So also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me

At 9,1-20; Ps 116; Jn 6,52-59
10 MAY

Jesus reveals to the Jews not only the truth and reality of the Eucharist, but also its finality. Truth, reality and purpose must never be separated. They must remain one only thing, if the gift of Christ Jesus is to produce real fruits of eternal life. One cannot receive the Eucharist except for the fulfilment of the end set in it by the Lord. But the end might never be achieved, if the Eucharist is not true body, true blood and true flesh of Jesus. Where there is no Bishop in apostolic succession and there is no Priest ordained by the bishop, who must be true successor of the Apostles, the truth of the body of Christ does not exist and never might it exist. Not even the end might be achieved. The body of Christ is missing in its truth and reality. A symbol is not reality. The first aim of the Eucharist is to transform those who receive it into eternal life: “If you do not eat the flesh of the Son of man and do not drink his blood, you do not have life in you”. God is eternal life. Eternal life is in the flesh of Christ, in his body and in his blood. By eating the body of Christ and drinking his blood, we gradually become eternal life, we are charity as God is charity, truth as God is truth in our nature.

A second end is the glorious resurrection, in the image of the glorious resurrection of Christ the Lord: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day”. The Eucharist is the divine life, which is eternal life, and it must prepare our body to clothe itself with eternal glory. Already while it is alive, the signs of its transfiguration can be seen in the body that nourishes itself according to the truth of the Eucharist. From a nature according to the flesh it begins to become a nature according to the Spirit. From the works of the flesh it passes to produce the fruits according to the Spirit. From the thought according to the world the signs in the body of the thought according to God, are seen. When the Eucharist is eaten with faith, everything in us changes and is transformed. This happens, it can happen only if the Eucharist is given in its truth and reality of true body and blood: “My flesh is true food and my blood is true drink”. If the reality and the truth of body and blood are missing, nothing happens. Our body is dry wood. If you approach the fire to the wood, it burns, blazes, warms and lights up. If the fire is not brought near, it remains only wood. If the Eucharist is not true fire of God, true eternal life and true resurrection, because it is not true flesh and true blood, wood remains only dry wood, it will never burn.

The Jews quarrelled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us (his) flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.” These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

A third fruit of the Eucharist is the creation of an indissoluble union, unity and communion of life between Christ Jesus and who eats his body and his blood: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him”. Through his flesh and his blood he becomes us and we become him. The condition is always one: approaching the Eucharist in respect of its truth and its finality. When we become Christ and Christ become us, we have only one thought that guides us, that of the Father, and one Spirit that leads us, the Holy Spirit of Christ Jesus. A fourth end is the supernatural ability that we receive to live always and only for Christ: “As the Father, who has life, sent me and I live for the Father, so also he who eats me will live for me”. By eating the Eucharist according to truth, we can live for Christ, obeying Christ. A fifth end is eternal life: “This is the bread that came down from heaven; it’s not like the one that the fathers ate and they died. Whoever eats this bread will live forever”. Everything is contained in the Eucharist. It is the life of every other sacrament.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints, help us to live the Eucharist in full respect for it.