life in the context of
um of his being the source of all salvation the son of god that's been brought into the world who
will bring about the forgiveness of everyone's sins
our protestant brothers and sisters will say that's as far as it goes
but there is in a sense where our lord is saying that before he reveals the eucharist and before
he tells them that um unless you eat my body and drink my blood you'll have no life in you
he does talk about himself in the context of the bread of life
and and as being the one that god whom had sent that they must accept in fact at the beginning of
at the beginning of of the discourse on the bread of life
uh there is this dialogue between um our lord and and the people that had come over across the lake
about the works of god and uh and he tells them that they must do the works of god and they ask
them what it is um he says what can we do to accomplish the works of god jesus answered them
and said to them this is the way to do it and he said to them this is the way to do it and he said
this is the work of god that you should believe in the one he he has sent and so um
they needed to be docile they needed to open their hearts and their minds to him at that
moment they knew that he had worked the miracles of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes
they knew he had power that's why they had come all that way to the other side of the lake they
wanted to be fed and our lord told them that you're looking for human bread you need to
need to be looking for the bread that came down from heaven and that was
him
himself and before they did anything else what they needed to do was to open their hearts and
minds to him they needed to accept him as the one sent by god and if they did that all things were
possible if they didn't do that then eternal life was closed off to them and it was in that context
then that he talked about the eucharist about the fact that they would have to eat and drink his
blood and that they would have to trust him as to what it meant they immediately thought he was
talking about cannibalism
and they went astray in what they understood him to be speaking about but the apostles on the other
hand as we see at the end of the gospel as we will read through it in the next few days they didn't
understand completely either but saint peter said where will we go lord you have the words of
eternal life so at the heart of our eucharistic worship and adoration is the spirit of humility
and and docility by which we realize that we need to be taught we are disciples
students. Jesus is the master. He is the teacher. And he continues his ministry of teaching in the
church. And that in the spirit of humility and docility is at the heart of every possible
move we can make in a spiritual life, whether it's repentance from sin or moving forward in
our prayer life or practicing charity with other people or speaking the truth in the face of
lies. All of it is tied to the sacred ministry of our Lord whereby he offered himself as a
victim for the life of the world and yet did it also as the one who was the source of all
salvation. Today we celebrate the memorial feast day of St. Catherine of Siena who
was a simple, humble woman who put the gifts that God had given her
at the start of her life into the daily life of her church.
service of the church, and she was persecuted for it.
And for a time, she was deprived of the Blessed Sacrament.
She was refused communion because they thought she might be a heretic
or that her mystical gifts might be coming from the devil.
And she longed.
She used to sit at the entrance of the church and attend Mass,
but she was not permitted to receive communion.
And she longed and longed to receive Holy Communion.
We should cultivate that longing in our own hearts,
realizing the gift that our Lord is in the Blessed Sacrament,
receiving him not only in the state of grace
but with the greatest possible devotion that we can
because it is such a great gift because it is our Lord himself,
the greatest gift we could possibly ever receive.
But in order to receive him worthily, in order to receive him fruitfully,
we need to have that spirit of docility to accept him, his teaching,
and his will for us.
This has manifested in so many different ways in the church,
in our vocations, in our daily duty, in our superiors,
to accept him on his own terms and to conform ourselves to his will for us.
May our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament truly be the bread of life for us
that has come down from heaven.
May the work of God that we do before anything else
be to accept him, the one whom God has sent.
Amen.
Amen.