Sunday 16th August, 2009
20TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME. 
 Proverbs 9:1-6. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord—Ps 33(34):2-3, 10-15. Ephesians 5:15‑20. John 6:51-58. [St Stephen of Hungary]

  
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‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’

Today’s gospel relates the promise of the Eucharist. To many of his disciples, this statement of Jesus, that they were to eat his flesh, seemed intolerable. It is not surprising that in their perplexity they asked how it was to be possible.

Jesus simply reaffirmed that he is the living bread that has come down from heaven, and that those who eat of it will live forever. The poor, for whom the provision of daily bread for their family is a constant struggle, would have understood better than most of us. Then Jesus advanced a step further, to say that we, who eat this bread, already have eternal life, now.

Perhaps the reason why Jesus did not answer the question is that he is himself the explanation. His life, his love, his authority, his miracles, and the Power that raised him from the dead is the basis of our faith, and that is a firmer basis than any attempt to explain the Real Presence in merely human terms.