John 6:51-58
Eucharistic Sacrifice
by Rev. Stephen G. Oetjen
Reprinted with permission of "The Arlington Catholic Herald"

For the past three weeks, we have been hearing from the sixth chapter of St. John’s Gospel, a chapter well-known for its eucharistic teaching.  Up to this point, Jesus has been speaking of himself as the “bread of life.”  The new manna.  A new word enters the discourse in verse 51, the first verse of today’s Gospel.  And that word is “Flesh.”  Jesus says, “The bead that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”

This is what prompts quarreling among his listeners: “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”  Jesus does not back pedal.  He uses the word “flesh” four more times in this passage, and he switches from the simple verb “eat” (in Greek, trogo) to a more vivid verb that means “gnaw” or “chew” (trogo):  “Whoever eats (trogo) my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” He does not let the negative reaction of the crowd deter his teaching.  Rather, he intensifies his language.

The notion of sacrifice is inescapable here.  Earlier in the bread of life discourse, Our Lord compared himself to the manna in the desert.  Now, he implicitly compares himself to the Passover lamb, whose flesh the Israelites are instructed to eat, after sprinkling its blood on their doorposts (see Ex 12:8, 46).  Christ himself is the one perfect sacrifice of the new covenant.  He is both the priest who offers the sacrifice and the victim who is offered.  When we eat his flesh, we are joined to his sacrifice and share in its fruits.

His flesh, which he gives us to eat, is his “flesh for the life of the world.” It is his body offered for us and or our salvation.  At the Last Supper, he said, “This is my body which is given for you.” (Lk22:19)  That same evening, he allowed himself to be handed over.  The very next day, he allowed his body to be nailed to the cross and his blood to be shed.  He suffered death, the separation of his body and blood.  When he rose again, his body and blood were reunited.

When bread and wine are consecrated at Mass, Christ’s body and blood truly become present.  Not only are Christ’s body and blood made present, but the power of his sacrifice on the cross is made present also.  We see this by paying close attention to what happens at the holy Mass.  There ae two separate, distinct consecrations: the first over bread ( “This ;is my body”) and the second over wine (“This is the chalice of my blood”).  This is a sacramental sign of the death of Jesus, the separation of his body and blood.  Because his death is signified sacramentally, the power his death is made truly present.  This is a ritual that contains the hidden power of the cross.  We kneel before Calvary.

A little later in the holy Mass, the sacred host is broken, and a fragment of it is dropped into the chalice.  This takes place while the faithful say or sing the “Lamb of Good” and the priest says a prayer quietly: “May; the mingling of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ bring eternal life to us who receive it.”  This is a sacramental sign of the resurrection of Christ, when his body and blood were reunited.  Not only is the power of the Lord’s death made present before us, but also the power of his resurrection.

And so, when we receive holy Communion, we eat of the lamb who was slain, and who now lives forever.  Do you see why the Lord tells us that whoever eats his flesh and drinks his blood has eternal life and will live forever?  His presence at Mass is inseparable from the power of his sacrifice, and our communion in his body and blood gives us a share in his eternal life.  This is meant to transform us here and now, so that we become like him.  Our lives are then meant to be patterned after his Eucharistic sacrifice so that we too are made into a gift of self-sacrificial love.  By the power of the holy Eucharist, we learn to say with him, “THIS IS MY BODY, GIVEN UP FOR YOU . . .  This is my blood, poured out for you.”