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Master·evangeli.net

Today's Gospel + short theological explanation

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
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Gospel text (Jn 6:51-58): Jesus said to the crowd: «I am the living bread which has come from heaven; whoever eats of this bread will live forever. The bread I shall give is my flesh and I will give it for the life of the world». The Jews were arguing among themselves, «How can this man give us flesh to eat?». So Jesus replied, «Truly, I say to you, (…) those who eat my flesh and drink my blood, live in me and I in them (…)».

Jesus said to the crowds: "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world."
The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you... Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him..."

The Eucharist renders us "christiform"

Fr. Josep Mª MASSANA i Mola OFM (Barcelona, Spain)

Today, we listen to part of Jesus Christ’s Eucharistic discourse about the Bread of Life. The Jews get shocked when they hear they are to eat the Flesh and drink the Blood of Jesus: cannibalism, prohibition against drinking blood, a carrier and a symptom of life… But Jesus insists, as this relates to His Master Thesis.

The Eucharist is the great invention of the Son of God to stay among us and feed our life. But there is a remarkable difference between spiritual and material food. The latter is transformed into he who eats it. Whereas, the Eucharist, being a divine delicacy, works just the other way round: it is Christ who transforms us and assimilates us to Him.

—Jesus, I thank you for the Eucharist, for becoming my food: thus, I do not falter on my way. Give me hunger and thirst for You, so that I can eat with “appetite”. Give me a clean heart, so that I can “take advantage” of your Blood and Body. You are the only one who can satiate me.