Daily Inspiration

“Jesus said to the crowds: "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." The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" Jesus said to them, "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. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever." -John 6:51-58
 
On the first Passover, God commanded the Israelite families to take a first-born lamb and sacrifice it to God, spreading his blood over their house and consuming its flesh so they would be spared from the Angel of Death. Ever since, shepherds have picked out the first-born lambs, wrapping them in swaddling clothes to protect them from blemish and prepare them for sacrifice.  As Israelites wandered for forty years in the desert, God sent down bread from heaven as manna and quail to sustain them. 
 
When God sent His only Son, Our Lord Jesus, He sent the perfect, unblemished Lamb wrapped in swaddling clothes as the perfect Pascal Sacrifice. Christ was laid in a manger, a place used to feed the animals, and the Jews of the time would have understood the significance of those details. Today, we satisfy the Passover Offering in the Sacrifice of the Mass. The bread and wine offered are indeed true food and true drink, yet they truly become the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus. Those who consume Him will live forever; those who don’t will have no life in them.
 
Unlike in other passages, where Jesus tells only a parable and then explains its meaning to the 12 Apostles afterward, here Jesus gives the command to eat His flesh and drink His blood. Instead of explaining it away, He forces this issue and asks, “Do you also want to go away?” Jesus doesn’t explain that He only meant the Eucharist was to be a symbol. He reaffirms that a true disciple must believe what is hard if they are to have the life of Christ living within them. We satisfy His request when we receive Him in the Holy Eucharist.
 
Saint Helen, pray for us.
 
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Jesus, I trust in you.