In Holy Scripture, we learn that the history of man from the very beginning is a religious
history.
It is the history of those who worship God authentically, like Abel, or those who worship
God in an inauthentic manner, like Cain.
And today, our Lord is trying to bring all those to a most profound understanding, indeed,
the culmination of the religious history of mankind.
And so, St. John begins by pointing out that those who are deliberately ignorant of truths
always find fault in the subtle doctrines of truth and foolishly strive to tear it to
pieces.
And so, our Lord would strive this day to overcome those who would try to tear to pieces
that most subtle of all doctrines.
And by subtle, we do not mean that God deliberately makes them complicated, but by subtle here
we mean that we are dealing with mysteries beyond the comprehension of human reason unaided
by the grace of God.
And so, our Lord tries to point out that they should have been eager to learn and to have
searched diligently into the things that he has spoken of, and not to have risen up and
called hard that which they should have marveled at.
For today, our Lord, in the sixth chapter of St. John, brings to culmination all that
was pointed to in the Old Testament.
He reveals to them the mystery that was hidden from of old, that if we were to have true
life, then that life must be attained through the Eucharist, that is, we must eat his body
and drink his blood.
And because they did not have spiritual eyes or spiritual ears to discern this truth, they
accuse the Lord this day of trying to teach the doctrine of cannibalism because they did
not see these divine mysteries.
And so, today, the Lord teaches us that those who wish to hear the divine mysteries must
be wise exchangers, that is, wise bankers, so that they discern and approve the true
coin from the counterfeit coin, that is, the true Savior from all the false saviors of
the world.
And indeed, it would be God the Father himself who would be the one who would be able to
point to us the true coin, for he will say of his son, this is my son in whom I am well
pleased.
Listen to him.
And so, we must listen to the Lord if we are to gain that understanding that the human
soul was created for, and ultimately, if we are to gain that kingdom by which he came
to redeem us and open the doors closed by the sin of mankind.
And so, our Lord, understanding the thoughts of these men.
Seek to heal them again, leading them by the hand to the mysteries that they are ignorant
of.
And so, the Lord is essentially saying to all those who do not comprehend the doctrine
of his real presence, very foolishly are you men offended by my words.
Rather, you should listen and ponder them.
And so, he tries to give them an example that many of them would see their very self.
And so, we see that all the mysteries of Christ's life.
Life on earth, in some way, point to that marvelous, most marvelous of mysteries that
will perdure until the end of time, that he is truly present amongst us, body, blood,
soul, and divinity in the Eucharist.
And so, he seeks to remove this ignorance by giving them an example that if my body
cannot give life as you believe, because it is not of its nature to give life, what will
your response be when you see its soul like it is?
And so, the Lord is trying to teach them to be more discerning, to look with spiritual
eyes on the mysteries that he is revealing, not, as it were, to look at all things in
an earthly way, in a fleshly way.
And so, out of all of the events of Holy Scripture, this event and this teaching gets
to the very heart of the Catholic faith.
That is, the Eucharistic real presence of Christ and the identity of the sacrifice,
the holy sacrifice of the Mass with the sacrifice of the cross.
Mankind has always and everywhere worshiped God by sacrifice, and when mankind failed
to offer true sacrifice.
God would reorganize his family.
He would save them through many miraculous interventions, and ultimately, he would call
Moses in order that Moses would re-found the true sacrifice offered to God, so that
the chosen people, in signs and symbols, were offering those sacrifices that today our Lord
reveals were pointing to the ultimate sacrifice.
And so, Christ himself would re-found again the sacrifice pleasing to the Father.
And so, Christ himself would re-found again the sacrifice pleasing to the Father.
And so, Christ himself would re-found again the sacrifice pleasing to the Father.
And indeed, he will teach them that in this sacrifice, he himself is both the victim
offered, and at the same time, he is the high priest offering the victim.
And so, he teaches us of his love, that he sacrificed himself and allowed all that would
transpire against that sacred humanity to transpire because it was his will to offer
himself for our sake.
And so, the holy sacrifice of the Mass is the fulfillment
of the religious history of mankind, and hence, it in it alone points to us our destiny.
That is, we were called, not as scripture tells us, for happiness in this life, but
for happiness in that life to come.
And that happiness is attained by way of entering into the mystery of the sacrifice.
Indeed, St. Paul tells us in the second reading that the love a husband must have for his
wife is a love that must imitate the love of Christ.
And so, we are called, not as scripture tells us, for happiness in this life, but for happiness
in the life of Christ.
And so, it must be a Eucharistic love, a total giving of himself for the sake of his
family, as Christ gave himself totally for the sake of the human family.
And so, every mystery that members of the mystical body enter into must be a mystery
imbued with a love of the sacrifice of Christ, and hence, a love of the sacrifice of the
cross.
And St. Peter, this day, will teach us the most profound of responses, for today,
St. Peter shows himself to be a man of eminent common sense, for he declares with his statement,
Lord, where shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life.
That is, I do not fully understand what you are saying, Lord, but I know you are a man
of truth, because, as he formally declared, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God.
And so, I will remain with you, not seeking, as it were, to delve into this by the use
of my reasonings.
I will remain with you, not seeking, as it were, to delve into this by the use of my
reasonings.
And so, the Lord gave no excuses.
He asked simply whether we would leave or whether we would stay.
And indeed, we see this repeated over and over again in human history.
For the chosen people were called out of Egypt, and when first they came to the promised land,
they rebelled.
For when they went in to reconnoiter themselves, they were called out of Egypt.
For when they went in to reconnoiter themselves, they were called out of Egypt.
For when they went in to reconnoiter themselves, they were called out of Egypt.
In the end, they were called out of the land.
They came out with stories of fierce men, savage men, who sacrificed their children
and indeed involved themselves in true cannibalism.
And so, Joshua had to try to overcome this, for they sought to return to Egypt.
For when we choose to live in the darkness, we do not see, even though it is before our
eyes.
They thought the fierce men in Canaan to be worse than the fierce men in Egypt, but ultimately
they were both wrong.
the same because both of them were imbued with philosophies that were contrary to life and Christ
came to give that one philosophy of life that he is the way the truth and the life and that there
is no life in us unless we enter in to that mystery of his presence among us until the end of time
that mystery of the Eucharist here Saint Peter chooses to stay with the Lord he will commit many
faults and failings but he will be always a man of great common sense because ultimately he will
always come back to the Lord because as he understood this day you and you alone Lord have
the words of eternal life and so let us be strengthened by this truth for our Lord truly
has the words of eternal life and if we remain faithful to him in this life then he will remain
faithful to us in the life to come and we see this most
clearly in the assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary for when our Lord's physical presence that
is the presence where you could discern a man was present because you could see him in the flesh was
no longer present the mother of God too was nurtured on his Eucharistic presence and so we
see the ultimate fruit of the Eucharistic presence for she would enter into that eternal abode in her
assumption and her body would not be touched by corruption
our bodies will because we are not over that order that exempts us from original sin
but we know that one day we truly will rise if we are nurtured on the true food and so
our Lord is telling us do not seek for the leaks in the onions of Egypt but seek for that food that
does not perish that food that is more abundant than the manna that flowed down to our forefathers
in in the in the desert that manner that is the true fruit of God beimoansus puren 약
that ...
manner of God the Father, that manner that will continue to come down from heaven until the end
of time through the holy sacrifice of the mass, the pinnacle and the culmination of all human
history. And all human history past will be judged by how it looked forward to the crucifixion of
Christ. Today, we see many rejecting that, but we also see many accepting it. And all generations
after the crucifixion will be judged in according to how they respond to that
mystery. Do they reject it and seek their happiness, that is, their food for this journey outside of
the holy sacrifice of the mass? Or do they humbly present themselves with their faults and failings
and their sins, constantly seeking from him and him alone those graces necessary to work out our
salvation in fear and trembling? So let us truly rejoice this day.
For the Lord has begun to unravel those mysteries hidden from the dawn of time,
but revealed, and most especially revealed, when our Lord will declare to his heavenly Father
at the height of his suffering, it is consummated. That is, Father, I have loved them to the end.
Now give them life. Give them life in that presence that is the greatest and most marvelous
of all mysteries, that in the Eucharist the Savior truly is with us,
truly our captain, guiding us through this veil of tears to the shores of eternity.
And he has entrusted those mysteries to the one whom this day shows himself to be a man
of eminent common sense, Saint Peter. Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
Those words would be entrusted to Peter, and he will guard them to the end of time.
And we can be confident in this because we do not believe it simply because,
it is proven to us beyond a shadow of a doubt by the use of human reason,
but it is proven to us by way of love. For the Lord has taught us these things,
and he has asked us to make an act of faith in him. We cannot possibly figure out the mysteries
of our faith totally in this life, for then there would be no room for faith. But if we go forward
in this life truly believing in him, then he will show us what it means for God,
to believe in us. For he will bring us to that home that was created for us from all eternity,
that is, the heavenly abode, where with the mother of God and all the angels of saints,
we will marvel at that mystery, but not in its hidden presence, for there we will not see him
masked under the appearance of bread and wine, but we will see him as he is, the joy of our souls.
So, what are we doing now?
So, what are we doing now?