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		<td align=left valign=top width=20%><font face="Maiandra GD" color=#7c6262 size=+1><i>You Are What You Eat.</i>

<p><hr noshade align=center color=#7c6262><p>The Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time.<small><br><br>Lessons from the secondary dominica, according to the ordinary form of the Roman Rite:<br><br>• Exodus 16: 2-4, 12-15.<br>• Psalm 78: 3-4, 23-25, 54.<br>• Ephesians 4: 17, 20-24.<br>• John 6: 24-35.</small>

<p><hr noshade align=center color=#7c6262><p>The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost.<small><br><br>Lessons from the dominica, according to the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite:<br><br>• I Corinthians 12: 2-11.<br>• Psalm 16: 8, 2.<br>• Luke 18: 9-14.</small>

<p><hr noshade align=center color=#7c6262><p>The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost; and, the Feast of the Translation of the Relics of the Holy Proto-Martyr & Archdeacon Stephen.<small><br><br>First & third lessons from the pentecostarion, second & fourth lessons from the menaion, according to the Ruthenian recension of the Byzantine Rite:<br><br>• I Corinthians 4: 9-16.<br>• Acts 6: 8—7: 5, 47-60.<br>• Matthew 17: 14-23.<br>• Matthew 21: 33-42.</small>

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		<td valign=top width-80%><font face="Maiandra GD"><p align=justify><img src="breadoflife.jpg" align=right hspace=15 vspace=5>8:55 AM 8/2/2015 — Last week, you'll recall, we had parsed the miracle of our Blessed Lord feeding five thousand men with five loaves of bread and two fish, and we drew from it a whole bunch of stuff: not only an understanding of how the sacraments work, not only an appreciation of the Holy Priesthood, not only a realization of the role our own efforts play in the economy of grace, but we also noticed, right off the bat, that the whole incident was a prefiguring of the Holy Eucharist.  And the lessons of today's Mass continue on this Eucharistic theme, with our Gospel lesson picking up the day after the miracle of the loaves.  That very day, Jesus and His crew got into their boat and took off, and when the crowd woke up the next morning and discovered them gone, so today's Gospel tells us, they got into their boats and set sail for Capernaum, where our Lord's most profound statement about the Blessed Eucharist would be made: <i>Ego sum panis vitæ: qui venit ad me, non esuriet, et qui credit in me, non sitiet umquam</i>—“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst” (John 6: 35 NABRE).  And, of course, we know that our Lord does not speak figuratively.

<br>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;The miracle of the previous day had awakened the crowd's deepest hopes and longings.  Thousands of people had left the comfort of their homes to come and hear our Lord.  Last Sunday, Saint John went so far as to tell us that the people were so moved by the day's events that they wanted to carry our Lord off and make Him king;—that's why he secreted Himself away when they weren't looking—but, when they caught up with Him, He turned the tables on them and accused them of being somewhat mercenary: “Believe me, if you are looking for me now, it is not because of the miracles you have seen; it is because you were fed with the loaves, and had your fill” (6: 26); in other words, He's accusing them of seeking Him, not because the miracle has convinced them of His divinity, but because they got a free meal out of it, and were probably looking for breakfast.  Saint Augustine commented on this, paraphrasing our Lord and making an observation: “You seek me for worldly motives, not for spiritual ones.  How many people are there who seek Jesus solely for worldly ends! … Rarely does someone look for Jesus for the sake of Jesus” (<i>Commentary on John,</i> 25, 10).

<br>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;But there is a sense, if you will forgive me, in which we can take issue with this great Father of the early Church; because, for those of us who are faithful Catholics, we know that there's nothing that draws more people to love and devotion than the worship of the Most Blessed Sacrament.  When we have our monthly celebrations here on the thirteenth of every month in honor of one of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima, what's by far the most moving part of the day?  We may all have our own separate answers to that question, but when I look out at the faces of those in attendance, it's clear to me that it's when the priest processes with the Most Blessed Sacrament; and, on those occasions when I've been privledged to carry the monstrance in procession, it never fails to effect me as I see the emotions on the faces of so many as our Lord passes by.

<br>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;Why is that, beyond, of course, the obvious fact the Eucharist is our Lord?  I think that Pope Saint John Paul II might have hit on it in one of his homilies.  He said,

<blockquote><p align=justify><small>It is only by means of the Eucharist that we are able to live the heroic virtues of Christianity, such as charity to pardon one's enemies, the love which enables us to suffer, the capacity to give one's life for another; chastity at all times of life and in all situations; patience in the face of suffering and the apparent silence of God in human history or our very own existence.  Therefore, strive to always be Eucharistic souls so as to be authentic Christians (Homily, Aug. 19, 1979).</blockquote></small>

<p align=justify><img src="eucharist.jpg" align=left hspace=15 vspace=5>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;Now, that's a mouthful, and if we were to parse that paragraph there's a lot we could reflect on there; but, suffice it to say that living the Christian life in this depraved age, when just being a believer makes one suspect and outcast, and in which temptations are thrown at us from every side almost as if society itself has invested itself in our own personal fall from grace, the faithful Catholic knows that it's the Body and Blood of the Lord that enables him to remain faithful, and it's the Body and Blood of the Lord that gives him the courage to pick himself up and try again when he fails.

<br>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;When the crowd heard our Blessed Lord describe the Eucharist, albeit in symbolic terms, they pleaded with him, <i>Domine, semper da nobis panem hunc</i>—“Lord, give us this bread always” (6: 34); and, while they may not have understood exactly what they were asking, we do.  Our Lord leaves no room for doubt that this “bread,” as He calls it, is real.  He repeats the verb βεβρωσχω—“to eat”—eight times!  Christ becomes food so we might gain a new life: “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” (6: 51 NABRE).  That's our Lord's comment on today's first lesson from Exodus.  The Manna in the desert was a symbol; the Eucharist is not.

<br>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;When we receive Communion, we receive Christ Himself, with His Body, His Blood, His Soul and Divinity.  Our life is transformed into His life.  In Holy Communion, Christ is not only God with us, but God in us.  Saint Augustine, who always finds unique ways of looking at things, gets very graphic and describes the reception of Holy Communion in terms of the physiology of eating and digesting.  He points out that, when we eat normal food, we digest it and it becomes part of us; but, when we receive our Lord in Holy Communion, He does not become a part of us, we become a part of Him; assuming we are in the state of grace and can receive Him worthily, we actually become what we have consumed (cf. <i>Confessions,</i> 7, 10, 16; 7, 18, 24).  Christ gives us his life.  He divinizes us.  He transforms us into Himself.  The infinite merits of His Passion are poured into our soul.  He sends His strength and consolation.  He leads us to His Most Sacred Heart, to transform our hopes and dreams into His.  That's because the Blessed Sacrament, as the Second Vatican Council says, “contains all the spiritual good of the Church” (<i>Presbyterorum ordinis,</i> 5).  Thus, our goal should be, whenever we receive Holy Communion, to be able to say along with Saint Paul, “… it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2: 20 RSV).  Of course, once we know this, we know that it must effect how we live our lives, and that the words of our Lord at the Last Supper must be fulfilled in us at every Holy Communion: “If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14: 23 RSV).

<br>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;Let us pray that, as we approach for Holy Communion today—those of us who are worthy—we may do so with the full realization of what we are doing, desiring the Lord to make His home within us, so we can truly become what we have received.

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