O. T.  XIX [B] I KGS 19:4-8, EPH. 4:30-5:2,  JN. 6:41-51

A hungry man passing a store with a sign in the window, "We Sell Bread." He entered the store, put some money on the counter, and said, "I would like to buy some bread." The woman behind the counter replied, "We don’t sell bread." "The sign in the window says that you do," the hungry man said. The woman explained, "We make signs here like the one in the window that says ‘We Sell Bread.’" A hungry man can’t eat signs.

Life sometimes fools us too. What seems to be satisfying our hunger some times does not satisfy our hunger. That is why Jesus said: man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. To the Samaritan woman he said: One who drinks this water will thirst again, but those who drink the water I give will never thirst again. Today’s Gospel lesson picks up where we left off last week in John 6. Like the crowds looking for something else or that man looking in the wrong store, we often miss the point when God offers us enduring life in Jesus.

Christ packs three momentous lessons into this discourse on the Eucharist in today's Gospel passage.
First, he points out the mystery of faith, that no one can believe in him "unless he is drawn by the Father."
Faith in Jesus Christ supplies us with life's only dependable fuel, and yet, faith in Christ is God's gift, no one can conjure it up on their own, in a chemistry lab. When we look at the small white Host, no scientific test can prove that Jesus Christ is truly present there, body, blood, soul, and divinity. And yet, we know that he is; we have been given the gift of faith. This is why the priest says, after the consecration at each Mass: "Let us proclaim the mystery of faith." Second, this faith in Christ leads to "eternal life." Later in the Gospel, Jesus tells us that eternal life consists in knowing "the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom God has sent" (John 17:3). In Biblical language, "knowing" implies deep interpersonal intimacy, the kind of relationship we all yearn for. That we can have a relationship like that with God himself, who is more lovable, more beautiful than any other person is or can be, is the Good News of Jesus Christ. Third, Jesus himself is the "bread" of this eternal life, its source and sustenance. Without bread, without food, physical life perishes. Without Jesus, without his "flesh for the life of the world" in the Eucharist, our life of intimate communion with God will perish. It's that simple - and it's that crucial.  Eleven times in this discourse Jesus speaks of himself as the bread of life; he's really hoping that we'll get the message. The gift of faith gives us access to eternal life, and the Eucharist makes that life grow within us.

When we receive Holy Communion, our natural desires will be transformed from within, just like the wafer is transformed from within at the words of consecration.

CCC 1377 teaches that: “The Eucharistic presence of Christ begins at the moment of the consecration and endures as long as the Eucharistic species subsist. Christ is present whole and entire in each of the species and whole and entire in each of their parts, in such a way that the breaking of the bread does not divide Christ.” Hence, it is clear that the whole Christ is real and truly and substantially present in even a small particle of a Host or in a small drop of the Precious Blood.

Here the Church emphasizes that there is no part of the Host which is not Christ Jesus. And, we further maintain, no part of the Host is a mere part of Christ, but each part of each Host is the whole Christ present in his entirety. Like if you stand before a big mirror, you find your one large image. But if you break that mirror into 4 pieces, you will see 4 images in all the four, full image.

Therefore, those who are not careful with the Eucharistic particles, or who outright deny that Jesus is present in even small pieces of the Host, either do not believe in the Eucharist at all or are very foolish (since their own reasoning is self-contradictory).

A piece of the Host which is visible to the human eye (under usual conditions and without assistance) as what appears to be a piece of bread, is surely Jesus. However, those particles which are so small as to be invisible to the human eye, or to be indistinguishable from a particle of dust – these cannot any longer be the Eucharist.

The Church teaches that the Eucharistic Presence remains “as long as the Eucharist species subsist”. This means that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist, so long as the Eucharist retains the accidental properties of bread and wine. Hence, if a Host is dissolved in water (as is done when the Host has become putrefied, as through vomiting after the reception of Communion), upon being dissolved it is no longer the Eucharist. Likewise, the Precious Blood, when the Chalice is purified with water, is no longer the Eucharist.

The same must hold true for those particles which are so small as to be unrecognizable as “bread”. If the fragment is so small as to appear to be dust or a speck of some other substance, rather than a “crumb” of bread, it can no longer be the Eucharist. Likewise, those microscopic particles which fall from the Host are not the Eucharist, since they clearly do not retain the appearance of bread. Excessive scrupulosity about such things will only cause the true faith to be ridiculed.

In order to teach his disciples that the Eucharist is truly his own Flesh and Blood, he first instructed them to gather up the “fragments” which were left over from the multiplied loaves – if such care was taken for the mere symbol of the Eucharist, how much more must we care for the Real Presence! So,Jesus taught his disciples that the Eucharistic particles must be cared for, even after the conclusion of the Mass.

If the pastors of the Church do not care for these fragments, the people will soon lose their faith in the Eucharist. Indeed, this has already happened to a large extent in most of the western world.

It was really shocking to read that Communion was distributed to a dog on August 5 at a liturgical celebration of “Inclusive Catholics,” a Melbourne movement launched by Father Greg Reynolds, a suspended priest. After calling for women’s ordination in a 2010 homily, Father Reynolds had his faculties suspended. He currently organizes services for a varied group of disaffected Catholics. A woman led the service, while Father Reynolds "played as small a role as he could." So, it seems unlikely, therefore, that the ceremony was a valid Mass, or that the bread was actually consecrated. It goes beyond doubt that they don’t believe in the real presence of the Lord in the Eucharist. Jesus clearly said that holy and precious things may not be thrown before dogs and pigs.

The Eucharist and the Sacraments are not any body’s personal right. No body can lay a claim to it. It is given to the Church by her Lord and so it belongs to the Church. A priest, a bishop or a Pope cannot say it is mine. If it is theirs as soon as that person is dead it would no longer exist. It belongs to the Church, the Church exercises it through her ministers. Minister is a servant, not the master. So he cannot decide how the sacraments should be celebrated. He has no right to. The Church does. The Church is the body of believers united in the Holy Spirit. That is why you and me are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the head of the Church. The head decides all the actions of the body. The head holds the mouth and the food that gives us eternal life. The holy Spirit, the breath of God and Eucharist the food from God come to us through Jesus the head of the Church. An individual member of the Church, like Fr.Reynold or me therefore, cannot make any claim on the sacraments and decide how the Mass should be celebrated.

Each time therefore when we attend the Mass or come up to receive the Holy Communion, let us call to mind that it is for holy people and it is God’s greatest desire to commune with me that he has given this privilege to receive him. So, let’s have the attitude of the woman who wanted to touch the fringe of his garment or the Centurion who admitted that he was not worthy to have Jesus under his roof.