The Eucharist con't

Jesus spoke very plainly, “I am the living bread come down from heaven.  Anyone who eats this bread will live forever, and the bread that I shall give is my flesh for the life of the world.” John 6:51.  Jesus also said, “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in him.”  John 6:56 

There were those who did not like to hear this message and after Jesus told them they would have to eat his flesh and drink his blood the scriptures tell us, “After this, many of his disciples left him and followed him no longer.” John 6:66.  There are still those among us who do not want to believe that is what Jesus meant and so they choose to believe he really didn’t mean what he said.  Yet, he didn’t chase after those who left to tell them he really meant it only symbolically – he let them leave and go their own way.

St. Paul tells us in his letter to the Corinthians the significance of this teaching from Jesus.  “Everyone is to recollect himself before eating this bread and drinking this cup; because a person who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of Jesus is eating and drinking his own condemnation.”  1 Corinthians 11:28-29