CHRIST LIVES IN ME
Introduction
“Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” This is the question of Jesus the Lord when he lets Saul, the persecutor, encounter him on the way to Damascus. Jesus identifies himself with his persecuted disciples. From that moment on, Saul will serve the Lord, whose life he will live. It is an encounter that radically changed Saul into Paul.
The Lord speaks to us today: “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me and I live in them.” This will be our encounter with Christ. May this encounter be so deep that it changes us.
1 Reading: ACTS 9:1-20
Saul, still breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, that, if he should find any men or women who belonged to the Way, he might bring them back to Jerusalem in chains. On his journey, as he was nearing Damascus, a light from the sky suddenly flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” He said, “Who are you, sir?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do.” The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, for they heard the voice but could see no one. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him to Damascus. For three days he was unable to see, and he neither ate nor drank. There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” He answered, “Here I am, Lord.” The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight and ask at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is there praying, and in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, that he may regain his sight.” But Ananias replied, “Lord, I have heard from many sources about this man, what evil things he has done to your holy ones in Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to imprison all who call upon your name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go, for this man is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before Gentiles, kings, and children of Israel, and I will show him what he will have to suffer for my name.” So Ananias went and entered the house; laying his hands on him, he said, “Saul, my brother, the Lord has sent me, Jesus who appeared to you on the way by which you came, that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately things like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight. He got up and was baptized, and when he had eaten, he recovered his strength. He stayed some days with the disciples in Damascus, and he began at once to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.
Responsorial Psalm: 117:1BC, 2
R. (Mark 16:15) Go out to all the world and tell the Good News. or:
R. Alleluia.
Praise the LORD, all you nations;
glorify him, all you peoples! R.
For steadfast is his kindness toward us,
and the fidelity of the LORD endures forever. R.
Alleluia: John 6:56
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood,
remains in me and I in him, says the Lord.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel: John 6:52-59
The Jews quarrelled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his Flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, “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. Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my Flesh is true food, and my Blood is true drink. Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.” These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
Commentary
The Ethiopian, a royal official, wrestles with the celebrated text from Isaiah, much as have scripture scholars of the past and present. The passage is from the last of the four servant songs, in which the servant is clearly individualized but not identified. What is clear is that he suffers in the cause of good. Regardless of who it was the original author intended, there is no doubting the fact, as is evident from today’s reading that early Christians saw the text realized in a remarkable way in Jesus of Nazareth.
The Ethiopian evidently found Philip’s explanation of the text convincing. Upon reaching a location where water was present, the servant asks for baptism, following which Philip’s duties are ended and he is seen no more. In the church in our time, catechesis precedes baptism. In the earliest days of the church, the opposite was the case. After professing faith in Christ’s salvific death and resurrection, the candidate was baptized, with the fuller teaching on Christ coming only later.
This narrative is illustrative of the message of today’s Gospel. It is the Father who draws the believer as the first instructor in the faith. And it is this faith, centered in the person of God’s Son Jesus, that brings eternal life. Christ is the true bread from heaven, which, unlike the manna in the desert, is imperishable.
Why is it that we have such confidence in our belief?
It is because we have it on the word of God himself, a fact that is hard to explain to an unbeliever. Belief is not of our own doing; it is God who draws us to himself. A celebrated author once said that she abandoned her faith because she could not accept the teaching on the Eucharist. To see it as a sign was fine but not as the reality of Christ’s body and blood. We admit the mystery, but with the apostles we have nowhere to go, for Christ has the words of eternal life.
Faith is not easily upheld; sometimes it is very costly. Martyrs have gone to their deaths in its defense. But most of all it bears us up as we travel the bumpy road of life.
Blessing
Paul encountered the Lord and he became a totally new person, completely changed. Our encounter with the Lord in the Eucharist should bring about such a change in us. For Jesus told us today: “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me and I in them.” Let him fully live in you, and may Almighty God bless you for this task, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!