“So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me.” John 6:52-57
“those who hold heretical opinions about the grace of Jesus Christ … refuse to acknowledge that the Eucharist is the flesh of our savior Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins and which the Father by his goodness raised up” St. Ignatius of Antioch
St. Ignatius of Antioch was a disciple of St. John, the disciple at Jesus’ side, ‘the beloved disciple’. He learned directly from the man who heard all Jesus said, and, the after-hours teachings.
“So many of His followers left Him because of these words. Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him.” John 6:66
So, John heard the words from John 6, “the Bread of Life discourse”, and then would naturally have passed the biggest teachings along to his students. Do many of Jesus’ followers don’t believe the words of Jesus. The early church, first called ‘Catholic’ by St. Ignatius, believed this fact. They so strongly believed the Eucharist to truly be the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus that they were willing to die, to be crucified or eaten by lions, for the Eucharist.
Do you believe?
The Eucharist “is the medicine of immortality, the antidote we take in order not to die but to live forever in Jesus Christ.”
Or, do you go to church just to check a box or hope to hear a fancy sermon? Do you look to be fed or to ‘be fed’?
I know there are Protestant followers on The Road of Faith, I want you to know the truth of the Eucharist. And, for Catholics reading this who don’t believe or wonder if this truly it the ‘Real Presence’ of Jesus, I want you to know the truth of the Eucharist. This isn’t an act, or play, or done simply to reenact or remember Jesus, it is truly Him. Truly Jesus in this bread and wine – Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity.
Believing in the Eucharist, in the fact that these tangible and visible gifts of the Sacred Host and the Precious Blood are, in fact, the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of the Eternal Son of God, can only happen through the interior and transforming gift of faith. How else can you believe such a teaching? How else could you believe that these words in John’s Gospel have come true? And that the reception of the Most Holy Eucharist is the pathway to eternal life? The gift of faith in the Most Holy Eucharist is the one and only way to understand, accept and deeply believe what our Lord has spoken in this Holy Gospel.
Come before Him, knowing, believing and understanding with faith and trust that this bread and wine IS Jesus Christ, come to you personally that when you believe and “eat this bread”, and ‘drink this cup’ you may be saved and have eternal life. Everything else, all other foods are nothing in comparison. Come to Mass, not like those coming for simple bread but as one of those who declare like St. Peter, I take and I eat because ““Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
“If angels could be jealous of men, they would be so for one reason: Holy Communion.” – St. Maximilian Kolbe
“That bread which you see on the altar, having been sanctified by the word of God, is the body of Christ. That chalice, or rather, what is in that chalice, having been sanctified by the word of God, is the blood of Christ.” St. Augustine
“During Mass, I thanked the Lord Jesus for having deigned to redeem us and for having given us that greatest of all gifts; namely, His love in Holy Communion; that is, His very own Self.” Divine Mercy in My Soul # 1670 -17 April 1938