Gospel John 6:51-58
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, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
Homily
There is a scene in the film Gandhi, in which Gandhi is lying on his pallet refusing to eat solid food until the religious strife between Hindus and Moslems ends. He was willing to give his very life for the healing of his nation.
If last Sunday Jesus referred to himself as the bread come down from heaven, today it is no longer bread which Jesus gives, it is his own flesh and blood. For us in this modern world, it stretches us a bit to think of someone giving us his flesh to eat, yet we often speak like this. Often we hear people who are under pressure exclaim “Do they want blood?”
Among the Jews, flesh and blood signify the reality of a person, a person with all his/her weaknesses and limitations. When Jesus says therefore that he is giving his flesh to eat and his blood to drink he is saying that his total person is at the service of the world. This total person is Body, Blood, Soul and Spirit, all of which is at the service of the world and our salvation. This speaks to us of the passionate love which Jesus has for the world, a love which he seeks to transmit to us so that we love the world with the same passion that he did. Jesus’ passion for the world led him to give his total self. Scripture tells us that he was always available, that he taught ceaselessly, that he gave even his blood which as the scriptural account tells us was poured out for the many.
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Unfortunately today we are bereft of true leaders and in this scenario in which self-seeking and self-aggrandizement marks so many of those who put themselves forward for leadership roles in the community, the gospel calls the disciples of Jesus, to the task of providing the type of leadership which the world will always need, a leadership fueled by a passionate love for humanity which allows us to give ourselves without reserve as Jesus did.
This has in fact been the story of salvation. Right down through the ages, beginning with Moses, through the prophets until Jesus Christ and through Christ to our world, all those who love the world, humanity, their people, their country, their families, and their church with a passion similar to and fueled by that of Jesus, are willing to give every drop of themselves for the wellbeing of their world.
Today we thank God for parents, for political leaders, for church leaders who love with a passion. We think of Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King; we think of Ghandi and the martyred Mons. Romero and we ask that God raise up again in our world, leaders of their stature, leaders who love so passionately that they will give themselves totally to restoring the harmony without which our world will be a place of suffering for so many.
Prayer
All powerful and ever loving God, your Son Jesus loved us and the world with a passion beyond compare. He still loves us so much that he remains with us under the form of Bread and Wine. Convince us of this love so that we will live our lives in perpetual correspondence to this love. Above all Father let this love touch our lives so that like Jesus we too will love with a passion and be willing to give ourselves without reserve for those things which we hold dear. Fill us with a passion for humanity, a passion which will propel us to work unceasingly for the restoration of that harmony without which there is no true progress or happiness. We ask this through the intercession of Mary our Mother and your Son Jesus. Amen
