TOS032 Season of Living Bread with Patti Brunner and Msgr. David LeSieur for audio: TOS032: Season of Living Bread – Truth of the Spirit (podcast) | Listen Notes
(audio + slides)
Summary Truth of the Spirit episode TOS032 Season of Living Bread. Join Patti Brunner as she welcomes Msgr. David LeSieur in a broadcast of Living Seasons of Change. They discuss the true presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. In the Season of Living Bread we find the truth of the Living Word—the sacrifice shared; the nourishment for the journey into the kingdom, and the fullness of the Presence of God. In John 6: 51 Jesus says, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.” Jesus gave himself for our life, and for our ongoing nourishment in the form of the Eucharist. It is through the Eucharist that we too, can receive the same living bread made present at the Last Supper. This episode discusses the Church’s liturgical scriptural readings from 18-21st Sundays of Ordinary Time Year B which focus on the Gospel of John Chapter 6.
Patti
Welcome to Living Seasons of Change and the Season of Living Bread where we find the truth of the Living Word—the sacrifice shared, the nourishment for the journey into the kingdom, and the fullness of the Presence of God.
I’m Patti Brunner and my co-host is Msgr. David LeSieur, a Catholic priest of the diocese of Little Rock. Welcome, Monsignor!
Msgr. David LeSieur
Thank you, Patti. The gospels for the Season of Living Bread all come from the 6th chapter of John. Our listeners can find the references for our show today at PatriarchMinistries.com.
Jesus gave himself for our life, and for our ongoing nourishment in the form of the Eucharist. This cost Jesus his whole life in order to do this for us.
Patti Brunner
In John’s gospel we are taught about the Eucharist in his Discourse on the Living Bread. The gospels of Luke, Mathew and Mark teach it through the Last Supper dialogue. It is through the Eucharist that we too, can receive the same living bread made present at the Last Supper.
Msgr. David LeSieur
Yes, our Eucharist, our Holy Communion, is the same Eucharist given eternally at the Last Supper. From John 6 verse 33, on the 18th Sunday of Ordinary time we hear Jesus say, “The bread of God is that which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world.” (and) They said to him, “Lord, give us this bread always.” (then) Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life.[i]”
Patti Brunner
Through the sacrifice of the Mass and Holy Communion, Jesus continues to give us himself. On both the 19th and the 20th Sundays we hear verse 51 which is similar to verse 33 but with an amazing addition. Jesus says, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.[ii]” So, in sacrifice Jesus gives His life; He gives His flesh. He gave it on Calvary and He continues to give it to us in the Eucharist.
Msgr. David LeSieur
Understand that in the Sacrifice of the Mass, “…in the Eucharist, Jesus does not sacrifice himself again and again. Rather, by the power of the Holy Spirit his one eternal sacrifice is made present once again, re-presented, so that we may share in it[iii]”. Ephesians on the 19th Sunday reminds us that “Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering.”[iv]
Patti:
The Eucharist is uniquely tied to Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross. The Catholic Bishops[v] explain it in their document on the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. They say:
“While our sins would have made it impossible for us to share in the life of God, Jesus Christ was sent to remove this obstacle. His death was a sacrifice for our sins. Christ is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”. Through his death and resurrection, he conquered sin and death and reconciled us to God. The Eucharist is the memorial of this sacrifice. The Church gathers to remember and to re-present the sacrifice of Christ in which we share through the action of the priest and the power of the Holy Spirit. Through the celebration of the Eucharist, we are joined to Christ’s sacrifice and receive its inexhaustible benefits.”
Msgr. David LeSieur
“As the Letter to the Hebrews explains, Jesus is the one eternal high priest who always lives to make intercession for the people before the Father. In this way, he surpasses the many high priests who over centuries used to offer sacrifices for sin in the Jerusalem temple. The eternal high priest Jesus offers the perfect sacrifice which is his very self, not something else. “He entered once for all into the sanctuary, not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption”.
Patti:
It is also important to know that “…In the Eucharist, the sacrifice of Christ becomes the sacrifice of the members of his Body who, united to Christ, form one sacrificial offering. As Christ’s sacrifice is made sacramentally present, united with Christ, we offer ourselves as a sacrifice to the Father.”
We are taking and eating the sacrifice, the food that had been sacrificed to the Lord. The Old Testament teaches us about the role of the high priest and the sacrifice; to participate in the action by the high priest you ate part of the sacrifice, you consumed it.
Msgr.:
You gave the Lord the first fruits, the yearling unblemished lamb, the ox or the ram. The sacrificial animal was given to God by letting its blood out. You killed it and you burned it. In other words, it wasn’t yours anymore. It went up to the Lord. But there was also a reciprocal action on God’s part by having his people eat a portion of it, especially of the Paschal Lamb; you certainly ate of the lamb that was offered at the Passover.
Patti Brunner
The Old Testament prepares us to receive the gift of Christ’s sacrifice with the instruction for rituals of sacrifice by the high priests. When the tabernacle was established God gave specific commands for the performance of blood sacrifices. When Israel was told to celebrate the remembrance of the Passover, it wasn’t just a reenactment; it made present the everlasting agreement of the covenant with God given through Moses. That helps us understand the Eucharist instituted by Christ at the Last Supper.
Msgr. David LeSieur
Christ said, “As often as you do this, do this in memory of me.” So, He meant for it to be carried on in time, which the Church does through the Eucharist in the Mass. We do partake ongoingly of the Lord’s sacrifice. On Holy Thursday, Jesus said, “This is my body which will be given up for you.” Which means tomorrow on the cross. “The cup of my blood will be shed for you.” Future tense. So, what He offers on Thursday at the Last Supper He completes on Friday on the Cross. Those actions together make up the sacrifice. That’s why you always see a crucifix in a Catholic Church, because of that sacrifice. In is by that sacrifice of His whole self, body and blood on the cross, that the Mass takes its meaning. We are participating, sharing in, being fed by the sacrificed lamb, the Lamb of God.
Patti Brunner
That is the sacrifice that brings our salvation! And it brings us true nourishment. Our readings from the Old Testament during this season share the stories of heavenly food given for the journey, given when God’s people have most need for it.
Msgr. David LeSieur
In Exodus, Moses and the Israelites are given the bread from heaven; they are given manna, and quail[vi], as they travel from captivity in Egypt to the Promised Land. In 1st Kings we hear about Elijah’s journey. He was running for his life from the wicked Queen Jezebel.
Patti:
Elijah was worn out, dying of thirst. He was lying down, ready to die and twice an angel ordered him to get up and eat. The angel provided hearth cake for him[vii] and a jug of water. That strengthened him for the 40-day journey to Horeb, the symbolic mountain of God’s presence. On the 20th Sunday, Proverbs has Wisdom spreading her table, “Come eat my food.” God, personified as Wisdom, says, “If you would like understanding, then come eat my food.” “forsake foolishness that you may live”[viii] These readings highlight the benefits of heavenly food.
Msgr. David LeSieur
John’s discourse on the Bread of Life follows the miracle of the loaves and fishes where Jesus feeds 5,000 with 5 loaves and two fish, and with 12 baskets of food leftover.
Patti:
The miracles of the provision of heavenly food in the Old Testament, the manna and the angel’s food for Elijah, set a groundwork for a mystical bread to feed us. When Jesus performed the multiplication of loaves[ix]; it was, again, a mystical provision. These miracles help us to accept the Eucharist, to go beyond our belief window.
Msgr.:
Yes. It’s like He fed the 5000 because they were hungry but He also fed them to make a point, to lead into a teaching. We see this, too, in chapter 11 where Lazarus is dying. “When Jesus heard this he said, “This illness is not to end in death, but is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”[x] It is almost as though it was a setup for Jesus to raise Lazarus back to life so God could be glorified. This hunger scene here is a setup, to feed the people but also to make a bigger point by His Bread of Life discourse. It’s like their hunger was real on a “stomach level” but it was also real on a deeper level. He wants to feed all our hungers.
Patti:
Jesus is teaching this multitude in John’s gospel about the Living Bread, trying to get them to comprehend beyond their stomachs, beyond their nature of flesh.
Msgr.:
Yes, and John reminds us it’s at Passover time, too. Jesus is trying to get them to pass over from one understanding of nourishment to another kind of nourishment.
Patti Brunner
On the 18th and 19th Sundays we hear from Paul’s writings to the Ephesians, Chapter 4 and Chapter 5. These show that facet of Christ among us now and forever, “Put away the old self. Be renewed in the spirit of your minds. A new self created in God’s way of righteousness.[xi]”
Msgr.:
Paul is talking to the Gentiles. He’s getting them to put away the self they had before they met Christ. That applies to all of us; the old way of thinking; the old self; the old person; the sinful ways.
Patti Brunner
Salvation is necessary because of lives changed by sin.[xii] The “old self” is our life as affected by sin. Because of sin, specifically, the first disobedience by Adam and Eve, we lost the grace of original holiness[xiii]. This distorts our image of God and we are drawn towards what is wrong. We need the salvation Christ offers to restore the soul’s spiritual faculties.
Msgr.:
The Spirit is what gives life. We are transfigured by the Spirit, by grace, from living on a lower level. John represents that, in his Gospel, by having people misunderstand Jesus. They hear Him on a very earthly level, the level of the flesh, and He is speaking on the level of the Spirit and He is trying to get them to “come up” like the woman at the well asking for water[xiv], and Nicodemus[xv], who didn’t understand being born again.
John tells us that as Jesus taught on the Eucharist many of Jesus’ followers say, “we can’t accept this teaching, it is too hard.” And they left Him.
Patti:
They continue living in ignorance because they do not believe or understand what Jesus is saying. In the letter to the Ephesians, on the 20th week, Paul encourages us to “not continue in ignorance.” But to “be filled with the Spirit”
Jesus says, “The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life” And then He asked his apostles, “Do you want to leave, too?” And they said, “To whom should we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
Msgr.:
That is such a beautiful passage where Peter says, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Jesus himself is the Word.
Patti:
Jesus is very clear that He is the Bread of Life and that this Bread is real food, and you have to eat this bread. Jesus says “it is My Flesh”. Then He says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”[xvi] It is not symbolic, it is really Him. On the 20th Sunday, Jesus repeats the phrase “eat my flesh” three times; to set it in stone, that there will be no doubt. When people started leaving, Jesus didn’t say, “Oh come on back, it’s only symbolic”. That’s because the Eucharist is really his Body and Blood, and we are to enter into the sacrifice and relationship with God by consuming it.
Msgr.:
Let’s hear the verses:
“Eat My Flesh and drink My Blood” –verse 56.
“Unless you eat My flesh and drink My blood you have no life in you.” –verse 53
“He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.”–verse 54.
Jesus says, “My flesh is true food; My blood is true drink” –verse 55.
Patti:
We might not be able to understand it, but we can belief it because Jesus tells us it is real. Jesus also repeats, “I am the Living Bread come down from heaven.”
Msgr.:
During the opening verses of that discourse in John, after Jesus feeds 5,000 people there, He is teaching revelation. At the beginning, Bread of Life is a figure for God’s revelation in Jesus[xvii]. In verses 51 to 58 on the 20th Sunday He becomes very specific that He is talking about the Eucharist.
Patti:
Again, that verse 51 must be an important verse because it is repeated. We get it on the 19th Sunday as the last verse and on the 20th Sunday it is the first verse we get.
It sets it up. “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.”
Msgr.:
Again, after verse 51 the Eucharistic theme comes to the foreground. The verses up to 51 are more like teaching or the revelation; that corresponds to our Mass, which has the Liturgy of the Word and Liturgy of the Eucharist. There is a correlation in this discourse; God teaches but He also feeds. He nourishes the mind, the heart as well as the body and the spirit. I’ve always took that to mean that God feeds the whole person. “He took pity on them for they were like sheep without a shepherd and He began to teach them at great length because they needed teaching.”
Patti Brunner
They needed enlightenment but He also fed them. He turned 5 loaves and 2 fish into food enough for at least 5,000 men, not to mention women and children.
Msgr. David LeSieur
In John, it seems like He takes it up a level. He does teach but He feeds with bread and fish but that is more than just to satisfy the bellies. It is physical but it is also spiritual. It is flesh and His flesh is more than bread and fish.
When they came looking for Him the next day, He said, “You are looking for me because you had the fill of the bread.”
Patti:
Right! Jesus chastised them because they didn’t get it. He said, “You’re not coming here for signs”. In other words, “You are not coming here for the spiritual life I can give you. You’re just looking for free food.” So He got very specific in his explanation.
Msgr. David LeSieur
In Verses 54 to 58 Jesus uses the verb “eats”. It is not the classical Greek verb used for human eating but that of animal eating, such as munch or gnaw. This may be part of John’s emphasis on the reality of the flesh and blood of Jesus but the same verb eventually became the ordinary verb in the Greek, meaning “to eat.” It really means a very graphic eating. Maybe that is why at the end of that discourse people began drifting away. “We can’t take this. This is way beyond.”
Patti:
Jesus also relates Himself to the manna; the bread come down from heaven, Manna was given to the Israelites as they came out of Egypt and traveled toward the Promised Land.
Msgr.:
That “your ancestors ate and died nonetheless. This is the bread of life which a man may eat and never die.”
Patti:
The Catechism explains that Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist are all sacraments of initiation; getting to know Christ; the beginning of receiving the fullness of Christ. Sometimes it takes us awhile to grow into that fullness. The Eucharist is our food for the journey. Our whole journey of Christian life is getting to know God and accepting His fullness.
Msgr.:
It’s like in baptism, we are given life; the life of grace through the Holy Spirit. In Confirmation, we are given the gifts of this Spirit. You know: wisdom, counsel and fortitude, the guide for our journey. We get the lights of the gifts.
Patti:
They light our path—the foundational gifts from Isaiah 11 that prepare us and lead us into the fullness of the Holy Spirit’s gifts of the New Testament and the fullness of living in the Kingdom of God.
Msgr.:
The Eucharist is what nourishes us to live a life in the Spirit or to follow Christ into the fullness of the Kingdom. As we try to follow the Spirit’s guidance, we need the Eucharist to give us the nourishment that we need for that journey.
Patti:
That takes us back to our Old Testament readings. On the 21st Sunday our reading from Joshua advises us, “Far be it from us to forsake the Lord” He “protected us along our entire journey”[xviii] The weeks before, we have the Israelites wandering in the desert and Elijah running for his life. God provides bread for the journey. We are traveling towards the kingdom and into the kingdom and the Bread of Life is what sustains us. In all of these particular readings it is true sustenance for the traveler.
We can also tie that together with the Ephesians reading because on our journey is where we have to make that transformation. Ephesians tells us, “Be imitators of God.” To “live in love”.
Msgr.:
Put away the old self. The new self has – as Paul mentions in Galatians, the fruit of the Spirit: peace, joy and love. Ephesians reminds us that the fruit of the flesh is just the opposite. On the 19th Sunday, Paul says, “All bitterness, fury, angry, shouting, reviling must be removed from you.” That’s the flesh that has to be changed.
The first disciples who followed Jesus, in Chapter 1, stayed with Him the rest of that afternoon and they were changed somehow. They had met this person. “Where do you live?” “Come and see.” They came and saw and the next day Andrew gets Peter and says, “I think I’ve found the Messiah.” There was some change; a conversion going on there.
Patti:
I think that anyone who has a true encounter with the Living God is going to be changed, changed by His love.
Msgr.:
It’s interesting the way you put it because in the Old Testament to have an encounter with the Living God was to die. You don’t see God and live; but in Jesus you do. He is the “seeable God”. He is the God whose glory will not overwhelm you because He is of human flesh. It can be a gradual transformation. Knowing Him, meeting Him face to face would be transforming. Paul had it happen at once when he saw the risen Christ. There is transformation that occurs in John’s gospel from meeting Christ and knowing Him and abiding in Him.
Patti Brunner
Jesus humbled himself to become human to have relationship with us, to stand in the gap for our weak and sinful flesh. Jesus comes to us in the flesh in communion—so that we can be one physically with him without his glory overwhelming us.
Msgr.:
I think there is a nice balance in what we have in the Catholic sacramental system. You read the Word but you have to use your mind to read it. You have to really concentrate on what it means. You have to study it. In a way, chew on it. And that’s good. It exercises our minds, feeds our minds and our spirits. On the other hand, there is the Eucharist which doesn’t require a whole lot of thinking. It’s an action. It’s a response to what the Word says about the Eucharist. Reading is a decision that you make to learn more. Eating is instinctual. So, it engages two parts of our persons, the intellectual and the instinctual; the mind and the body. Together that makes a nice whole. It is a fullness that our sacramental system offers us.
There are times we need to take a step back from it and just be in the Eucharistic presence of the Lord without reading and without eating. You’re just there in His presence. I just like to encourage people to come to the Adoration Chapel.
Patti:
He becomes one with us in the Eucharist and He also draws us to become one with Him. Eucharistic Adoration is the same way. He draws us to be one with Him spiritually. He becomes one with us as we behold Him with our vision, behold Him with our senses, He becomes one with us in that way. We also can become one with Him, a little differently, in the Word. Yet, the physical, earthy as you called it, is actually receiving Jesus and knowing that He is not just spiritually but physically becoming one with us.
Msgr.:
I think it is also good sometimes to step back from that and just look and behold the Eucharistic Jesus in adoration and consider just what this is. By way of metaphor, if we were to look at a nicely set table laden with good drink and food, let’s say, look at the Thanksgiving Day table before you dive in. Just look at it and behold it. It gives you a chance to appreciate it. Beholding the Eucharist in adoration is like pondering, pausing, appreciating what you have to eat. So, I think it’s both. You receive physically, actively, but then you also consider it, ponder it, look at it, what you are eating. Think about what it means. Just being in Jesus’ sacramental presence; just being with the Lord is valuable in itself.
Patti:
Our parish has 24 hour adoration and so some other churches in our area. To check for adoration in your local community you can check the website masstimes.org.
Msgr. David LeSieur
That’s a great website for travelers because it lists mass times, confession times and adoration times available in any given city or zip code.
Patti:
John the Evangelist and John the Baptist both call Jesus is the Lamb of God. And we relate that to the Paschal Lamb. Jesus, himself, is telling us He is the Bread. Our Old Testament readings reference Bread as the main element of provision.What connection can we make between Jesus as the Bread and Jesus as the Lamb?
Msgr.:
I look upon them as food. Of course the Bread is eaten. The Lamb was also eaten especially at the Passover Meal, the Seder Meal. The Israelites also offered grain as sacrifice. Bread is made from grain that is crushed and beaten before being consumed. I think bread is a highly symbolic element for the Eucharist because it requires a radical change from wheat flour to bread.
Patti:
Grapes are also crushed and then all the individual parts become one thing, after processing it becomes a new thing: wine.
Msgr.:
Exactly! Many grains, many grapes make one cup of wine, one loaf of bread. It’s the perfect symbol of the Eucharist and of nourishment. Everybody ate bread in those days and everybody still eats bread. It is still a staff of life.
Patti:
Showbread [aka “showbread] [xix], twelve loaves of holy bread made from fine flour, was placed before the Lord in the tabernacle. In Leviticus chapter 24 we are told that on each Sabbath day, fresh bread was set out and “offered on the part of the Israelites by an everlasting agreement.” The bread removed belonged to the consecrated priests, they were required to eat it in a sacred place as something most sacred among the various oblations to the LORD.
Msgr.:
That is interesting. That is very similar to what we do. Showbread was what David was given to eat when he and his men were hungry when they went to the shrine in 1st Samuel chapter 21. The priest allowed it because the young men had abstained and had been consecrated for their journey.
Patti:
That reminds me of the Eucharistic fast of an hour before receiving Holy Communion. Another church rule is the requirement to take communion at least once a year during the Easter season. We are so blessed that the Eucharist is available every Sunday—indeed, every day. There is no requirement to go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation unless it is necessary to bring you to a proper state so you can receive the “once a year” communion. Why would you choose to receive Communion only once a year? Or Reconciliation? Would you just take a bath only once a year?
Msgr.:
That would be a minimalist interpretation. The church, that law of receiving once a year during Easter time was created in 1215 at the Fourth Lateran Council because many, many people were not going to communion at all.
Patti:
Because they didn’t feel worthy?
Msgr.:
Yes. That’s when arose the idea of raising the Host, to just look at it and not receive it; Benediction and Eucharistic processions where you looked at the Host, you adored it but you didn’t eat it. So the Church at that council said, “Well, you have to eat it, too. If you are going to be an active Catholic, you have to receive at least once a year, preferably during Easter time.”
Jesus says, “Eat it. Eat My flesh and drink My blood.
Patti:
At a Life in the Spirit Seminar with the Little Portion community in Eureka Springs, Msgr. Jim Mancini said something that really touched me. He said a lot of time you feel you are not worthy to receive the gifts of the Spirit or to use them. You think you are being humble if you step back from those power gifts; that it is an act of humility for you not to receive.
Msgr. Jim said the real humility is in Christ who placed His Spirit within you. He’s the humble one. He’s has lowered Himself to come to us. So, if we don’t accept His gift, it’s pride in us. It’s not humility, its false pride. We were not worthy, but God makes us worthy.
Msgr.:
It’s refusing a gift being offered.
Patti:
The same thing is true for the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Reconciliation, if we are staying back because we feel we are not worthy. Jesus is the one that is worthy. He has made this decision to come to us. So, by rejecting the sacraments, we are rejecting Him.
Msgr.:
There are times we shouldn’t receive in case of serious sins, where we have in some way disassociated ourselves from the Bread of Life. But that can be forgiven when we repent.
Patti Brunner
On the 21st week, Ephesians chapter 5 shows us that the Church is a facet of Christ among us now and forever as he compares his relationship to the Church to a marital relationship.
Msgr. David LeSieur
Paul explains that “the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of the Church” [xx] Paul reminds us “love your wives, even as Christ loved the church”, “He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one hates his own flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes it even as Christ does the church”
Patti:
Paul is teaching on marriage relationship but at the same time reveals the relationship Christ has with the church. Jesus is head of the church the provider who provides nourishment. Christ is our breadwinner, our bread giver. He provides all our sustenance for life.
Msgr.:
Bread giver. You can certainly make that connection.
Patti Brunner
The Eucharist is a provision through Christ’s love for us. It is our “daily bread”; nourishment for us individually and for the Church; the ‘Living Bread” that nourishes us.
Monsignor, would you give us your blessing?
Msgr. David LeSieur
[blessing]
Lord, we thank You for our time and this conversation. We ask you to bless it. Lord, help us to increase our appreciation and love for You in the Eucharist and this marvelous way You come to us. Bless those who are struggling to believe it. We don’t necessarily have to understand it but just to trust that it is real and that You indeed want to feed us in this way. Thank You for this time. Bless this program and may it have the effect that You wish on those who hear it. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Patti Brunner
Amen! Thank you Monsignor. To get a copy of the references in today’s show or to read the Liturgical readings please check the website patriarchMinistries.com and to listen to this show or previous broadcasts click paduamedia.com [spell Padua media .com] and Living Seasons of Change.
[i] 18th Sunday. John 6: 33 For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Lord, give us this bread always.” 35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.
[ii] John 6:“51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
[iii] See below Real Presence bishops statement “…in the Eucharist, Jesus does not sacrifice himself again and again. Rather, by the power of the Holy Spirit his one eternal sacrifice is made present once again, re-presented, so that we may share in it.”
[iv] 19th Sunday Ephesians 4: [ss] “Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering.”
[v] The Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist: Basic Questions and Answers. 2001, United States Catholic Conference, Inc., Washington, D.C. “2.Why is the Eucharist not only a meal but also a sacrifice?
While our sins would have made it impossible for us to share in the life of God, Jesus Christ was sent to remove this obstacle. His death was a sacrifice for our sins. Christ is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29). Through his death and resurrection, he conquered sin and death and reconciled us to God. The Eucharist is the memorial of this sacrifice. The Church gathers to remember and to re-present the sacrifice of Christ in which we share through the action of the priest and the power of the Holy Spirit. Through the celebration of the Eucharist, we are joined to Christ’s sacrifice and receive its inexhaustible benefits.
“As the Letter to the Hebrews explains, Jesus is the one eternal high priest who always lives to make intercession for the people before the Father. In this way, he surpasses the many high priests who over centuries used to offer sacrifices for sin in the Jerusalem temple. The eternal high priest Jesus offers the perfect sacrifice which is his very self, not something else. “He entered once for all into the sanctuary, not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption” (Heb 9:12).
[vi] 18th Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15 Israelites grumbled, God gave bread from heaven and quail
[vii] 19th 1 Kings 19:4-8 Elijah prayed for death; an angel “ordered him to get up and eat” twice. Strengthened he walked 40 days and nights to Horeb
[viii] 20th Proverbs 9:1-6 Wisdom “has spread her table” ” Lack understanding? Then “come eat of my food” “forsake foolishness that you may live”
[ix] 17th Sunday John 6:1-15 Miracle of loaves & fish: 5000 men; 12 baskets leftovers
[x] John 11:” 4 When Jesus heard this he said, “This illness is not to end in death, * but is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
[xi] Ephesians 4:” and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and put on * the new self, created in God’s way in righteousness and holiness of truth.
[xii] Catechism of Catholic Church 400 The harmony in which they had found themselves, thanks 1607
to original justice, is now destroyed: the control of the soul’s 2514
spiritual faculties over the body is shattered; the union of man and 602,1008
woman becomes subject to tensions, their relations henceforth
Marked by lust and domination.282 Harmony with creation is
broken: visible creation has become alien and hostile to man.283
Because of man, creation is now subject “to its bondage to decay.”284
Finally, the consequence explicitly foretold for this disobedience
will come true: man will “return to the ground,”285 for out of it he was taken.
Death makes its entrance into human history.286
[xiii] CCC 399 “Scripture portrays the tragic consequences of this first disobedience. Adam and Eve immediately lose the grace of original holiness. They become afraid of the God of whom they have conceived a distorted image – that of a God jealous of his prerogatives.”
[xiv] John 4:7-15 Woman at the Well
[xv] John 3:1-8 Nicodemus and “born again”
[xvi] John 6:53 “, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”
[xvii] NAB footnote , 6:35-59 up to Verse 50 Bread of Life is a figure for God’s revelation in Jesus. Verses 51-58 the Eucharistic theme comes to the fore. There may thus be a break between 50 and 51.
[xviii] 21st Joshua 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b “Far be it from us to forsake the Lord” He “protected us along our entire journey”
[xix] 1 Chronicles 23: 26 Henceforth the Levites need not carry the Dwelling or any of its furnishings or equipment. 28 Rather, their duty shall be to assist the sons of Aaron in the service of the house of the LORD, having charge of the courts, the chambers, and the preservation of everything holy: they shall take part in the service of the house of God. 29 They shall also have charge of the showbread, of the fine flour for the cereal offering, of the wafers of unleavened bread, and of the baking and mixing, and of all measures of quantity and size.
1 Samuel 21: 5 *But the priest replied to David, “I have no ordinary bread on hand, only holy bread; if the men have abstained from women, you may eat some of that.” 6 David answered the priest: “We have indeed been segregated from women as on previous occasions. Whenever I go on a journey, all the young men are consecrated–even for a secular journey. All the more so today, when they are consecrated at arms!” 7 So the priest gave him holy bread, for no other bread was on hand except the showbread which had been removed from the LORD’S presence and replaced by fresh bread when it was taken away.
Leviticus 24: 1The LORD said to Moses, 2 “Order the Israelites to bring you clear oil of crushed olives for the light, so that you may keep lamps burning regularly. 3 In the meeting tent, outside the veil that hangs in
front of the commandments, Aaron shall set up the lamps to burn before the LORD regularly, from evening till morning. Thus, by a perpetual statute for you and your descendants, 4 the lamps shall be set up on the pure gold lampstand, to burn regularly before the LORD. 5 “You shall take fine flour and bake it into twelve cakes, using two tenths of an ephah of flour for each cake. 6 These you shall place in two piles, six in each pile, on the pure gold table before the LORD. 7 On each pile put some pure frankincense, which shall serve as an oblation to the LORD, a token offering for the bread. 8 Regularly on each sabbath day this bread shall be set out afresh before the LORD, offered on the part of the Israelites by an everlasting agreement. 9 It shall belong to Aaron and his sons, who must eat it in a sacred place, since, as something most sacred among the various oblations to the LORD, it is his by perpetual right.”
[xx] 21st Sunday Ephesians 5:21-32 “the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of the church” “love your wives, even as Christ loved the church” Christ cleansed the church “by the bath of water with the word” “He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one hates his own flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes it even as Christ does the church”
