Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
One
of my favorite movies is the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. While the purists may argue about the
real value of the movies, I like them.
One of my favorite comedic dialogues from the Trilogy, is between
Aragorn, Pippin, and Merry, as they’re going to Rivendell, the home of the
Elves. Pippin wants to stop for
breakfast, but Aragorn tells them that they have to keep going, and besides,
they’ve already had breakfast.
Pippen then says, “We’ve had one, yes. But what about second breakfast?” Merry chimes in, “Don’t think he knows about second
breakfast, Pip.” To which, Pippen
replies, “What about elevensies?
Luncheon? Afternoon
tea? Dinner? Supper?”
In
the overall picture of destroying the One Ring and defeated Sauron, all those
meals, as good as they are, were not as important. There are greater goals which trump the goods of “nice,
crispy bacon.” The same can be
said for our Gospel passage today.
Today
marks the beginning of a continuous reading of John 6, called the Bread of Life
discourse, as we hear about the Multiplication of the Loaves. The Multiplication itself was
prefigured in God giving the Israelites manna in the dessert (though, as we’ll
hear in the next few weeks, the people later thought it was Moses who gave them
manna), as well as in our first reading, when Elisha fed one hundred people
with only twenty barley loaves.
But
the Multiplication of the Loaves was not the goal. The goal was the teaching on the Eucharist, a tough teaching
indeed. In fact, it was so tough,
that most of Jesus’ disciples abandoned Him. But we’ll hear about that in a few weeks.
Still,
the problem is that we can be more like Pippen than we’d like to admit. The story of the food can distract us
from the point of the miracle that Jesus performed. And John is quite clear that Jesus is the agent, not the
people. John writes, “[Jesus]
himself knew what he was going to do” and “Jesus…distributed [the loaves] to
those who were reclining,” after he had first given thanks (in Greek eucharistesas…it sounds like Eucharist). But, as will hear later, the people get
stuck with the feeding, and they don’t understand the spiritual truth for which
the miracle was meant to prepare the way.
And that spiritual truth was that Jesus was to give Himself as the Bread
of Life for the people in the Eucharist, which is truly His Flesh, and the Wine
of Salvation which is truly His Blood.
Sadly,
many Catholics today get stuck with the food, and don’t realize the truth. Too many Catholics see bread and
think…bread. Or taste wine and
think…wine. Some surveys say that
only 30% of Catholics believe that the bread and the wine, given by the people
to the priest, to offer in their name to God, really becomes, for as long as it
exists, the Body and Blood of Jesus.
And even if we didn’t have a scientific study, actions speak louder than
words.
For
example, I have often heard people say, “I prefer going to the Lutheran
service, or the Evangelical service, because they have better music and better
preaching.” They might have better
music (arguments can be made), and there are a great deal of priests that
struggle with preaching (you may think you’re looking at one). But what others don’t have is Jesus’
Body and Blood. They may celebrate
communion, but no Protestant theologian would ever say that they believe in
Transubstantiation: that the substance of the bread and wine change into the
substance of Jesus, that is, His Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity. They might believe it becomes a symbol
of Jesus’ Body and Blood, or even that it’s in the bread, with the bread,
underneath the bread, and around the bread, what some call Consubstantiation,
but that it remains, in essence only bread. But, getting back to the point, it breaks my heart when
people go to a service elsewhere and don’t go to Mass, because they’re missing
out on union with Jesus through the Eucharist, a special union where we become
one with Him in a way that cannot happen through any other means, as good as
those other services may be.
Or,
when people drink coffee or eat food right before Mass starts, or chew gum,
even during Mass itself! The
reason why the Church tells us to fast 1 hour before receiving communion is to
prepare not only our souls, but also our bodies (since the two are integrally
connected) to receive our Lord.
Practically, an hour before receiving communion is about 20 minutes
before Mass, which is not that long.
Not fasting before the reception of Holy Communion can demonstrate a
lack of understanding of what the Eucharist truly is. We get stuck at the food part, and don’t consider the
reality that what looks like bread and wine is not bread and wine, but Jesus.
If
we truly believe that the Eucharist is the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of
our Lord Jesus Christ, then no other service, no matter how much we enjoy it,
is ever the same, because we lack that intimate connection that comes only
through the Divine Liturgy of the Mass.
If we know that we are going to become one with our Savior, then holding
off on food or drink (except water and medicine), as long as it does not truly injure
our health, is a way of saying that nothing matters more than Jesus, and that
we will hunger and thirst for Him.
Even though it looks like bread and wine, let us not be deceived by our
senses, but affirm with our faith that the One we receive is none other than
Jesus Himself. As the beautiful
hymn Adoro Te, Devote by our parish
patron, St. Thomas Aquinas, says about the Eucharist,
Seeing, touching, tasting
are in thee deceived:
How? says trusty hearing
that shall be believed;
What God’s Son has told
me, take for truth I do;
Truth himself speaks
truly or there’s nothing true.