Christ the Bread of Life

In this third week of our online retreat, we continue to take a long,
loving look at the reality of Jesus Christ. This week we gaze on Christ through
a lens that is very familiar to Catholics: Christ as the one who gives himself
to us as food for the journey of our lives. I invite you to begin this
reflection by a prayerful reading of John 6: 51-58 (Online Bible
Resource).

These verses in John’s Gospel appear at the end of the
lengthy Bread of Life Discourse.  Scripture scholars remind us that in this
Gospel Jesus is depicted as drawing on rich motifs in the Hebrew Scriptures to
speak of who he is and what he does for those who believe in him. In the earlier
sections of chapter 6, the symbol of “bread” refers in a particular way to the
revelation that Jesus offers. Jesus feeds people by revealing the
Father to them in word and deed. He is the enfleshed wisdom of God who satisfies
people’s hunger for God. In verses 51-58, the language of “bread” contains a
clear allusion to the eucharist. Francis Moloney, a scholar of the
Gospel of John, says this: “The eucharist renders concrete, in the eucharistic
practice of the Christian reader, what the author has spelled out throughout the
discourse. The eucharist is a place where one comes to eternal life” (The
Gospel of John, Sacra Pagina Commentary
, p. 224).

What does it really mean to encounter Christ in the celebration of the
eucharist? What does it mean for our relationship with Christ and with other
people? For Catholic Christians, celebrating the eucharist is part of our
normal, routine life of faith. We do it all the time and know it by heart. It
can seem quite ordinary. It becomes so familiar to us that we can sometimes go
through Mass with our minds a thousand miles away from what we are doing. Even
for me as a priest who presides at the eucharist, I can sometimes find myself
distracted with worries and concerns and not concentrating very well on what it
is that I am doing.

In a pastoral letter written some years before he died
of cancer, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, the archbishop of Chicago, said this:
“It is in the eucharist that we discover who we are and whose we are.”
I have always found that
statement to be illuminating. In the eucharist we discover our true identity as
Christians because we come to realize to whom we really belong. This means that
we Catholic Christians are at heart a eucharistic people.

The eucharist is a mystery that is very rich and
multi-dimensional. It is like a magnificent diamond that has many facets. For
our retreat reflection, I would simply like to suggest one dimension of what it
means for us as Catholic Christians to be a eucharistic people. As those who
come to Christ the Bread of Life, we are a people who keep a memory and who
live by a story.

Stories are so important in our lives. Just think of some of your own
treasured family stories that you share with parents, siblings and other
friends. Call to mind, too, stories of important moments with good friends that
have shaped your life. These remembrances help us to keep in mind who we are and
where we have come from. Our personal identity comes from our memories, and the
important stories housed in our memories shape that identity. They enable us to
come to a deeper appreciation of the people we love. Those memories also help us
to keep hope alive, especially in difficult times.

Growing up as the youngest member of a large family, I listened to my mother
and older siblings tell family stories around the dining room table. They would
often launch into these stories, both serious and humorous, after big family
dinners. Sometimes those stories were about my father, who had died when I was
three years old. I listened very closely to those stories because I had always
wanted to know my dad. I had faint memories of him in the deep recesses of my
memory. But he had died before I really got a chance to know him. So I listened
very closely to those family stories about my father. Occasionally those stories
would be about the days when my dad was a baseball pitcher. My dad had been a
fine pitcher who played semi-pro ball and was scouted by the Washington
Senators. He was not able to sign a contract with the Senators because he became
ill with serious diabetes and had to quit the game. I loved baseball and used to
pitch myself, though not nearly as well as my father. So I would listen intently
to those baseball stories, no matter how many times I had heard them before.
They always seemed fresh and new to me. It was through those stories that I came
to know my father. It was through those memory-filled meals around the dining
room table that my father became present to me, a companion to me.

Every time we celebrate the eucharist, we tell the story of God’s saving love
for his people. We make memory of the redemptive, life-giving love of God that
culminated in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. We tell that story by
proclaiming and listening to the Scriptures. We continue to recount that story
throughout the liturgy, especially in the great eucharistic prayer that the
priest prays in the name of all the people. The center of that story is Jesus
Christ, in his self-offering for us. All of us in the congregation give our
assent to the truth and significance of that story as we sing the “great Amen.”
We make memory of this Jesus, who is the Bread of Life, who gave himself
completely for us and who continues to give himself to us in the eucharist. In
that living memory, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we experience the real
presence of Jesus as we receive his body and blood. We experience communion with
this Jesus who lives, who is risen and alive. As Jesus offered himself for us on
the cross, so he offers himself to us in this sacrament to be our food, our
strength along the way.

Stories help to shape our vision of life and of people. Certain stories have
a profound impact on our personal and spiritual development; they become guiding
narratives for our lives. We internalize those stories from many different
sources: from our families and friends; through the education we have received;
from our national and ethnic heritage; and from a host of other places.
Sometimes these stories can be conflicting and can have a negative impact upon
us. So, in our society we are constantly bombarded with the message that our
worth as persons depends upon how much we accumulate for ourselves. We are
presented with “success stories” of people who have managed to accumulate
massive amounts of money, possessions, power, influence and/or prestige. This is
a story -- a kind of social narrative -- that has a deep impact on the way we
see things and the priorities we set in our lives. Our vision is also shaped by
the stories we hear in movies, television sitcoms, and popular music. Did you
ever listen closely to the stories about people and life that are told in
hip-hop songs? In our own personal development, we may have heard and
internalized a story that subtly told us we would never amount to very much. We
may have a tiny “ipod” playing inside of our minds and hearts that tells us that
we will never quite measure up to the expectations of others.

One of the many reasons that you and I need to celebrate the eucharist
faithfully is so that more and more we will allow this story – the story of
God’s faithful, saving love in Christ – to become the guiding narrative of our
lives. If we truly enter into the mystery of the eucharist, the truth of Jesus
Christ begins to shape our vision of ourselves, of others, of what is really
significant in life. This story reminds us again and again how important -- how
treasured -- each one of us is in the eyes of Christ. Through our communion with
Christ in this sacrament, we deepen our friendship with him and allow him to
shape the ways we see, decide, and act.

In and through the eucharist, we experience communion
with Christ and communion with one another. There is a oneness with Christ in
receiving him that is unique in our human experience. It is a closeness that
exceeds expression in words or even in fancy theological explanations. And there
is also meant to be a communion with our sisters and brothers in the eucharistic
assembly and all those with whom we are united in faith. In his encyclical, God
is Love, Pope Benedict XVI speaks about this communion that takes place in the
eucharist. He writes, “Union with Christ is also union with all those to
whom he gives himself. I cannot possess Christ just for myself; I can only
belong to him with all those who have become, or who will become, his own.
Communion draws me out of myself towards him, and thus also towards unity with
all Christians”
(n.
14).

At the end of every celebration of the eucharist, the
priest or deacon says, “The Mass is ended. Go in peace to love and serve the
Lord.” The eucharist never simply ends, as a play, movie or baseball game ends.
No, we are sent forth, sent forth with a mission
. In every celebration of the eucharist, you and I are
commissioned to go forth and to proclaim the story of Jesus Christ with our lips
and our lives. As we have been blessed with the real presence of Christ in the
sacrament, so we are sent forth to make Christ’s presence real to others. As
Christ the Bread of Life has given us himself to be food for the journey of our
lives, so we are sent forth to feed the hungry people we meet. As we have
experienced communion in this celebration, we are sent forth to work to
strengthen the bonds of communion between the people with whom we live and work.
As a eucharistic people, we Catholic Christians are a people with a mission.

As Cardinal Bernardin expressed it, in the eucharist we discover who we are
and whose we are. We are blessed to recognize again and again that we belong to
Christ. We discover how worthwhile we are in his eyes. In the eucharist Christ
the Bread of Life gives us himself in order to make us his own. In your prayer
on this day of retreat, I invite you simply to express your own gratitude to
Christ for the gift of the eucharist. If your regular practice is to celebrate
the eucharist on Sundays, you may wish to participate in this celebration one
extra day this week. Ask Christ for a deeper appreciation of this sacrament and
a willingness to enter into it with faith and enthusiasm. Pray for the grace to
make his presence real to others. The eucharist is a gift, and in this life,
there is no greater gift that we could ever receive.

Reflection During the Week (Online Bible Resource)

Tuesday – Pray Psalm 34. Read it slowly and
reflectively, a couple of times. Pay special attention to verse 9: “Learn to
savor (taste and see) how good the Lord is.”
In reflecting on Christ as the Bread of Life we recognize him as the
one who satisfies our deepest hungers. In your prayer today, think about the
things that you hunger for at this point in your life. What is it that you
desire most ardently in your life? Identify those deeper desires and bring them
to Christ. Ask him for grace to recognize where your desires intersect with his
will for you.

Wednesday – In the context of reflection on the eucharist, we have been
thinking about the power of memory and of story in our lives. In your prayer
today, recall one memory that has been particularly life-giving for you. It may
be a memory of a person, an important event, or even a place. How has that
memory shaped your understanding of yourself, of God, of other people? 
What is it from that memory that you want to treasure and preserve? Offer your
thanks and praise to God for the gift of this memory. In your thanksgiving, you
may wish to pray Psalm 147. This beautiful Hebrew prayer reminds us that God has
“filled us with finest wheat.”

Thursday – Recall a memory that has caused some pain in your life. This
memory may have caused you to doubt yourself, others or even God. Bring that
memory to Christ and ask him to enfold it into the story of his saving life,
death and resurrection. Is there anything associated with that memory that might
be a source of wisdom or of new life? In your prayer, slowly and thoughtfully
read Romans 8: 28-39. In this magnificent passage, Paul hymns the indomitable
love of Christ. Ask Christ for the grace of greater trust in the power of his
love for you, especially in those moments when you struggle with painful
memories. 

Friday – Read First Corinthians 11: 23-26.  In this passage. Paul is
reminding a divided Christian community at Corinth about the tradition of the
Last Supper, which is the basis of their own celebration of the eucharist. It
seems that this community is marked by rivalry, anger and misunderstanding. Our
own Catholic Church is experiencing some of these same tensions today. In your
prayer today, take some time to pray for the unity and the renewal of the
Church, which is the Body of Christ.