20th Sunday In Ordinary Time :: Op-stjoseph.org

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B) 08-16-09 Scripture Readings First Proverbs 9: 1-6 Second Ephesians 5:15-20 Gospel John 6:51-58 Prepared by: Fr. Allen B. Moran, O.P. 1. Subject Matter •

Jesus, wisdom incarnate, the Word of God through whom all things were made is the living bread come down from heaven. His flesh is given for the life of the world, and by eating of his flesh and drinking of his blood one has access to eternal life. Eating of the Son of Man and drinking of his blood marks brings one into the Promised Land. Communicants of the flesh of the Son of Man are marked out for resurrection on the last day and have the Son remaining in them and receives the life sent by the Father.

2. Exegetical Notes •

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Wisdom is an inviting mistress who invites her guests to a sumptuous feast. The seven columns invite a mystical treatment (e.g. seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, seven sacraments) signifying completeness…The fruit of Wisdom is life in the deepest sense of the word: cf. Prv. 3:18; 4:13; Jn. 17:3 (Dyson) St. Paul exhorts the Ephesians to wise behavior, which consists in the knowledge of the Lord’s will. The word ‘will’ is not God’s plan of redemption, but the norm of Christian action manifested by God in Christ the Lord (Eph. 4:32; 5:1-2, 10, 22-6:9) (Swain) Reception of the Eucharist establishes communion of life between Christ and the Christian. Even as the life of the Son and the Father is one, a life that in turn they share with the Spirit, in the Eucharist the Christian receives the shared life of God himself. (Jerome Biblical Commentary) The living theme in Jn. 6:51-58 has as its backdrop the tree of life in Gen. 3:22. Jesus now offers his body and blood that the partakers might live forever. (Russell) In Hebrew, “flesh and blood” means the whole man. Drinking blood was forbidden, for it stood for life sacred to God (Gen. 9:4; Lev. 7:26; 17:24). Jesus calls men to share that life—his own…The use of John uses a realist word for eating (trogo, almost ‘munch’) four times here point to a sacramental realism and the duty to share Christ’s sacrifice by communion. (Russell)

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Remain is the word used for Eucharistic union with Jesus. First we are incorporated in his fullness, then he makes his home in us. The passage climaxes in v. 57 which may be understood, “as the living Father is source of Jesus’s redemptive life, so Jesus is the source of life for those who eat him, cf. 5:26; 1 Jn. 4:9—this life being a mutual indwelling,” or “as I, sent by the Father, live for him, so he who eats me will live for me.” (Russell).

3. References to the Catechism of the Catholic Church •

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CCC 216 God's truth is his wisdom, which commands the whole created order and governs the world. God, who alone made heaven and earth, can alone impart true knowledge of every created thing in relation to himself. CCC 1374 The mode of Christ's presence under the Eucharistic species is unique. It raises the Eucharist above all the sacraments as "the perfection of the spiritual life and the end to which all the sacraments tend." In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist "the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained." "This presence is called 'real' - by which is not intended to exclude the other types of presence as if they could not be 'real' too, but because it is presence in the fullest sense: that is to say, it is a substantial presence by which Christ, God and man, makes himself wholly and entirely present." CCC 1377 The Eucharistic presence of Christ begins at the moment of the consecration and endures as long as the Eucharistic species subsist. Christ is present whole and entire in each of the species and whole and entire in each of their parts, in such a way that the breaking of the bread does not divide Christ. CCC 1380 It is highly fitting that Christ should have wanted to remain present to his Church in this unique way. Since Christ was about to take his departure from his own in his visible form, he wanted to give us his sacramental presence; since he was about to offer himself on the cross to save us, he wanted us to have the memorial of the love with which he loved us "to the end," even to the giving of his life. In his Eucharistic presence he remains mysteriously in our midst as the one who loved us and gave himself up for us, and he remains under signs that express and communicate this love. CCC 1385 We must prepare ourselves for so great and so holy a moment. St. Paul urges us to examine our conscience: "Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself." Anyone conscious of a grave sin must receive the sacrament of Reconciliation before coming to communion. CCC 1387 To prepare for worthy reception of this sacrament, the faithful should observe the fast required in their Church. Bodily demeanor (gestures, clothing) ought to convey the respect, solemnity, and joy of this moment when Christ becomes our guest. CCC 1390 Since Christ is sacramentally present under each of the species, communion under the species of bread alone makes it possible to receive all the fruit of Eucharistic grace. CCC 1394 As bodily nourishment restores lost strength, so the Eucharist strengthens our charity, which tends to be weakened in daily life; and this living charity wipes away venial

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sins. By giving himself to us Christ revives our love and enables us to break our disordered attachments to creatures and root ourselves in him. CCC 1400 Ecclesial communities derived from the Reformation and separated from the Catholic Church, "have not preserved the proper reality of the Eucharistic mystery in its fullness, especially because of the absence of the sacrament of Holy Orders." It is for this reason that Eucharistic intercommunion with these communities is not possible for the Catholic Church.

4. Patristic Commentary •

“Let no man deceive himself. Both the things which are in heaven, and the glorious angels, and rulers, both visible and invisible, if they believe not in the blood of Christ, shall, in consequence, incur condemnation.” (St. Ignatius of Antioch)

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Consider those who are of a different opinion with respect to the grace of Christ which has come unto us, how they are opposed to the will of God. They have no regard for love; no care for the widow, or the orphan, or the oppressed; of the bond, or of the free; of the hungry or of the thirsty. They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they confess not the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ. (St. Ignatius of Antioch)

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And this food is called among us the Eucharist, of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined. For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Savior, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh. (St. Justin Martyr)

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It is not man that causes the things offered to become the Body and Blood of Christ, but he who was crucified for us, Christ himself. The priest, in the role of Christ, pronounces these words, but their power and grace are God’s. This is my body, he says. This word transforms the things offered. (St. John Chrysostom)

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Be convinced that this is not what nature has formed, b ut what the blessing has consecrated. The power of the blessing prevails over that of nature, because by the blessing nature itself is changed…Could not Christ’s word, which can make from nothing what did not exist, change existing things into what they were not before? It is no less a feat to give things their original nature than to change their nature. (St. Ambrose)

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Those who do not share in this flesh will not share in eternal life because they reject Jesus, the true life. What is consumed is the flesh not of a mere man but of God, and being one with the Godhead, it has power to deify. This is real nourishment: its sustaining power does not last only for a time; it does not decompose like perishable food, but helps us to attain everlasting life. (St. Theophylact)

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In a union defying explanation, God has made flesh one with himself, so that the flesh now has life-giving power. This is not because its nature is changed into the nature of God. Of course not! A comparison may be made with iron put into fire. It remains iron but displays the energy of fire. So also the Lord’s flesh remains flesh, but it has life-giving power because it is the flesh of the Word of God (St. Theophylact)

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As I draw life from the Father, or in other words, As I was born of the Father who is life, so those who eat me will draw life from me, because they will be united to me they will be united to me and as it were transformed into me, who am possessed of life-giving power. (St. Theophylact).

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Since Christ died for us out of love, when we celebrate the memorial of his death at the moment of sacrifice we ask that love may be granted to us by the coming of the Holy Spirit. We humbly pray that in the strength of this love by which Christ willed to die for us, we, by receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit, may be able to consider the world as crucified for us, and to be ourselves as crucified to the world.... Having received the gift of love, let us die to sin and live for God. (St. Fulgentius of Ruspe).

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He is the bread sown in the Virgin, leavened in the Flesh, molded in his passion, baked in the furnace of the sepulchre, placed in the churches, and set upon the altars, which daily supplies heavenly food to the faithful. (St. Peter Chrysologus).

5. Examples from the Saints and Other Exemplars •

“Just as generation is required for corporeal life, since thereby man receives life; and growth, whereby man is brought to maturity: so likewise food is required for the preservation of life. Consequently, just as for the spiritual life there had to be Baptism, which is spiritual generation; and Confirmation, which is spiritual growth: so there needed to be the sacrament of the Eucharist, which is spiritual food.” (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, III, 73, 3).

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St. Thomas teaches the reality of the

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After fleeing to Sault Saint-Louis near Montreal, Bl. Kateri Tekakwitha would spend much of her time in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, kneeling in the cold chapel for hours. Many saints have recommended the practice of visiting the Blessed Sacrament and participating in Eucharistic Adoration for in adoring the Lord in his Eucharistic Presence the soul is enflamed with the love that it returns to God, one’s devotion to Christ is strengthened, and the Christian is reminded of the outpouring of Christ’s life that is both an example and his strength.

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Enlightened by her great faith St. Angela contemplated her Saviour, hidden under the Eucharistic species, with greater certainty than if she had seen Him with her bodily eyes. She found it difficult to tear herself away from the Tabernacle, where she spent long hours; when the time had come to fulfil her mission, she chose moreover to take up her abode in a small room adjoining the church of St. Afra; after having spent the whole day in prayer and in works of charity, it would be easy for her to go from there to the Blessed Sacrament during the night to pray at length. (St. Angela Merici, foundress of the Ursulines, Praying in the Presence of Our Lord)

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“A friend will visit his friend in the morning to wish him a good day, in the evening, a good night, taking also an opportunity to converse with him during the day. In like manner make visits to Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, if your duties permit it. It is especially at the foot of the altar that one prays well. In all your visits to Our Savior, frequently offer His precious blood to the Eternal Father. You will find these visits very conducive to increase in you divine love.” (St. Mary Magdalen de’Pazzi, Praying in the Presence of Our Lord)

6. Quotes

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“Jesus pronounces it [the key to the bread of life discourse] on Palm Sunday as he looks ahead to the universal Church that will embrace Jews and Greeks—all the peoples of the world: ‘Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit’ (Jn 12:24). What we call ‘bread’ contains the mystery of the Passion. Before there can be bread, the seed—the grain of wheat—first has to be placed in the earth, it has to ‘die,’ and then the new ear can grow out of this death. Earthly bread can become the bearer of Christ’s presence because it contains in itself the mystery of the Passion, because it unites in itself death and resurrection.” (Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth) “When the Church celebrates the Eucharist, the memorial of her Lord’s death and resurrection, this central event of salvation becomes really present and ‘the work of our redemption is carried out.’ This sacrifice is so decisive for the salvation of the human race that Jesus Christ offered it and returned to the Father only after he had left us a means of sharing in it as if we had been present there. Each member of the faithful can thus take part in it and inexhaustibly gain its fruits.” (John Paul II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia) “By virtue of its close relationship to the sacrifice of Golgotha, the Eucharist is a sacrifice in the strict sense, and not only in a general way, as if it were simply a matter of Christ’s offering himself to the faithful as their spiritual food…In giving his sacrifice to the Church, Christ has also made his own the spiritual sacrifice of the Church, which is called to offer herself in union with the sacrifice of Christ. This is the teaching of the Second Vatican Council concerning all the faithful: ‘Taking part in the Eucharistic Sacrifice, which is the source and summit of the whole Christian life, they offer the divine victim to God, and offer themselves along with it’ (LG 11).” (John Paul II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia) “The Church and the world have a great need for Eucharistic worship. Jesus awaits us in this sacrament of love. Let us not refuse the time to go to meet him in adoration, in contemplation full of faith, and open to making amends for the serious offenses and crimes of the world. Let our adoration never cease.” (John Paul II, Dominicae Cenae).

7. Other Considerations •

The problem with Wisdom’s invitation to eat is that it is directed towards those who are not wise, yet they are supposed to let themselves be brought to Wisdom. Such people are unwise either because they consider themselves wise (like the Pharisees and the scribes) or because they cannot even understand Wisdom’s invitation, thinking it to be absurd.” (von Balthazar)

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Those who are foolish in relation to God are outdone by God’s foolishness: they must do what to them is completely absurd. Nor is it merely some earthly advantage that is at stake, rather, they are being offered eternal life: whoever refuses to come to this banquet will not be raised to eternal life: refuses to come to this banquet will not be raised to eternal life. (von Balthazar)

Recommended Resources Aquinas, Thomas. Summa Theologica. Brown, Raymond, Joseph Fitzmyer, Roland Murphy eds. The Jerome Biblical Commentary. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1968.

Friends of Henry Ashworth, eds. Christ Our Light: Readings on Gospel Themes. Vol. II. Ambler, PA: Exordium Books, 1985. Dyson, S.J., R.A. “Proverbs” in A New Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture. Nashville: Nelson, 1975. Russell, Dom Ralph. “John” in A New Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture. Reginald Fuller, Leonard Johnston, Conleth Kearns, O.P. eds. Nashville: Nelson, 1975. Swain, Lionel. “Ephesians” in A New Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture. Reginald Fuller, Leonard Johnston, Conleth Kearns, O.P. eds. Nashville: Nelson, 1975. Von Balthazar, Hans Urns. Light of the Word. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1993.