Take this All of You and Eat it….
This is My Body which will be given up for You…
This is a story of a man who traipsed and wandered for many years–content on skirting the hard mystical questions of his Catholic faith. He was a “Sunday-man” when it came to keeping the day Holy and all that stuff. Hardly ever missing that gathering with other believers each week. Always wanting to experience what he was always taught about his Jesus really being on the altar and present in the bread and the wine after the consecration of both. A hard and tough non-awareness of what was really going on. He was happy to ‘think he believed’ but never ‘felt the presence’ that he just knew had to be experienced not “thought-through”. He believed he must become aware of that reality to understand.
I am That Man
I am the editor, relhurg (JackG)
On a sunny Sunday morning at Mass, I listened to my pastor talk about this “Bread of Life” in the Gospel of St. John. He proceeded to teach us about the value that is given to those who are able to receive Christ’s precious Body and Blood. He started by going back to the Jewish exodus in the Old Testament and how the Jews wandered around the desert for 40 years. The God of Abraham and Isaac fed them with a bread-like substance called “Manna” a day’s supply at a time.
From there the pastor led the parish quickly through the references of ‘bread’ being an integral part of Jesus’ teaching in the New Testament. He built a case that Jesus was really foreshadowing the coming teaching to the Apostles about His ”Discourse on the Bread of Life”. He shared how Jesus promised them ” …I will be with you, always…even til the end of time…” could be interpreted as mystically joining with us in the receiving of the bread and wine being converted to Jesus’ body and blood….It sounded like a wonderful Spiritual description that might be…”the real thing…”
Something happened to me that day. I took home one of the Mass books called “Today’s Missal” and planned to check all this stuff out by myself. After a pleasant lunch and a snack I retreated to my office upstairs and dusted off an old Bible to try and make sense of the morning teachings.
Father had referred us to the Gospel of St. John at (Jn 6: 45-59) in the New Testament, which he said was the basic and absolute belief of the church in the story of the real presence of His Body and Blood being… real food and real drink. This reference was to become my “AHA MOMENT OF INSIGHT! “
In reading and reflecting on this Magnificent Message, over many weeks and re-readings, I began to feel that God was trying to share the understanding of Jesus’ words ( …Be not afraid, I will be with you always…even to the end of time…”.
I studied, read, and became entranced in the story of His Last Supper with His Apostles when as in LK 22: 19-20… Jesus tried to tell them all that the Bread and the Wine…will become His REAL BODY AND REAL BLOOD.
For all of us who read this teaching over and over again, it had a startling effect on those that heard these words…many departed from his following. “..How could this be….” appears to be their disbelief…but let me continue with “….the rest of my story…”
For a long time after that initial awareness of the importance of Christ’s word to us all…I was driven to reflect deeply as to the real meaning to me.
Each time I attend the Mass I hear the same words that Jesus spoke over 2000 years before “…On the night he was betrayed, He took bread and gave You thanks and praise. He broke the bread, gave it to his disciples and said: ‘ Take this, all of you, and eat it: this is My body which will be given up for you.’
‘…When supper was ended, he took the cup. Again he gave You thanks and praise, gave the cup to his disciples, and said: ‘Take this, all of you, and drink from it: this is the cup of My Blood, the Blood of the new and everlasting covenant. It will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven. Do this in memory of me…’
What a marvelous prayer and Sacrament given to the world, if only We recognize Him in the Breaking of the Bread ! I began to realize that Jesus Is In the Bread, and also in the Wine !
The (Invocation) by the Priest to the Holy Spirit to make the gifts of Bread and Wine Holy, and become the Body and Blood of Jesus. At this moment they are changed. (Transubstantiation) We, the faithful then are given His Body and Blood in Communion.
I appeal to the hearts and minds of all who search for the truth in Jesus’ words (…be not afraid…I will be with you always…) Consider these events:
The bread and wine become Holy by the power of the Holy Spirt, the bread is broken, and the cup is raised and proclaimed, then His Body and Blood is distributed to the Faithful in the Eucharist (Holy Communion).
Ponder the following: The bread ( Body) is consumed by the recipient…likewise, the wine ( Blood ) is sipped….immediately the chemistry of the human body goes to work. Quickly and efficiently Jesus’ Body and Blood unites with every molecular and cellular portion of our own bodies. We now are one with Jesus..He did it !
This is the reality being lived out of Jesus’s Promise that “…Be Not Afraid….I am with you always….even til the end of time…”
Nothing more to say….I came to believe the Living Christ comes to me through the Sacrament of the Eucharist….during the celebration of the Mass…the reenactment of the Last Supper and the Promises of Christ…. exactly as He promised!
God Bless You all and hope this will lift some seeds of doubt and open your heart to the beauty of the Sacrament of Holy Communion and the rich traditions of our Faith !……relhurg
Hello Michaelk
Thank you for your commet and input of the Bread of Life. I went to your blog and originally thought I should delete this comment but asked God for discernment and completed looking over the website. I will follow your activities and pray that your mission is one of Christ’s chosen brothers in spirit…thank you, and God bless you Michael…keep your strong faith and pray for me…I always need them….”…jong (relhurg)
Do you understand the 4th Cup?
After the beginning of Jesus’ Last Passover Supper (Seder) Judas Iscariot left to do what he had to do. The twelve left in the room were at the point where the second of four traditional cups was about to be drunk.
(The first is at the beginning of the Seder meal.) Jesus took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them and said, “Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the Kingdom of God comes.”
More of the lamb meal was consumed. During that He took a loaf of unleavened bread, gave thanks, broke it and gave it to His disciples saying, “This IS my body given for you; do this to recall me.” (“Recall” is a better translation of the Greek “anamnesis” than “remember”.)
After the supper He took the third cup saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This IS my blood of the NEW and everlasting covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
A hymn was sung, which is a combination of several psalms called The Great Hallel, and they went out to the Mount of Olives.
What happened? The Passover ceremony and ritual was not complete. There was no fourth cup. There was no announcement that it was finished. Could it be that Jesus was so upset with what He knew was about to happen that He forgot? Doubtful!
Not only Jesus, but also the 11 others had participated in the Passover Seder every year of their lives. No, this was done on purpose. The last supper of Jesus was not over.
On the Mount of Olives, in the Garden of Gethsemane, the disciples slept while Jesus prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will but yours be done.”
He prayed that three times. Then Jesus was arrested, illegally put on trial by the Sanhedrin, then by Pontius Pilate, sentenced and crucified.
While on the cross He wept. Jesus, who was in excruciating agony, was so merciful that He prayed for the forgiveness of His executioners. He was offered some wine with a pain killer, myrrh, in it. He refused it.
“Later, knowing that all was now complete, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled and the kingdom established, Jesus said, ‘I am thirsty.‘” A man dipped a sponge into sour wine; he placed it on a hyssop branch and lifted it up to Jesus lips.
He drank. (We recall that it was the hyssop branch which was used to paint lambs blood around the Hebrew’s door for the Passover of the angel of death.)
It was then that Jesus said, “It is finished.” He then bowed His head and gave up the spirit to His Father.
The fourth cup now represented the lamb’s blood of the first Passover, a saving signal to the angel of death.
The Lamb of God was now sacrificed. The last Passover supper of Jesus Christ was now complete with the fourth cup. It was finished.
The tie in with the Passover is unmistakable.
The Lamb of God was sacrifice and death was about to be passed over come Easter day.
The promise of eternal life for many was about to be fulfilled.