April 30, 2004 - Friday, 3rd Week of Easter

CHRIST LIVES IN ME

Readings:
Acts 9:1-20; Ps 117:1bc, 2; Jn 6:51-58

Introduction

"Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" This is the question of Jesus the Lord when he lets Saul the persecutor encounter him on the way to Damascus. Jesus identifies himself with his persecuted disciples. From that moment on Saul will serve the Lord, whose life he will live. It is an encounter that radically changed Saul into Paul.

The Lord speaks to us today: "Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me and I live in them." This will be our encounter with Christ. May this encounter be so deep that it changes us.

Opening Prayer

Our living and loving God,
how could we know the depth of your love
if your Son had not become flesh of our flesh
and blood of our blood?
How could we ever have the courage
to live for one another and if necessary to die
if he had not given up his body
and shed his blood for us?
Thank you for letting him stay in the eucharist with us
and making himself our daily bread.
Let this bread be the food that empowers us
to live and die as he did,
for one another and for you,
our living God, for ever and ever.

Liturgy of the Word

First Reading: Acts 9:1-20

Saul, still breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord,
went to the high priest and asked him
for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, that,
if he should find any men or women who belonged to the Way,
he might bring them back to Jerusalem in chains.
On his journey, as he was nearing Damascus,
a light from the sky suddenly flashed around him.
He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him,
"Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?"
He said, "Who are you, sir?"
The reply came, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
Now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do."
The men who were traveling with him stood speechless,
for they heard the voice but could see no one.
Saul got up from the ground,
but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing;
so they led him by the hand and brought him to Damascus.
For three days he was unable to see, and he neither ate nor drank.

There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias,
and the Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias."
He answered, "Here I am, Lord."
The Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called Straight
and ask at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul.
He is there praying,
and in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias
come in and lay his hands on him,
that he may regain his sight."
But Ananias replied,
"Lord, I have heard from many sources about this man,
what evil things he has done to your holy ones in Jerusalem.
And here he has authority from the chief priests
to imprison all who call upon your name."
But the Lord said to him,
"Go, for this man is a chosen instrument of mine
to carry my name before Gentiles, kings, and children of Israel,
and I will show him what he will have to suffer for my name."
So Ananias went and entered the house;
laying his hands on him, he said,
"Saul, my brother, the Lord has sent me,
Jesus who appeared to you on the way by which you came,
that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit."
Immediately things like scales fell from his eyes
and he regained his sight.
He got up and was baptized,
and when he had eaten, he recovered his strength.

He stayed some days with the disciples in Damascus,
and he began at once to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues,
that he is the Son of God.

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 117:1bc, 2

R (Mark 16:15) Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.
or:
R Alleluia.
Praise the LORD, all you nations;
glorify him, all you peoples!
R (Mark 16:15) Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.
or:
R Alleluia.
For steadfast is his kindness toward us,
and the fidelity of the LORD endures forever.
R (Mark 16:15) Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.
or:
R Alleluia.

Gospel Reading: Jn 6:52-59

The Jews were arguing among themselves, "How can this man give us flesh to eat?" So Jesus replied, "Truly, I say to you, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood live with eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day.

"My flesh is really food and my blood is drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood, live in me and I in them. Just as the Father, who is life, sent me and I have life from the Father, so whoever eats me will have life from me. This is the bread which came from heaven; unlike that of your ancestors, who ate and later died. Those who eat this bread will live forever."

Jesus spoke in this way in Capernaum when he taught them in the synagogue.

Commentary

ST. John's gospel makes effective use of misunderstanding as a method of teaching: ch. 3 (Nicodemus), ch. 4 (the woman at the well), and today's passage.
The phrase "eat my flesh and drink my blood" was wide open to misunderstanding, especially, one must say, by his particular audience. There was an expression "to eat someone's flesh", meaning to slander a person; this could have put them on the wrong track for a start. In addition, their Scriptures had some rather ghoulish texts like Isaiah's, "I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh, and they shall be drunk with their own blood as with wine" (Is 49:26). Such texts were about vengeance, not about intimacy and communion. There was also the more neutral expression "flesh and blood", meaning just human life: as when Jesus said, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven" (Mt 16:17).

Christians tended to see the separate mention of flesh and blood as a sign of the death of Jesus, but the more common view among scholars now is that it means: the whole living Christ.

But the fact is that his listeners were puzzled. And when they asked for an explanation, he didn't offer one. There has been no shortage of people down the ages who were wholly eager to offer explanations: some in the terms of pagan philosophy. But what do we do with things we have "explained" (the word means "flattened out")? We put them aside. The words of Jesus stand there, calling us to something deeper than the intellectual satisfaction that explanations give. We are hungry in deeper places than that.

General Intercessions

- For the Church, that the eucharist may remain the source of its vitality and of its ability to witness to the presence of the Lord in his community, we pray:

- For Christians everywhere, that they may hunger and thirst for justice in the world, we pray:

- For us here and for all Christians who come together around the Lord's table, that Christ may unite us heart and soul and make us open tables to one another, we pray:

Prayer over the Gifts

Our loving God,
as a Father who deeply cares
you invite us to the table of your Son.
He will change our bread into his flesh,
our wine into the drink of life.
Make us one with him,
appease our hunger with his bread
and refresh us with his drink,
that we may live his life
of courage and commitment
and that we may live with him in your love
now and for ever.

Prayer after Communion

Thank you, God, our Father,
for nourishing us on the way to you
with the true bread and drink of life,
your Son Jesus Christ.
In this and in every eucharist
let him take on flesh and blood in us
and make us encounter him so deeply
that we may do for one another
what he has done for us,
Let Christ live in us now and for ever.

Blessing

Paul encountered the Lord and he became a totally new person, completely changed. Our encounter with the Lord in the eucharist should bring about such a change in us. For Jesus told us today: Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me and I in them. Let him fully live in you, and may almighty God bless you for this task, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

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