Thursday, August 13, 2015

Sunday Gospel Reflection, August 16, 2015: Whoever eats this bread will live forever...

What happens when we take Jesus into ourselves? 

In our reading from the Book of Proverbs on Sunday, Lady Wisdom invites passersby into her dwelling, a call to hospitality that reveals the intimacy of God's love for humankind:  Come, eat of my food…, she says.  She then invites her listeners to change, to transformation:  Forsake foolishness that you may live; advance in the way of understanding.  To partake of the food of Wisdom is to go straight to the source of life, to embrace food beyond the norm, food that feeds not our bellies but our hearts -- that we might celebrate our joy in being close to God, and taste and see the goodness of the Lord, as Psalm 34 exhorts us to do.

If our openness to Wisdom has such remarkable benefits, how much more so Eucharist, our opportunity to take Jesus himself into our bodies, to encounter Christ intimately and profoundly in the bread that is his body and the Word that is his being.  Eucharist challenges us to a deeper understanding of the Lord in our lives; it calls us to a more profound understanding of his death and rising.  Eucharist therefore prompts change, transformation, as we advance in understanding and in wisdom… And, as Jesus tells the crowds in John's Gospel, we need to understand the living bread that is his body; partaking of his flesh will transform us, bringing us to a new way of seeing -- it is flesh for the life of the world.  Then, as Paul tells the Ephesians, we can be filled with the Spirit, and thus come to a new understanding of the will of the Lord, of what God is calling us to, celebrating our joy in community, giving thanks always as we embrace a life transformed.

Isn't this a great inspiration for seeking Eucharist -- 
Word and Communion -- as often as possible, even daily?

This post is based on Fr. Pat's Scripture class.
Image source:  Wordle

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