When I was a pastor, long before such practice had to be done away with, I used to hire high school students to answer the rectory phone on weekday nights. One of them was a rather chubby boy. Over a relatively short time he lost a good bit of weight. That prompted me to ask him how he did it. His ready answer: “I stopped eating bread.”
Most weight conscious people nowadays who want to lower the number on the scale know that eating breads a “no-no.” So, when that tempting warm basket of rolls proffered by their server at the restaurant comes to the table, they sense a challenge. They would envy a certain 92-year-old lady I know who gobbles up much of the contents with gusto and she even freely adds to the bunch!
The Israelites in biblical times apparently had no such qualms, at least as we know about. They loved their fresh-baked bread and knew it to be a happy complement to their wine intake. So, when Jesus first talked about the “heavenly bread” He would give them, they might have thought of the manna their ancestors survived on in their desert sojourn. In turn, they blithely asked Him to “give them this bread always.”
When Jesus clarified the subject, they were mostly flabbergasted. Bread His flesh? Wine His blood? Oh no! In our modern lingo the translation might be “You’ve got to be kidding!”
Their imaginations were too challenged. A good number of them, as St. John wrote many years later for his Christian community “turned their backs on Him and no longer went about with Him.” We, good people, never want to be in that group.
Periodically we should remind ourselves of at least 3 “Ifs” we have:
- If Christ is God, His words are not bound by time or local custom.
- If He told us that those who do not eat this bread and drink this cup have no life in them,” then we know how best to stay alive.
- If we know any non-practicing Catholics who don’t go to Mass, we have an obligation to give them some straight talk about the Holy Eucharist. Maybe include in our talk a few stories like the following.
There is a priest in China who lives and works as a coolie. By means of pre-arranged sign language, he gets messages around of where he is to be found– usually at the corner of a local market selling soap. Customers who, like the early Christians, give a secret sign, are given a piece of soap, between the wrappings of which us hidden a small, consecrated host. The Chinese Catholic takes his purchase home and usually, after a short family service, receives Holy Communion.
God love you, and keep your faith well fed.