The new manna, the Eucharist, is supernatural food given for supernatural life
- CARL E. OLSON
On the readings for Sunday, June 22nd, the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.
Readings:
Dt 8:2-3, 14b-16a
Psa 147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20
1 Cor 10:16-17
Jn 6:51-58
In
my late teens I began to have questions about the beliefs and practices
of the small Fundamentalist Bible chapel — co-founded by my parents — I had
attended most of my life. Many of these questions were only half-formed
at the time, but later came into sharper focus, causing me to
critically rethink much I had been taught.
Why was it, I
wondered, I had heard several sermons about Rahab the harlot (Josh 2 and
6), but only one about Mary, the mother of Jesus? Why did we celebrate
Easter and the Resurrection of Christ, but ignored Good Friday and the
commemoration of his death? And why did we celebrate the Lords Supper
each Sunday, but always emphasized that our communion service was only
"symbolic" in nature?
This latter topic was especially vexing.
And it became even more troubling after I attended an Evangelical Bible
college for two years. I heard sermons and lectures about the miraculous
gift of the manna (Ex 16; Num 11), but I dont recall ever hearing a
sermon or lecture about the final twenty verses of the sixth chapter of
John. That passage fascinated and troubled me. I read it again and
again, mulling over the stunning words, heard in todays Gospel reading,
uttered by Jesus: "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."
John 6, especially verses 51-71, was the most bothersome
passage in the Bible for me as a Protestant. That section of Scripture
played an essential role in the decision my wife and I made to become
Catholic, entering the Church together in 1997. Yes, there were many
other important issues, including Church authority, history, Mary, and
the other sacraments. But at the heart of our hunger was a desire for
the Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.
"For my flesh is
true food," Jesus told his disciples and the others listening to him,
"and my blood is true drink." I became convinced of what the Church
taught — and had taught for two thousand years — about the Real Presence:
"In the Eucharist Christ gives us the very body which he gave up for us
on the cross, the very blood which he poured out for many for the
forgiveness of sins." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, par 1365).
Four
times in John 6 the words "Amen, amen" (or "Truly, truly) are uttered
by Jesus (vs 26, 32, 47, 53). Each signifies a transition and a teaching
of great importance; each is a deeper revelation into the person and
work of Christ. First, Jesus rebuked the people for seeking only after
earthly, temporal food — they instead should believe in him (v. 29).
Secondly, Jesus emphasized that it is his Father, not Moses, who gave
the manna in the desert. Third, Jesus strongly stated that belief in him
is eternal life (v. 47) and that he is "the bread of life" (v. 48). He
then announced, to the amazement of those present, that the bread he
referred to is his flesh. "This is the bread that came down from
heaven," Jesus stated, "Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died,
whoever eats this bread will live forever."
Jesus had fed the
people real bread (Jn 6:1-14). He then offered real, eternal life to
those who believed in him. And then he offered his real flesh as food
and his real blood as drink. Natural food, of course, sustains natural
life. And the manna, although given in a miraculous manner, was still
natural food for natural life. But the new manna, the Body and Blood of
Jesus Christ, is supernatural food given for supernatural life. This new
manna, the Eucharist, is "the source and summit of the Christian life"
(CCC 1324). It is, as Paul wrote the Corinthians, participation in the
blood and body of Christ.
It is, for me, no longer bothersome, but still stunning.
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Acknowledgement
Carl E. Olson. "The new manna, the Eucharist, is supernatural food given for supernatural life." Catholic World Report (June 21, 2014).
This "Opening the Word" column originally appeared in the May 25, 2008, issue of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper.
Reprinted with permission from the author, Carl E. Olson.
Catholic World Report is an online news magazine that tells the story from an orthodox Catholic perspective. After more than 20 years as the leading Catholic journal of news, analysis, and commentary, CWR moved its hard-hitting content entirely online, free to all readers without a subscription, in January 2012. Sign up to receive it here.
The Author
Carl E. Olson is the editor of IgnatiusInsight.com and Catholic World Report. Carl Olson is the author of Will Catholics Be Left Behind? A Catholic Critique of the Raptureand Today's Prophecy Preachers (Ignatius Press, 2003) and co-author of the best-selling The Da Vinci Hoax: Exposing the Errors in The Da Vinci Code (Ignatius Press, 2004).
Copyright © 2014 Carl E. Olson