The Eucharist, our Daily Bread

The Eucharist in the Bible... the source of life...
... without the Eucharist, a Christian is weak and ill and like death!

John, chapter 6: Sermon of the Bread of Life:

53- "Let me solemnly assure you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
54- Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
55-For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink..." (John 6:53-55)

    Chapter 6 of St. John has the sixth treasure of the Gospel, the Sermon of the Bread of Life, where Jesus promises us our daily bread, to live on earth this beautiful life in Christ as a wedding feast, to have eternal life, and to help others to do so.

    This Sermon was the announcement of the Eucharist, we have to eat his flesh and drink his own blood, the most substantial Sermon of Jesus... but it was the greatest scandal in the life of Jesus, the multitudes and the 72 disciples left him thinking he was crazy, to eat his flesh and drink his blood?!... and not only that, here Jesus signed his death sentence, because "after this Jesus went about in Galilee; he did not wish to go about in Judea because the Jews were looking for an opportunity to kill him" (7:1)... and  the next time he went to Judea they killed him!... on a Cross!.. they were not bluffing.

    The chapter starts with two of the seven miracles of the Gospel: The multiplication of the seven barley loaves and two fish, to feed 5,000 people (6:1-14), and Jesus walking on water (6:18:21)... both of them show us the power of Jesus on nature, preparing us for the announcement of the greatest miracle on nature, the Eucharist, the Bread of Life.

    The multitudes were so impressed with the multiplication of the bread and fishes that they wanted to make him a king!, but Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself (6:15).

    The next day, when they found him, they asked him: "What must we do to perform the the works of God?. Jesus answered to them: This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent" (6:28)... and he will repeat it four times in this chapter, "This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day" (6:40, 28, 35, 47)... four times repeats it, to prepare us for the great announcement we have to believe and do, to eat his flesh and drink his blood!... as hard as it sounds!... just as Jesus will repeat it 8 times!.

    Now they ask Jesus for a "sign", as the "manna" was a sign for their ancestors, for 40 years in the wilderness. Jesus tells them that it is the Father who gives the bread from heaven, or the bread of life. So they said to Jesus: "Sir, give us this Bread of Heaven always" (6:30-34).

And here it comes, the Sermon of the Bread of Life, or the Bread of Heaven, in John 6:35-69:

    "Jesus said t them: I am the bread of of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty" (6:35). Then the Jews murmured about him because he said "I am the bread of life", and they said, ""Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph?... and then the Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat? (6:35-2)... it is for real!... we have to eat his flesh!... he is crazy!... and the multitudes of 5000 men went away taking Jesus for a mad-man...

    ... And when the multitudes were disputing thisand going away, Jesus did not take a word out of it, rather, he repeats 6 times to them: "Very truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them...", read it by yourself in full in 6:52-58, repeats it 6 times in different ways!... it is real... really real!...

    Now the 72 disciples said: "This saying is hard, how can any one accept it?... because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went   about with him" (6:60-66)... it says if for real!... the crows, the 5000, left him thinking he became crazy... now many of the 72 disciples do not accompany him... these were the last days of Jesus on earth, and he was almost left alone, but the 12 apostles were still there!...

    ... And when the 12 apostles were alone with Jesus, usually he will explain the parable or the symbolism.... but here there is no parable nor symbolism, it is for real!... The 12 were also perplexed, has he gone mad?... but Jesus did not made any explanation, he did not take a word out of it, simply he asked them, "Do you also wish to go away?" (6:67)... if you don't believe me, do like the multitudes and the disciples, go away!... if you want to follow me, you just have to believe what I just told you, and you have to eat my flesh and drink my blood, just as it sounds, real!... and the 12 stayed, guided by the answer of Peter, "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God" (6:68-69).

... And not only it was the greatest scandal in the life of Jesus, but there he signed his death sentence, because "after this Jesus went about in Galilee; he did not wish to go about in Judea because the Jews were looking for an opportunity to kill him" (7:1)... and they killed him!, the next time he went to Judea... Why?... what did Jesus said so they decide to kill him?... he told them the most horrendous thing a Jew could be told in the Bible: to drink the blood of an animal!, and now Jesus tells them, "you have to drink my blood!"... and it was for real!... and they killed him on a Cross!.

- The first Christians met every day for the breaking of the bread, for the celebration of the Eucharist (Act.2:46), and very specially on Sundays, the Day of the Lord (Act.20:7, 1Cor.16:2)...

    My Sweet Jesus, prisoner of love in the Eucharist: I adore you and praise yur name. Let my be like the Baptist: He saw a man with eyes and teeth and hands and nails... but he saw God!.. I see bread and wine, let me see you, God!. Thank you my Love. Amen.

Today:

    These words do not provoke scandals anymore. Chapter 6 is the only one in the Bible that is read to us 5 Sundays in a row at Mass every year, about August and September. No one says, "this teaching is hard". Many would not even remember what was read in the Gospel. Others wash it out, thinking it is simply a metaphor or a symbolism when they read it in the Bible...

    However, thanks God, the Eucharist is the most cherished treasure of Christianity. It is the Center piece of the Great Jubilee 2000. In the Host and the Wine there is the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ... it is God Himself made more humble that in Bethlehem to be our daily bread...

"Without discerning",

    St. Paul, commenting Jn.6:53, says to the Christians of Corinth, "he who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks his own condemnation; and for this reason many of you are week, and ill, and some have died" (1Cor.11:29-30)... is strong St. Paul!: If you eat without "discerning the body", "you eat your own condemnation"!... and still goes own: "for this reason", because you eat the body without "discerning", many of you Christians are weak, and ill, and some have already died spiritually... (read it in full in 1Cor.11:27-30).

    Paul means by "without discerning", eating the body as if it were a "symbol"!... or as if it were worth less than a million dollars!... and because of it, not only you do no have life, as Jesus said in Jn.6:53, but you are eating "your own condemnation", "you eat and drink judgment against yourselves"... really strong is Paul!... and he is right!.

    Often we behave with Jesus as fools: As a person who receives at home the King or the President, and in five minutes leaves him alone in the living room and he goes to the yard to play ball... that's what we do with Jesus often, we receive him in the Eucharist, and in five minutes we forgot about him... that's receiving the body without discerning... that's foolishness!. St. Ignatius used to meditate for 3 hours after Communion, with tears of thankfulness and joy, and practically all the Saints used to enjoy and live the reality of Jesus in their hearts for 24 hours, after the next Communion!... lets do the same!... My adorable Jesus, I love you, let to live 24 hours a day well aware of You in me, like Virgin Mary: Always with Jesus, all for Jesus and to Jesus, every minute in Jesus, to help my neighbors to go Heaven. Thank you my Love. Amen.

"Our Daily Bread":

    Jesus is the "bread of life", says in John 6, "our daily bread", says in Matt.6:11, in the center of the Sermon of the Mount... don't you ever say you don't go daily to receive Him because you have no time, you will find the time if offered $1,000... or just $100... the problem in not "time", but "discerning"... do you think Jesus is worth more than a million dollars?... do you believe He is really in the Eucharist?... if you don't receive Him daily, discerning, don't complain if you feel weak, ill, or like death!...

    We pray often the Prayer that Jesus taught us to pray: The Our Father, of Mt.6 and Lk.11. On it we ask the Father to give us today our daily bread... and the Father gives it to us, every day... but we have to go and receive it daily!, or stop praying the Our Father, because sometimes it looks like we are playing with God.

    The Eucharist, or the "Holy Sacrifice of the Mass", as it is also known, is the most you can ask for, and the most God can give you.... go daily to receive Him!... if you feel weak, or sick, or like dying, try Him!... every day... discerning!... you will see wonders in your life!... it is the best you can do for your family, for your neighbors, for your friends, for your beloved deceased, for yourself... for the world.

    ... At Bethlehem looked like a child, he could not talk, had to be feed and cleaned; he was a baby, but he was God!... in the Eucharist is more humble, less that a man, less that an animal or a plant... it is just bread and wine, tastes to bread and wine, but it is really God, the same one of Bethlehem... the real Jesus Christ!.

    God is madly in love with you: On a radio talk show, I said "God must be crazy, because he died for me, and now becomes bread and wine for me every day", and I couldn't retract it!, because it was a live show. But then, I found Paul in the Bible talking about the foolishness of God, the craziness of God in the Spanish Bible!, so I was not wrong!, "for the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength" (1Cor.1:25)... the "foolishness", the "weakness", there can not be more weakness than to make Himself bread and wine!... God is in love with you. Let yourself be loved. Go to receive him daily... I adore you Jesus, my sweet prisoner of love in the Eucharist, I give you my whole self and I receive your whole self in me. Help me to love with your heartbeat, that of a passionate lover. Use my hands and feet in searh of souls, for the glory of the Father, with the power of the Spirit. Thank toy my Love. Amen.