Eat, Drink, Live

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reflecting on the Word

By Rev. James A. Wallace, C.Ss.R.

As a boy, I was often sent to Kauder’s Bakery on the corner of Preston and  Ensor Streets in Baltimore. There was nothing like the variety of breads today,  but whether it was white, rye, or Vienna, the smell of fresh baked bread and  especially the crunch of the crust stays with me more than sixty years later. 

Kauder’s came to mind after reading today’s Gospel. Biblical scholars point  out that the crowds would have been appalled at Jesus’ words: “Unless you eat  the flesh of the son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.”  The word used for “eat” is a very physical word, the equivalent of munching or  chewing. To hear “eat my flesh” would have been repulsive. An invitation to  cannibalism! The same with “drink my blood.” Jewish law was very clear that no  blood should remain in any animal slaughtered for eating. Blood was the “seat of  life” and life belonged only to God. 

But this is precisely the point. Behind this “sign” is God’s wondrous life-giving  plan: to bring us into intimate communion when we partake of the very life of  the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ. We are not to get drunk on the wine of this  world but on the divinized drink of everlasting life. Not mundane manna but the  bread that mediates an encounter with the Lord of our salvation. This is truly  Wisdom’s house, where we eat both the bread of God’s word and the bread that  is the Lamb of God. 

Consider/Discuss

  • Can you appreciate the shocking impact of Jesus’ words on those  listening? 
  • Do these words have any impact on you or have they become too  familiar to shock? 

Responding to the Word

Lord Jesus, you call us to the banquet table to eat the food that will nourish  us for eternal life, bringing us into communion with you, the Father, and the Holy  Spirit. Give us an appetite for this food you so generously offer. May we not turn  away from it for other food that neither nourishes nor satisfies.

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