Fr. Michael Williams

Jesus preached His Bread of Life sermon at the synagogue in Capernaum. This was one of the most radical sermons Jesus ever gave, and it scandalised many of His listeners. The language He used was unlike anything they had heard before. Listen to what He says: ‘I am the Living Bread which has come down from Heaven. Anyone who eats this Bread will live forever; and the Bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world’. By preaching this sermon, Jesus was preparing His disciples for the institution of the Sacrament of His Body and Blood, at the Last Supper, when He would take bread and say, ‘Take this and eat it this is My Body given for you’, and then He would take a chalice of wine and say, ‘Take this and drink from it, this is the cup of my blood’. And so Jesus makes Himself present to us in a mysterious way.

By instituting the Eucharist, Jesus ingeniously allows us to share His life; He gives Himself to us as spiritual food. He says in the gospel, ‘Whoever eats me will draw life from me [and] anyone who eats this Bread will live forever’. In Holy Communion Jesus gives us a share in His Divine life to help us. So many people from different walks of life, and of different ages, and of different nationalities, down the centuries have drawn strength from Jesus, the Bread of Life, in Holy Communion. Tommy Burns, the Celtic captain who died this week, was a Mass goer who knew that Mass and Communion, are among the most important things in life, more important than sport. In his illness he knew the Lord was with Him, especially through Holy Communion. Pope Benedict says, “We are all united beyond our differences of nationality, profession, social class, political ideas: We open ourselves to each other to become one in Jesus”. The Holy Eucharist is uniting us today with so many people across the world.

The Lord has fulfilled His promise of being with us always by giving us His Body and Blood as spiritual food. He is with us on our journey through life. He was with Moses and the Israelites as they travelled through, ‘This vast and dreadful wilderness, a land of fiery serpents, scorpions, thirst’. It could be said that we too are travelling through a ‘vast and dreadful wilderness’, a world full of dangers. I don’t just mean physical dangers, I mean spiritual dangers too. There are spiritual forces at work that are seeking to draw take us away from God, our only hope. One of the most poisonous forces at work in our society is atheism or the denial of God. Holy Communion gives us the strength to reject false ideologies.

The great gift of the Eucharist, of Holy Communion, should never be taken for granted and never treated lightly by us. Familiarity can breed contempt. We must always safeguard against superficiality with regard the Holy Eucharist. For example, we genuflect when we go past the tabernacle; we receive Holy Communion well; we come to Mass is good time and don’t rush out after it’s finished, we could light a candle in thanksgiving.

St. Thomas Aquinas said Jesus’ Presence under the appearance of bread and wine ‘was the greatest of the miracles He worked’. Aquinas also said it is a reality that can only be accepted with faith.

Lord Jesus, we thank You for the miracle which occurs at every Mass, when You show Yourself as ‘the Bread which has come down from heaven’, where You promise to feed us with the spiritual food of Your Body and Blood. Lord Jesus, deepen our faith in this great mystery of our faith.