TWENTHIETH SUNDAY OF YEAR "B"

TWENTIETH SUNDAY OF YEAR "b"

 

Cycle “B” Jn. 6, 51 – 58: “I am the living Bread”

Let me tell you the story of the “nail soup”. During the Second World War a group of American soldiers found themselves in the square of a French village. They were tired and hungry. The French villagers were hiding behind their shutters, unaware that the Allies had the Nazis on the run. A soldier spotted one timid citizen behind a pillar. “Do you know where we can get something to eat?” rubbing his stomach to illustrate his point. The man shrunk back further. The soldier turned to his group and said, “I guess we’ll have to make some “nail soup.” Two soldiers carried some kindling and sticks and soon had a roaring fire going in the town square. A small curious crowd gathered together. “Anyone got a pot or kettle?” Someone brought a large pot. The GIs found some water and filled the pot, threw two nails into it, and began stirring it vigorously, with the nails clink clanking inside. “Sure wish we had some potatoes,” one GI said. A Frenchman went off and brought some potatoes.

 The GIs stirred the pot vigorously. The crowd became larger and noticed the soldiers were talking in English, not German. Another GI said, “Some carrots, beet and onions would really be nice. These items mysteriously materialised from dark cellar caches. By now the aroma of the soup was spreading throughout the village and almost everyone was in the town square. Someone brought some meat to throw into the boiling pot. Soon two accordions appeared and there was music, the girls began to dance. “Time to eat,” cried one GI. He began to ladle up the rich, juicy hot stew and hand it out to the townspeople, who were hungry too. After everyone had eaten, there was music and dancing till morning, when the people went back home, talking about how the nicest meal they ever had came out of two nails!

If we come to the Eucharistic table with nothing to offer, we shall only go back hard as nails. But if we come with contrition, faith and generosity, Jesus will, at Holy Communion, transform us into better and more substantial personalities.

 At holy Mass, two offerings come together, ours and Jesus’, to produce something beautiful.

We have to admit, though, that when Jesus offered his flesh as the bread to eat and his blood as drink, he must surely have sounded as hard as nails. The Jews took Jesus’ words in a crass, material sense, and were shocked. But they need not have been, if only they had faith in him. When confronted with mystery, my advice is, “Believe now, understand later.” Jesus’ response to his shocked hearers was not to water down his teaching but to reinforce it and drive it home. Over the centuries, we Christians have come to understand that the “bread’ or the “flesh” is the person of Jesus, who gives himself in the Eucharist as food, which nourishes, supports and strengthens us, bringing us the fulfilment of our deepest needs and desires, and therefore profound joy. By eating his flesh, an intimate union of minds and hearts, an identity of ideals and attitudes emerges, so that it is no longer a merely human life we live, but Jesus Christ lives in us, and we are assimilated to him.

If partaking of the Eucharist means anything, then it must mean transformation and renewal of mind and heart, becoming more Christ like. This is not some crude magical act. The Eucharist is the pledge and source of eternal life only to those who allow themselves to be”drawn”, who consciously and freely “come to” Jesus in faith and self-surrender, “who strive to understand what the will of God is (today’s 2^nd. Reading), and who therefore do not “get drunk with the wine of earthly desires but are filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5, 18)”.  May our participation in the Eucharist mean all this to us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PRAYER (Kate McIlhagga):

As wine is poured for the world

May we see the world’s pain.

As we share the cup of suffering with our neighbour,

May we also share our experience.

Make us good stewards of opportunity

To listen, to comfort, to work for healing, peace, and community.

In our common life, may we remember the God of redemption,

The saving, salving, suffering God,

The God who never forgets us.

Thanks be to God, whose broken hands

Are inscribed with our names

And whose Spirit calls us to account.