My friends, this week we continue to ponder just what “the Body and Blood of Christ” means to us, and as we said last week, viewing “the big picture,” it truly is about taking what we have received through our brother Jesus, at his last supper—his presence, into our bodies—physical food, along with his words and actions through Scripture—his showing us the way, and allowing ourselves then, to become that “bread,” his body really, for the world.  And we really do need a “big picture” idea to understand this gift that Jesus left us: His real presence, physical, and spiritual in our lives.

   I promised last week not to “rag on” our local bishop, Robert Barron, and his small notion of the Eucharist, therefore I won’t, but instead speak of another individual who was prominent two weeks ago at the Eucharistic Congress, in Indianapolis, Jonathan Roume, who plays  Jesus in the popular series, The Chosen.

   I was upset to see him sporting a tee shirt with the words: “If it is only a symbol, the hell with it!”  What was being uplifted on this shirt is the notion that the Body and Blood of the Eucharist is real human flesh and real human blood—in short, “the Real Presence.” Evidently, if one doesn’t accept that this is real human flesh, and real human blood, then the real presence of Jesus isn’t there either, and the bishops of this country, including our own, are very worried about this. 

   For whatever reason, the bishops of this country feel that uplifting this idea of “real presence,” as in real flesh and real blood, is more important than the fact that we who follow Jesus, the Christ become, his body and blood , physically, spiritually, and emotionally in our world when we try to “imitate,” rather than “adore” him, as the Eucharistic Congress’ attendees seemed to have been instructed to do—adore, rather than imitate. And again, this isn’t to say that these folks don’t in any way “imitate” Jesus in their lives, but clearly this wasn’t where the emphasis was placed. 

   So, the question must be asked and faced: If you are going to spend millions of dollars—28 to be exact, trying to get “faithful heads” to truly believe that what we have on our tables of liturgy is real human flesh and blood—is that all there is?  Wouldn’t it be better to stress that our brother Jesus is truly present when we say the words, and we don’t necessarily have to understand how that exactly is, instead of being boxed in, believing in a simplistic, magical view of “human flesh and blood” without any real connection to the “flesh and blood” of humanity needing attention in our world? I think it would be better, because I believe that is what our brother Jesus intended.

   But, as always, let’s turn to the Scriptures.  The gospel today from John zeros in on what I was saying above.  Jesus is trying to move his followers beyond the mere physicality of the bread, food for the physical body that is spoken of in the Old Testament reading from Exodus where the people are complaining to God because they have nothing to eat.  And being the merciful One that our God is, the people were fed with manna and quail. 

   Our brother Jesus commenting on this fact, that they were like their forebears—that those who followed him weren’t hungering for the “real bread” he longed to give them—his words, his way of living and giving that would ultimately fill their hearts, minds, and souls, but for food to merely quench their physical hunger. 

   I believe what Jesus found in the people, asking for “physical” bread, instead of “bread” that, [in his words] “gives life to the world”  –big picture, through his words and deeds, saddened him, as he wanted them to see more. 

   To me, that is why the over-the-top expense of the recent Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis saddens me so. Additionally, I believe it may have saddened our brother Jesus too, because it didn’t stress the “bread of life” that “gives life” to the world at all.  They that attended, and they that produced this event pretty much stayed on the surface, “adoring rather than imitating” our brother Jesus—something, by the way, he never wanted. 

   And, moving on to what Paul has to say today to the Ephesians, I believe we see someone who “gets” what Jesus was trying to convey in his lifetime: Paul says, to be a follower of Jesus means you must change your ways—look more like Jesus, and less like the world—in other words, if we are not about “justice” and “truth,” something is missing. 

   It would seem that if something truly “life-giving,” beyond the immediate adoration complete with all the “bells and whistles”  had happened at the Eucharistic Congress, it would have been more widely shared, like an announcement sending this 50.000 folks forth to find justice (the bread of life, the body and blood of Christ in the homeless poor, the imprisoned, especially falsely so, which has so much to do with race, the downtrodden due to gender and sexual differences and preferences beyond the norm, in those called to serve, but denied, and more.  We never hear any leadership on these issues—only rules and regs about who is included, but mostly who is excluded.

   Across town, at the same time, Roman Catholic Women Priests sponsoring a Eucharist of Equals advocated and prayed for all of the above. 

   It is understandable in the purely human sense that the Bishops of this country would choose to do the “easier” action, staying stuck on the surface, but it isn’t what Jesus, by his life called them to do.  They need to lead instead of serving themselves and their positions of power, finding a place at the table for all of God’s beautiful people.

   And for us my friends, the call is the same.  I heard someone recently say, “What good thing did you do today?”  Have we been about showing mercy, understanding, being just in our dealings with others, or better yet, have we done the “loving thing” when we had the opportunity? –and as you know, the “loving thing” isn’t always the easiest to do.  Following Jesus will every day call us to be “our best.”

   Today’s readings are about more than meets the eye for each of us—that is truly the meaning of being “bread for our world, seeing Jesus’ “body and blood” in the faces and lives of all that we meet, and in that light, whether we can get our heads around “real human flesh, and real human blood, doesn’t seem to be the most important thing, but,  responding by doing what is most needed, the loving thing, for the true, more real, body and blood of this world.   Amen? Amen!