19th SUNDAY OF THE YEAR
‘Anyone who eats this bread will live forever’
In today’s extract from the ‘Bread Section’ of St. John’s Gospel Jesus makes an extraordinary promise. If we eat His flesh and drink His blood we will live with Him forever. There has never been a greater promise made in the whole of history. By sharing in the Eucharist we share in the life of God. As we consume the Eucharist, the Eucharist is meant to consume us. Our vision becomes Christ’s vision. Our hopes and dreams are shaped by His hopes and dreams. Our hearts become His heart reaching out to all of humanity. ‘The effect of receiving the Body and Blood of Christ is that we become what we receive’ (Pope St. Leo the Great). We are dealing with mystery when we contemplate the priceless gift of the Eucharist. A young boy once asked an electrician: ‘What exactly is electricity’? The electrician answered: ‘I really do not know, son, but I can make it give you light’. Likewise, the Church can never fully explain the stupendous mystery of the Eucharist, but she can make it give us the life of Jesus. The Irish people have, through the ages, embraced the mystery and treasured the gift. When the last Chief Secretary of Ireland, Augustine Birrell, was asked by London to report on the level of faith and practice in Ireland he gave a one sentence reply: ‘It’s the Mass that matters’. May it always be so.