21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

          Unlike our English language, the Greek uses many different words for “to eat”.  I had a chance to study Greek in seminary and knew about this, so I read the very section we heard from today in John 6 to look at what word was employed.  I then asked my professor who, while Christian, was not Catholic and certainly did not believe in the Eucharist, to read this section.  I then asked her, “What does this word mean?”  She answered, “Greeks often used this word to describe the eating of a ritual sacrifice to the gods.  They believed that when they ate the sacrifice they took the divine among themselves.”

            I got goosebumps.  Eat a sacrifice and take the divine into themselves.  That’s exactly what we do at Mass—we take the Divine into ourselves by eating of THE sacrifice.

            Jesus meant what He said, “Eat my flesh…drink my blood.”  Besides looking at the meaning of the Greek word used, we can see this from the very fact that His disciples, who followed Him for up to three years, left Him—“This saying is hard, who can accept it?”  Jesus then turned to His apostles and asked if they would leave too.  Peter, speaking for them all, answered, “Lord, to whom shall we go?  You alone have the words of everlasting life.  We have come to know and believe that you are the Messiah.”

            What does it mean to believe in the Eucharist?  It doesn’t mean having a full comprehension of what is going on, or to understanding this mystery completely.  What it does mean is that, in small ways, we affirm Christ’s true presence at Mass.

            Imagine for a moment that you could choose one person in the world to have dinner with.  Who would it be?  Usain Bolt?  J.K. Rowling?  Justin Bieber (I hope not!)  Mine would be Michael Jordan.  Imagine walking up to this person’s house.  What would you be wearing?  How would you act?  You would probably dress up and follow usual rules of etiquette to the T.  Plus you would sit at the edge of your seat to listen to what your famous host had to say.

            When we come to celebrate the Eucharist we enter into God’s house—a church.  Our behavior reflects our belief in who we come to visit.  There is proper etiquette to follow.

            Before entering church for Mass, we should dress up a bit.  We are not visiting someone famous…we are coming to see the King of kings!  We turn our cell phones off, spit out our gum and take off our baseball hats as a sign of respect.  We leave chatting at the door in order to sit at Jesus’ feet and listen to His words both before and during Mass.

            Before sitting in a pew we genuflect towards the tabernacle.  In medieval times, soldiers used to genuflect on their left knee to their king as a sign of respect and obedience.  Christians baptized this gesture and went down on the right knee to show respect and obedience to the King of kings.

            During the Eucharistic prayer, we kneel as a sign of reverence and respect as Christ is made present under the form of bread and wine.

            Perhaps the greatest way we affirm our belief in the Eucharist at Mass is when we say our collective “Amen” at the elevation and “Amen” once more when we receive communion.  “Amen” means—I believe.

            We Catholics can often complicate things.  At first we think that to believe in the Eucharist we must have a doctorate in theology and be able to rationally explain how bread and wine become Jesus’ Body and Blood.  We do well to remember that our simple actions and words at Mass reflect our belief in the Eucharist.

            Jesus asks us today, “Will you also leave me?” over His teaching about the Eucharist?  Follow the words of St. Peter by demonstrating your belief and love of our Lord in the way you worship at Mass.