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20th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B) 08-16-09Scripture ReadingsFirst

Proverbs 9: 1-6

Second

Ephesians 5:15-20

Gospel

John 6:51-58Prepared 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 livingbread come down from heaven. His flesh is given for the life of the world, and by eating ofhis flesh and drinking of his blood one has access to eternal life. Eating of the Son of Manand drinking of his blood marks brings one into the Promised Land. Communicants of theflesh of the Son of Man are marked out for resurrection on the last day and have the Sonremaining 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 sevencolumns 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 theLord’s will. The word ‘will’ is not God’s plan of redemption, but the norm of Christianaction 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 theChristian. Even as the life of the Son and the Father is one, a life that in turn they sharewith 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. Jesusnow 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 itstood for life sacred to God (Gen. 9:4; Lev. 7:26; 17:24). Jesus calls men to share thatlife—his own…The use of John uses a realist word for eating (

trogo

, almost ‘munch’) fourtimes here point to a sacramental realism and the duty to share Christ’s sacrifice bycommunion. (Russell)

•

Remain

is the word used for Eucharistic union with Jesus. First we are incorporated inhis fullness, then he makes his home in us. The passage climaxes in v. 57 which may beunderstood, “as the living Father is source of Jesus’s redemptive life, so Jesus is thesource of life for those who eat him, cf. 5:26; 1 Jn. 4:9—this life being a mutualindwelling,” 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 governsthe world. God, who alone made heaven and earth, can alone impart true knowledge ofevery created thing in relation to himself.

•

CCC 1374

The mode of Christ's presence under the Eucharistic species is unique. It raisesthe Eucharist above all the sacraments as "the perfection of the spiritual life and the end towhich all the sacraments tend."

In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist "the body andblood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the wholeChrist is truly, really, and substantially contained."

"This presence is called 'real' - by which isnot intended to exclude the other types of presence as if they could not be 'real' too, butbecause it is presence in the fullest sense: that is to say, it is a substantial presence by whichChrist, God and man, makes himself wholly and entirely present."

•

CCC 1377

The Eucharistic presence of Christ begins at the moment of the consecration andendures as long as the Eucharistic species subsist. Christ is present whole and entire in eachof the species and whole and entire in each of their parts, in such a way that the breaking ofthe bread does not divide Christ.

•

CCC 1380

It is highly fitting that Christ should have wanted to remain present to his Churchin this unique way. Since Christ was about to take his departure from his own in his visibleform, he wanted to give us his sacramental presence; since he was about to offer himself onthe 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 remainsmysteriously in our midst as the one who loved us and gave himself up for us, and heremains 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 usto examine our conscience: "Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lordin an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a manexamine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For any one who eats anddrinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself." Anyoneconscious of a grave sin must receive the sacrament of Reconciliation before coming tocommunion.

•

CCC 1387

To prepare for worthy reception of this sacrament, the faithful should observe thefast required in their Church. Bodily demeanor (gestures, clothing) ought to convey therespect, solemnity, and joy of this moment when Christ becomes our guest.

•

CCC 1390

Since Christ is sacramentally present under each of the species, communionunder the species of bread alone makes it possible to receive all the fruit of Eucharisticgrace.

•

CCC 1394

As bodily nourishment restores lost strength, so the Eucharist strengthens ourcharity, which tends to be weakened in daily life; and this living charity wipes away venial

sins. By giving himself to us Christ revives our love and enables us to break our disorderedattachments to creatures and root ourselves in him.

•

CCC 1400

Ecclesial communities derived from the Reformation and separated from theCatholic Church, "have not preserved the proper reality of the Eucharistic mystery in itsfullness, especially because of the absence of the sacrament of Holy Orders." It is for thisreason that Eucharistic intercommunion with these communities is not possible for theCatholic Church.4.

Patristic Commentary

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“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, inconsequence, incur condemnation.” (St. Ignatius of Antioch)

•

Consider those who are of a different opinion with respect to the grace of Christ which hascome unto us, how they are opposed to the will of God. They have no regard for love; nocare for the widow, or the orphan, or the oppressed; of the bond, or of the free; of the hungryor of the thirsty. They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they confess notthe Eucharist to be the

flesh

of our Savior Jesus Christ. (St. Ignatius of Antioch)

•

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

•

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

•

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

•

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 onewith the Godhead, it has power to deify. This is real nourishment: its sustaining power doesnot last only for a time; it does not decompose like perishable food, but helps us to attaineverlasting life. (St. Theophylact)

•

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

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