LIFE FOR A LIFELESS WORLD.

THE BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST.
May 25, 2008.
(First reading: Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14-16) (Psalm 147:12-15, 19-20)
(Second reading: 1 Corinthians 10: 16-17) (Gospel: John 6:51-58).


LIFE FOR A LIFELESS WORLD.

Today Jesus tells us that he gives us his Body and Blood (his whole being) so that we may receive his life, his whole life.

Through his Body and Blood Jesus gives us the totality of his life for the satisfaction of the totality of our human needs:
- Jesus gives us the totality of his life. Just as Jesus receives the totality of the Father's life, so do we receive from Jesus the totality of his being. Jesus says: "Just as... I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me" (John 6:57). The life of God is a life of unity, peace, justice, goodness, truth.

- Jesus gives us his Body and Blood for the satisfaction of the totality of our human needs, namely, the need to live in unity with God and with one another, the need to live in peace and justice.

That is all we need in order to live a truly human life, a life that does not end, just as the God's life has no end. "Whoever eats this bread will live forever" (John 6:58), says the Lord.

The failure to receive the life of God is the equivalent of leaving our human needs unmet which in turn results in the extinction of life. "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" (John 6:53), says Jesus.

Our world "eats and drinks" destruction, war, selfishness, lies, intolerance, chaos, abuse, dispossession, indifference. And this kind of "food" (or shall we say poison) is what leads to the extinction on life, leads to absence of life, leads to death.

The lifeless world may even experience false illusions of well-being, of progress and prosperity because of its inability to understand that any progress, prosperity or well-being that is not attained through justice, peace, unity and mutual respect will only result in death. The gospel illustrates this point when it says: Those "who ate [manna] still died" (John 6:58).

The Lord Jesus brings the life of God to a lifeless world.
Jesus says: "The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world" (John 6:51); a life of unity, justice and peace: "Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf" (1 Corinthians 10:17).

May our lifeless world receive true life by eating the Body of the Lord Jesus and drinking his Blood, the one and only food that gives us eternal life.