From the responsorial psalm: “Look to him that you may be radiant with joy, and your faces may not blush with shame. When the poor one called out, the LORD heard, and from all his distress he saved him. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 19:13-15)
“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.”
“Forsake foolishness that you may live; advance in the way of understanding,” we hear in the reading from the Book of Proverbs. What is wisdom in relation to God? Jesus declares himself as the true bread from heaven sent by the Father. This bread, unlike the manna that the Israelites ate in the wilderness, gives eternal life. Eating this bread means believing in the one sent by the Father and in his life-giving flesh and blood. Saint Paul tells us, “Watch carefully how you live, not as foolish persons but as wise.” What Jesus says may sound foolish, but consider the wisdom of God spoken by Jesus to the Jews who question him. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” they ask. And Jesus tells them: “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.” And God’s wisdom is this: whoever eats this bread will remain in him and live forever. That same true food and true drink is ours to receive at every celebration of the Eucharist.
God, give me the wisdom of knowing your Son more and more fully in the Eucharist. The true food of the flesh and blood Jesus offers is wisdom taken in to become more like him—now in this life and to prepare me for eternal life with you in your glory. “Come, eat of my food,” I read in Proverbs, “and drink of the wine I have mixed!” The invitation of Jesus to “take this” and “eat of it” is participation in his passion, death, and resurrection but also an invitation to the wedding feast of the Lamb, the eternal celebration of your triumphant love. Can I remember just one word from the Gospel today as I partake of the Eucharist even while looking to the hope of everlasting life? Let me come back to you continually in the Eucharist, Lord, where there is true food and true drink for this life and the life of the world to come.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.