From horrified to convinced

By Lou Occhi

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/042421.cfm
Acts 9:31-42
John 6:60-69

Today’s gospel is the tail end of a conversation that Jesus was having with His disciples about the bread of life. To fully grasp the conversation we need to look at the gospel leading up to the discussion. 

The section of John’s gospel, Chapter 6 that we will look at today starts with verse 31. Needless to say, if I simply read verse 31 through 69 our time would be up. So, I will hit the highlights.

The disciples said to Jesus, “Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat’.“ Jesus responded, “Amen, amen I say to you, it was not Moses who gave them bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Jesus then said, “I am the bread of life: whoever comes to me will never hunger and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” 

Further down in the gospel Jesus says, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” Needless to say, the disciples were taken aback by this. Jesus continues, “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.”

All that leads up to today’s gospel reading. Basically, many of his disciples left Him for this was totally unacceptable. Jesus then asks Peter if he will leave as well. Peter answers, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God”.

I try to imagine how all of this sounded to those Jesus was addressing. It is pretty clear that He was talking about eating real flesh and drinking real blood. I for one would have been horrified at all of this. Peter and the disciples that remained went along with this because of their pure faith in Jesus.

Of course, we now know that Jesus was talking about what we call the Eucharist. The disciples had no clue at this point about how they would eat Jesus’ flesh and drink His blood. That did not happen until the last supper.

In spite of the clarity of the gospel, those who believe that the Eucharist is actually the body and blood of Jesus is diminishing. It is beyond our comprehension of how this occurs, but, just as Peter and Jesus’ closest disciples did, we have to take Jesus at His word. Our Lord knows that this is a difficult thing to believe so He has given us miracles in the past. The most famous is the miracle in Lanciano, Italy 1200 years ago. The priest was saying the consecration and was having doubts about the actuality of the Eucharist so he asked for a sign. At the moment of consecration the bread turned into human flesh and the wine turned into human blood. It has been forensically tested within our lifetime and found that the flesh is a very fine slice of a human heart and the blood is type AB, typical for people of the Middle East. There are books written on various Eucharistic miracles, some of them occurring as recently as the 1990s.

Except for a few verses in the gospel and some strong wording in Paul’s epistles, we are not told much on how the Eucharist was celebrated in the early church. I thought it might be interesting relate some of the things that were documented in the first few centuries and how the people of that time regarded the Eucharist after the death of Jesus.

St. Ignatius of Antioch was taught by St. John. He wrote “Take ye heed, then, to have but one Eucharist. For there is one flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one cup to [show forth] the unity of His blood; one altar; as there is one bishop, along with the presbytery and deacons”. 

St. Justin Martyr wrote the earliest description of the mass in his ‘First Apology’ between 153 and 155 AD. It was in the line of ‘Catholic Theology for Dummies’ since it was written for those wishing to join the faith. In regard to the mass St Justin says, 

“But we, after we have thus washed him who has been convinced and has assented to our teaching, bring him to the place where those who are called brethren are assembled, in order that we may offer hearty prayers in common for ourselves and for the baptized [illuminated] person, and for all others in every place, that we may be counted worthy, now that we have learned the truth, by our works also to be found good citizens and keepers of the commandments, so that we may be saved with an everlasting salvation.

Having ended the prayers, we salute one another with a kiss. There is then brought to the president of the brethren bread and a cup of wine mixed with water; and he taking them, gives praise and glory to the Father of the universe, through the name of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and offers thanks at considerable length for our being counted worthy to receive these things at His hands.

And when he has concluded the prayers and thanksgivings, all the people present express their assent by saying Amen. This word Amen answers in the Hebrew language to ge’noito [so be it].

And when the president has given thanks, and all the people have expressed their assent, those who are called by us deacons give to each of those present to partake of the bread and wine mixed with water over which the thanksgiving was pronounced, and to those who are absent they carry away a portion.” 

When St. Justin uses the word ‘thanksgiving’ above the actual Greek word means Eucharistized.

There are some things that stand out in his description of the mass. First is that to receive the bread and wine mixed with water the recipient must be baptized and be convinced of the teachings of the church. Also, there was a kiss of peace just as we have today. Another is that Eucharist consists of bread and wine mixed with water. The Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church are the only known faiths that mix wine with water. Also note that the mass is ended with the great Amen. Finally, the Eucharist is brought to those absent.

Later in the ‘First Apology’ St. Justin goes into more detail on the Eucharist. He writes,

“And this food is called among us Eucharistia [the Eucharist], of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined.
For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Saviour, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh.” – (First Apology, 66)

The phrase “from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished” is sometimes translated as “in order that to nourish and transform our flesh and blood”. Here we can see that when we receive the Eucharist we are metabolizing the flesh and blood of Jesus into our own being or we are being metabolized into Jesus depending on the translation. My own opinion is that it just might be both.

My last bit on the Eucharist is about St Tarcisius who lived during the third century. All that we know about him is in a poem written by Pope Damasus (366-384) in his honor and that his relics are in San Silvestre in Capite church in Rome. During the third century Valerius was Emperor of Rome. He was known for his persecution of Christians. Many were being martyred in the Colosseum. In order to avoid being imprisoned and tortured, Christians held mass in secret in the catacombs or in crypts. At one mass the priest announced that there were Christians in prison that were begging for someone to bring them the Eucharist. There was a lot of discussion about how that would be done. If the guards saw a person bringing something to the Christian prisoners they would assume they were Christian as well and imprison them. St. Tarcisius, an acolyte, said that he would do it. Since he was a child they might not suspect him of being Christian. It was decided that he should do it. They gave him the Eucharist and he wrapped it into his garment and held it close to his heart. On the way to the prison a group of children spotted him and wanted to know what he was holding. He refused to show them so they attacked him and tried to pry the Eucharist from his hands. A man walking by asked what was going on. The children said that St. Tarcisius was Christian and was hiding something from them. The man struck St Tarcisius with a strong blow. A Roman soldier who was secretly a Christian saw the child struck down and accused all the attackers of being cowards. He then carried him off to a quiet place. St. Tarcisius recognized the soldier from mass in the catacombs and said,

“I am dying, but I have kept my God safe from them.” And he handed his precious treasure to the soldier, who placed it reverently inside his tunic. “Carry Him to the prison for me,” said Tarcisius, and with a gentle sigh he fell back into the soldier's arms. His little soul was already with God, for whom he so willingly had given his life, for Jesus himself once said, “Greater love than this no man has, that a man lay down his life for his friend.”

Here are two hyperlinks I promised to post on the miracles providing evidence to the efficacy of Jesus' real body and blood:

https://www.myfirstholycommunion.com/portfolio-view/st-tarcisius-boy-martyr-of-the-eucharist/https://www.wordonfire.org/resources/blog/st-justin-martyr-on-the-eucharist-and-the-ancient-mass/18543/