20th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Jesus said to the crowds, “The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”
What an absurd teaching! “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” The religious leaders ridiculed him. They would never understand this teaching because they refused to connect it to his actions. They had forgotten that the great sign of God’s loving care for the Jewish people was the fall of manna in the desert when God literally fed his people with bread from heaven. They didn’t see that as Jesus healed the sick, he was lavishing God’s loving care on them. He was their bread of life.
Today, as we gather for the celebration of the Lord’s supper, we recall the Last Supper, when Christ offered himself to us as the bread of life for all time and for all people. “Take. Eat. This is my body.” As he renewed his commitment to pour himself out in loving service, he addressed us directly. “Do this in memory of me.” He gave himself to us as the bread of life, and then, asked us to be the bread of life for others.
We then recall that Jesus poured out his life’s blood on the cross, sealing a new and eternal covenant of love that wedded God to the human family. The cup we drink at the supper renews our participation in that covenant. “Take. Drink. This is the cup of the new covenant sealed in my blood.”
The bread that he gave was his flesh for the life of the world; the cup that he shared sealed the new covenant with God. As we share that bread, we commit to be the bread of life for others. As we drink the cup we renew our commitment to a new covenant, to a new way of life; to be bread broken for the life of the world.
Prayer:
To celebrate the “Supper of the Lord” in truth, is to place ourselves at the service of others, as the Lord Jesus showed by washing the feet of his disciples. In this way we become, by our whole life, the adorers in spirit and truth whom the Father seeks. (#27 of the Rule of Life of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament.)
