THE EUCHARIST: CHRIST’S “HARDEST” TEACHING The first hard saying is Jesus’ insistence that the Eucharist is His Body and Blood. That, we must eat His true Flesh and drink His true Blood as our true food. As our necessary daily…
Christ is the Eucharist body, soul and divinity is our life on earth. With Him, life is nothing and means nothing. If we eat his body and drink his blood then we will have life in us, an abundant life and life eternal. Our eating Christ’s flesh and drinking his body is not symbolic and figurative. It is the Real Presence of his Body and Blood to us.
EUCHARISTIC CHRIST: FOUNTAIN OF LIFE Eucharistic Christ invites us to partake of his body and blood as living food that sustains us in life and eternal life. Life is a tedious journey that needs to be sustained through nourishment of…
Christ Jesus is our satisfaction. He is the author and the finisher of our faith. He is the portion marked out by God for us. In life, there is no doubt that we have various pangs of hunger that need to be satisfied but, above them all is the spiritual hunger that only God in Christ Jesus can spiritually satisfy in us.
There is a miracle of abundance and superabundance when there is love and sharing with others. This is the central focus of this Sunday’s readings, especially the gospel. It is God that multiplies, but not out of nothing. It is what we bring to God in faith and trust that he multiplies into abundance for us all. The love action of sharing our little is the miracle of abundance for many who are lacking.
Compassion and empathy are the most important characteristics that differentiate Jesus from the religious authorities of his time. One notable thing is that the people must have noticed the remarkable difference between Christ and other religious authorities in his time. Possibly, they have seen how he treats them with kindness, respect, and dignity and not with shame, imposition, and guilt like the Jewish religious authorities.
We are called to be prophetic missionaries who speak out the truth without fear or favour of anyone. Speaking the truth these days is unpopular, especially among church men and women who prefer to be prudent or diplomatic. This is because of the philosophy that doesn’t speak the truth so that you don’t hurt anyone. Our vacation as prophets and missionaries is to continue the mission of Christ on earth. That is preaching repentance, forgiveness of sins, liberation, and salvation.
The sufficient grace of God is at work in our human and Christian lives amidst our human weaknesses and inadequacies. Hence, the Christian life is a life of grace or strength in weakness through God´s grace and mercy. This strength in weakness is the beauty and mystery of our lives in God. For Paul, it is clear without doubt or reservation that the Christian faith and life are all grace.
God from all intent and purpose wants us to have life and abundance; he is the giver of life, not death. This mystery of God´s generosity in life to us is difficult to understand, especially in a world with too many miseries.
Human sufferings, miseries, death, and evil are not God´s making or doing. It came because of Satan and the evil ones as well as the choices we make in life. The culture of death around us today is all man´s making.
In life, there will always be storms, however, with Christ, there is peace, calm, and tranquillity amidst storms. All we have to do is to be still and know that the Lord is in control. Indeed, in our lives journey, there will be powerful storms, that shake us to the foundation of our being. These storms do not only affect us but also everything and everyone around us is constantly shaken by the storms of life. Yet, we need to relax because God is in control.