Bread From Heaven

The most recent of the series that has been running in our bulletin with excerpts from Sacramentum Caritatis

The Blessed Trinity and the Eucharist

The bread come down from heaven7. The first element of eucharistic faith is the mystery of God himself, trinitarian love. In Jesus’ dialogue with Nicodemus, we find an illuminating expression in this regard: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him” (Jn 3:16-17). These words show the deepest source of God’s gift. In the Eucharist Jesus does not give us a “thing,” but himself; he offers his own body and pours out his own blood. He thus gives us the totality of his life and reveals the ultimate origin of this love. He is the eternal Son, given to us by the Father. In the Gospel we hear how Jesus, after feeding the crowds by multiplying the loaves and fishes, says to those who had followed him to the synagogue of Capernaum: “My Father gives you the true bread from heaven; for the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world” (Jn 6:32-33), and even identifies himself, his own flesh and blood, with that bread: “I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh” (Jn 6:51). Jesus thus shows that he is the bread of life which the eternal Father gives to mankind.

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In this passage Pope Benedict XVI traces the connection between Jesus and the Eucharist. In so doing, he makes it easier for us to understand the source of the apostles’ faith in Jesus as “the bread of life come down from heaven.” Their faith is the same that has been passed to us 2,000 years later and it is good to be reminded of the original sources. If we take the time to go read the scriptural references for ourselves they come to life even more as we see the context.

We also are reminded that God’s generosity to us knows no bounds. In the Eucharist Jesus does not give us a “thing,” but himself; he offers his own body and pours out his own blood. As Saint Catherine of Siena says, “We are purchased not with gold, nor merely with love’s sweetness, but with blood.” Jesus gives literally everything that he has and is. What is more, he does it every time Mass is celebrated which is something to contemplate before we go to Holy Communion.