By Orlando Hernandez
Starting with the Friday of last week, and continuing all the way through the 3rd Week of Easter, the daily masses offer the readings from Chapter 6 of the Gospel of John. I have been led into meditation and prayer by these readings all week long. Here is a humble sharing, dear friends.
Last Friday’s Gospel (Jn 6:1-15) presents the wonderful story of the multiplication of the loaves and the fishes. This is the verse that struck me this time : “ When Jesus raised His eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to Him, He said to Philip, ‘ Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?’” (Jn 6: 5) I imagine myself near the top of the mountain, where Jesus sits with His disciples, apparently engaged in prayer, lost in the Love of Abba, planning with the Father what He was about to do. Suddenly He raises His eyes and looks straight at me in such a loving way! I feel so intimate with Him, but only for an instant, for He looks right and left, and past me at the thousands that are there to receive His mercy. I realize that I am no more special than anyone else. His love is for everyone. He invites us to communion.
Then in last Saturday’s Gospel (Jn 6: 16-21), we hear about another miracle: “ When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they began to be afraid. But He said to them, ‘ It is I. Do not be afraid.’ They wanted to take Him into the boat, but the boat immediately arrived at the shore to which they were heading.”(Jn 6:19-21) Strange how sometimes I stray far from Jesus and unexpectedly, looking into another person’s eyes, or in a moment of inexpressible beauty, or while forcing my way through prayer, I become aware of His Presence and suddenly I feel, well, afraid, and I must look away for a moment, as if looking into the sun. Time becomes irrelevant. An instant feels like minutes, and minutes go by like an instant, the way it happened to the disciples on the boat.
In this Monday’s Gospel, Jesus tells the crowd: “ Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” ( Jn 6: 27a) Then in Tuesday’s Gospel the Lord goes on to say: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” (Jn 6: 35) When I pray, “ Give us this day our daily bread,” I stop to thank God for the financial security that He has given me, and to pray for those I love, that they don’t lose their livelihoods; but I ask mostly for the millions in the planet, living at the edge of starvation. I also ask for the many Catholics that have stopped going to mass. That they realize that Jesus, the Bread of Life, is waiting patiently for them at “Church”, to give them His very Self, full of life and energy and love to satisfy the mysterious hunger and thirst that we all experience. I pray for my many friends, who for many reasons cannot receive the Eucharist, that they just show up and believe, and realize that our Lord means it when He says,”Whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”
In Wednesday’s Gospel the Lord reaffirms : “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have eternal life…” (Jn 6: 40a) I find myself again praying for my non-believing friends, that the Lord may open their eyes, as He did once for me, so that they are struck by faith, and experience a way of living (“eternal life”) that is delightful and strengthening at the same time, a wonderful new adventure.
In Thursday’s Gospel the Lord goes deeper into the mystery of the Eucharist . He says, to the shock of His listeners : “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my Flesh for the life of the world.” (Jn 6: 51). And then, in Friday’s Gospel He goes even further: “ 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.” (Jn 6: 54-57)
When I was taking my RCIA classes, this wonderful pamphlet on the Eucharist would explain that in giving us “His Body” Jesus is giving us His complete Self, and in giving us “His Blood” He is giving us His divine “life-force”. This way of thinking gives me solace and comfort, but John is talking about taking in Jesus’ “Flesh”. The eating of the consecrated bread and wine at Communion is even more than the reception of a powerful, divine, loving, spiritual force. We are taking in a human being, who is no longer a Spirit alone, but flesh and blood, as He pointed out and showed in last Sunday’s Gospel about hIs appearance after His resurrection (Lk 24: 35-48). In the Eucharist it seems to me that His very Flesh is joined to our flesh. It is almost like the consummation of a loving marriage. We live in each other! But this Flesh is the Flesh that bled on the Cross, the Flesh that was torn like the veil of the temple, so we could approach the Glory of God and live. Is He inviting us to be crucified with Him? Is He crucifying Himself with us in the sorrow and pain that eventually comes to all of us?
All these mysteries fascinate, console, yet also challenge and intimidate me. But, just like He told His terrified disciples on the boat when they saw His power, He tells us again and again: “It is I. Do not be afraid.”
Amen.
Vincent van Gogh, “First Steps…” (1890)
Ernest Wise Keyser, “Meditation”, Limestone, 1932, Brookgreen Gardens, Murrells Inlet, South Carolina
“The Decent into Limbo”, Circle of Andrea Mantegna, mid-15th Century, The Met
The Victor's Place 