The first reading today is the story of the conversion of St. Paul. Saul has a close encounter with Jesus, and it rocks his world. Many of us have had radical conversion experiences. But God calls us to conversion daily, and most often uses much more subtle means. Let’s pray that we’ll see them all.
Have you ever done a jigsaw puzzle? When you do a puzzle, you start in the corners, work around the edges and then work your way in until you get to that last piece that fills in the middle. That’s what we have in today’s Gospel reading from John 6. The piece of the puzzle that makes it all fit together. Jesus said, “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.” As Catholics, we believe that Jesus is clearly speaking of the Eucharist.
His listeners at the time could not possibly have known what He meant. And tomorrow, we’ll see that many left Him because of this. But as Catholics, we believe that Jesus said what He meant, and meant what He said. And when you piece together the rest of the puzzle, you’ll see the whole picture. True food. True drink. Nothing figurative or symbolic here. The Eucharist. (**Shameless plug alert!! If you would like to find out more about “the puzzle” that is the Eucharist, order my apologetics CD’s! We have one on this very topic!)
Father, we believe that Jesus’ Body is true food, and His Blood is true drink. May we be a Eucharistic people, filled with thanksgiving every day of our lives. Amen.
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