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.
+ + + + + + +
Reflection:
Are
you a regular Sunday Mass goer or even a daily Mass goer? How do you feel if
you fail to be at Holy Mass? Do you feel that something is lacking in your
system of being? If your answer is yes, you have this feeling not because you
miss a routinary activity.
Truth
be told, you have this feeling because you miss to be with Jesus. And you miss
to partake of the Body and Blood of Jesus which (you may not know) is the
source of your every Sunday or daily nourishment.
How
many times have you been to Holy Mass without paying attention to what’s going
on during the celebration? Perhaps countless times already, what do you do
after noticing that your attention was not in the Mass? Do you say sorry to
Jesus and then make it a point to be attentive the next time?
In
every Holy Mass that you attend you should see to it that your full attention
is in the celebration. So that when the part comes that you are about to
partake of His body your focus is centered on what you are about to receive.
Which is no other than the most precious bread in the entire world because you
receive the life giver, Jesus Himself.
Perhaps
you may not believe this now because you are still young, healthy and perhaps
you have money and power. And these temporal things serve as your security
blanket right now. However when the time comes that you are already old and
sickly. You will know that nothing matters anymore except the Bread of life,
Jesus Himself. You will not desire anything except to partake of His Body which
will become the source of your daily nourishment.
Why
wait for that time to come in the future? When you can already desire to be
close to Jesus by faithfully partaking of His Body and Blood now and
onwards? Why make the temporal things of this world your security
blanket? When you can make the Body of Christ your security blanket now? Yes
now! – Marino J. Dasmarinas