20th Sunday in the
Ordinary Time
August 16, 2015
John 6:51-58
“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 (John
6:53).”
“With
food, we live; no food, we die!”
That is our common perception on the food we consume every day. Yet, this view is over-simplistic.
Experts, from nutritionists, health-care practitioners to political-social
analysts, agree that the issue of food is not as simple as we think.
Let us observe our daily diet. When
we were younger we were at liberty to take anything, but as we grow older and
our bodies acquire certain sickness, we become careful and choosy in our food
intake. No meet, no delicious chips, no sweet ice cream! Some scientists blame
sugar, other accuse fat as the culprit, but it is really something to do with
our consumption pattern. The issue of food is becoming even more complex as it
touches the human psychological and social dimensions. Hungry man can do
practically anything just to have something in their stomachs; stealing,
violence, even killing. If this hunger hits the entire society, the catastrophe
is inevitable. Food is also about economics and politics. From its productions
to its consumption, food involves massive amount of money. The national
policies can be dictated by those major players in this industries. Land, where the food grows, might lead also to family’s disputes, arm conflicts, and bloodshed. Those
who hold power over food are the real rulers of the nation.
Food is practically our life. Thus,
when Jesus says, “My flesh is true food,
and my blood is real drink”, He means that He does not only want to be part
of our physical structure and psyche, but He wishes to impact our community and
cosmos, the totality of our lives. In His time, He was misunderstood as
reintroducing a repugnant human sacrifice, condemned by the Jewish people, or
as promoting revolting cannibalism. This misunderstanding was expected because
the limitation of our human mind, that tends to judge what we see. They saw
Jesus as ordinary human flesh, then they judged Jesus as insane!
However, Jesus’ words started
making sense after the Resurrection and the Enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. What
we receive is not ordinary body, but the glorious Body and Blood of Christ. As
we partake the Holy Communion, we taste the body who rose from the darkest
tomb, we savor the sweetness of resurrection, and the divinity itself. We may
eat tasteless white small piece of bread in the Eucharist, and ask how this
affects our life. Now, by the benefit of the hindsight, this Bread of Life has
indeed revolutionized our world. It began with Jesus and the tiny group of
disciples in Jerusalem, but after almost two millennia, countless faithful
Christians have sprung and given witness to this Eternal life they embrace.
When St. John wrote that God was
made flesh, this flesh is not only visible and touchable, but also ‘edible’.
That how intense God’s love is for us. He desires to be one with us in most
perfect way, benefiting the smallest molecules in our physical structure as
well as the global societies. Be part of Jesus means to see what Jesus sees, to
think the way Jesus thinks, and to do what Jesus is doing. And like ordinary
food, the Bread of Life forms us in gradual and unseen ways. We may perceive
that attending the Holy Mass is a mere routine of Sunday’s ritual, but without noticing
it, we have become more patient with our spouse, more compassionate with our
poor brethren, more willing to sacrifice for our families. We become what we
eat. As we are nourished by His Word and Body, we thank the Lord for forming us
just like Him.
Br. Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno,
OP
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