Gospel
The Jews quarreled 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.
Many disciples left him that day. Cannibalism was a grave taboo and many could not accept it. There were other things that Jesus had spoke about in parables or symbolism and he would take the disciples aside and explain what his words meant.
Not this time. This time he asked them if they too wanted to leave him and he repeated that his body and blood were real food that had to be eaten for eternal life.
Even today many do not accept the teaching of Jesus Christ even as they call themselves Christian … even as many call themselves Catholic. But without the True body and blood in the Eucharist there is no reason to be at Mass. There is no reason to follow Jesus Christ and believe we can just choose what words to believe and which ones to set aside, as if we were in a cafeteria selecting what we will eat.
Jesus Christ is all or nothing. He has never been vague or unclear on what commandments to follow, what to believe, and the requirement to eat his flesh and blood.
What do we believe?
Do we treat the Mass and the Eucharist properly. Are we in a state of grace when we receive his body and blood?
When the priest or deacon offers us the body of Christ…offers us God to be taken into our bodies do we mumble half of an amen? …. Or quietly whisper amen as if we are embarrassed to say it aloud.
.
Our amen is a profession that we believe in what the church teaches and that this is the real Jesus Christ fully divine and fully man.
Should we not be bold and loudly proclaim our AMEN and solemnly consume it with prayers and thanksgiving.
Would we not be the most careful and convicted in our faith in words if Jesus walked up to us today?
We cannot say we believe but accept his body and blood as if it was a bit of cracker alone.
The minister gives us God to bring him into and together with our physical body and spirit and it is a unique and wondrous thing.
Let us always revere Jesus Christ and with humility and confession and say an Amen worthy of receiving Jesus Christ.
“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.”
Jesus asked his disciples if they too want to leave him and they replied where would we go? You have the words of eternal life.
What would we say if asked today?
What would we give up in order to always receive the Eucharist?
What do we let stand in our way of receiving as often as we can?
Deacon Tony Pynes 
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