God is the Author, man isn't

Twenty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B

Being a priest, I must admit that it’s not hard to know what I must do. If I want to know what I must do, I am simply guided by sacred scripture and sacred tradition, the teachings and disciplines of the Church found in canon law, the liturgical rubrics and pastoral directories governing church discipline, structures and practices. The hard part is doing it anyway despite it being unpopular. It’s funny that whenever I do what is required of me, I’m always accused of being “rigid”! Yes, the Church’s laws, rules and rubrics provide clear unambiguous guidance and direction, but they also make room for discernment and exception-making whenever necessary. The hard part is always trying to reinvent the wheel based on personal preferences and feelings, mine as well as others. This is when the point of reference is no longer Christ or the Church, but me. If I should “follow my heart” or that of others, without any reference to Christ or the Church, I would simply be guilty of what the Lord is accusing the Pharisees in today’s gospel: “You put aside the commandment of God to cling to human traditions.”

Too many these days, including many well-intentioned pastors, feel that the teachings of the Church fall into the category of “grey area” and “ambiguity,” thus the teachings of faith and morals are relative to individuals and their respective unique situations. They have problems with doctrinal teachings on contraception, purgatory, and indulgences (just to name a few), all of which are covered and explained clearly in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. And if we should decide to defend these teachings and the laws which flow from them, we are immediately labelled as “rigid” and “seeing everything in black and white,” refusing to acknowledge that people change over the years and so the Church must learn to adapt accordingly. The final argument and last insult would be to insist that Church laws are mere “human regulations” which justifies departing from them. And since they are supposedly “man-made rules,” you can and should dispense with them as how Christ dispensed with the man-made rules and traditions of the scribes and Pharisees in today’s gospel passage. Interesting argument but seriously flawed.

Yes, it is correct to state that many of these rules are man-made, Christ made them and Christ was fully human. It was Christ Himself who instituted the Eucharist: “Do this in memory of Me”, He said at the Last Supper. “Go therefore and baptise”, He said, and it was He who included the Trinitarian baptismal formula in the rite. It was He who taught if someone should divorce his or her spouse and marry another, it would be adultery. Our Lord was the master of creating traditions! But let us not forget this little, often ignored, seldom stressed point – Christ was also fully divine – He was fully God. So, no, though there are man-made rules in the Church just like any human organisation and society, and these rules can technically be changed and have changed over the centuries, there are fundamentally certain rules set in stone, on an unbreakable and indissoluble “stone”, which is to say that they are “immutable,” they remain binding in every age and place and under any circumstances, precisely because God is the author, and man isn’t.

Alright, given the fact that divine laws can’t be changed except by God, how about all the disciplines, canon law, rules and liturgical rubrics of the Church? Aren’t these man-made? Well, just because they are “man-made” doesn’t necessarily empty them of value. Traffic laws, statutory laws, municipal by-laws, school regulations, association rules would equally fall under the same category of being “man-made.” Can you imagine a society or a world that totally departs from any law or regulation and everyone is allowed to make decisions, behave, and act upon their own whims and fancies? If you’ve ever watched one of those apocalyptic movies of a dystopian world in the not-too-distant future, you will have your answer. We will soon descend into a society of anarchy, lawlessness, violence, where justice is merely an illusion and “might is right.” The reason for this is because none of us are as sinless as the Son of God or His immaculately conceived Mother. Laws are not meant to curtail and restrict our freedom. They are meant to ensure that our rights as well as the rights of others are protected so that true freedom may be enjoyed. The Law of Christ as expounded by the Church frees us - it frees from our selfish, self-referential, sin-encrusted egos.

A more careful examination of Christ’s words in today’s passage indicate that He was not condemning human tradition, but those who place human traditions, laws, or demands before true worship of God and His will expressed in the commandments. The problem wasn’t “human traditions” but specifically “human traditions” that obscure the priority of worship and God. Man was made to worship God; it's in our very nature to do so. Every other human activity should either flow from this or should rank second to this. This is what liturgical rubrics hope to achieve. Detailed instructions for both the priest and the congregation are intended to ensure that God is ultimately worshipped and glorified in the liturgy, and not man who is to be entertained. In other words, all these “man-made” rules of the Church which, to some of us, doesn’t seem to be what Christ taught, actually flow from the heart of Christ's teaching. Christ gave us the Church to teach and to guide us; she does so, in part, by teaching us to know God, to love Him and serve Him and through all these, be united with Him in Paradise forever. But when we substitute our own will for this most basic aspect of our humanity, we don't simply fail to do what we ought; we take a step backward and obscure the image of God.

It is often very convenient to denounce Catholic tradition as “man-made” or “human tradition” just because we don’t like it. The hypocrisy of such an accusation is often lost on those who supplant the Church’s tradition, rules and rubrics, with their own interpretation and version. Clericalism, real clericalism and not just the dressed-up version of it (those who wear black cassocks or lacy albs), is the result of choosing to depart from those rules, disciplines and teachings. When we ignore or reject the rules of the Church, we are merely replacing them with our own rules, our so-called “human traditions.” In fact, we are putting “aside the commandment of God to cling to human traditions.” It is not those who keep the rules but those who flagrantly break the rules that are the modern-day Pharisees.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that Sacred Tradition, rather than a set of “man-made rules” or “human traditions” is “the living memorial of God’s Word.” Pope Benedict XVI explains that Sacred Tradition “is not the transmission of things or words, an assortment of lifeless objects; (but) it is the living stream that links us to the origins, the living stream in which those origins are ever present.” Therefore, we should be putting aside our own arrogant personal preferences and opinions, rather than God’s commandments, and come to acknowledge that it is not stupidity but humility to listen to the voice of the Church because as St Ambrose reminds us, “the Church shines not with her own light, but with the light of Christ. Her light is drawn from the Sun of Justice, so that she can exclaim: ‘It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me’ (Gal 2:20)”.

So be it!

Twenty First Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B

“Amen”, perhaps the most common Hebrew word apart from “Alleluia” used by Catholics. We utter it at the end of every prayer, we insert it in the comments of social media as if it is some kind of religious “like” click, and we utter it before holy communion just after the priest or the extraordinary minister of holy communion holds up the consecrated host and announces, “the Body of Christ.” Our repetition and common usage have certainly resulted in many trivialising the true significance of this simple and yet deeply profound word. Amen means “so be it.” Or another way of saying “it is true” or “I agree.”

Amen is thus an acclamation of faith and commitment, just like how Joshua insisted that the Israelites must renew and restate their commitment to the covenant. He declared openly to the people: “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord,” which inspired the people to also make their own commitment and promise: “we too will serve the Lord, for He is our God.” In a way, both Joshua and the Israelites were giving their assent of “Amen” to the covenant, undertaking to serve the Lord.

The scene in the first reading is deliberately chosen as a parallel to the gospel. Just as Joshua challenged the Israelites to make up their minds whether or not they intended to remain loyal to the Lord, in the same way our Lord challenges the disciples at the end of the Bread of Life discourse to make up their minds if they wish to stick with Him regardless of the mass exodus of others bailing out when push comes to shove. The similarity is not only a challenge to loyalty, but specifically to covenant loyalty, to not only assent to what He has taught but to His very person. Can they and will they accept the truth that Jesus is indeed the Bread of Life from heaven and unless one eats His flesh and drinks His blood, they will have no part in His life? It is the final ultimatum given to them.

It is clear from today’s passage that many chose to walk away. If the Lord had just met their material needs of having a leader and an endless supply of food, they would have been happy to follow Him. But in matters of faith, unlike a democracy, we don’t get to choose our Messiah. God chooses those whom we need, very seldom not those whom we want. He’s the anointed One of God whom God calls, chooses and sends. Even as our Lord begins to describe the type of Messiah that He is, the people are not able to accept Him on these terms. They find His teachings “intolerable” and refused to accept them.

Over the years, we know of many Catholics, fellow parishioners who have chosen to walk out of church and to walk away from the Catholic faith. There is a myriad of reasons or excuses given. They have been insulted by someone; they have had their requests turned down; certain rules do not square with them; the music for the Masses and the homilies are boring and not engaging. Ultimately, any one of these things are deemed “intolerable,” and so they choose to leave.

Often, as a parish priest, I have been advised and told by others to address their concerns and accede to their requests, to somehow bend backwards, if necessary, to get them to return. Reaching out to those who are lost or who have chosen to walk away must always be a priority as we are called to seek the lost like the good shepherd after the heart of Jesus. But if this means lowering the bar of morality, bending the rules, stifling the teachings of the Church and making exceptions for the sake of friendship alone and nothing else, I too have made my decision and have taken a stand. I will not back down because Jesus did not. He didn’t pull back His challenging words, in fact, He chose to double down! Ultimately, I would work to convince these people to return for only one reason - only Christ, the Holy One of God, the one truly, really and substantially present in the Eucharist, can offer us “the message of eternal life” and “food which endures for eternity”. And if they should return and remain with the Church, that should be the only reason that matters.

You too may be considering leaving for one of many reasons. When people speak of being upset and disappointed with the Church, they are most likely expressing their disappointment and anger with members of the Body of Christ, the Church. This could mean any other person sitting in the pew, or a person serving in the parish or even the priest. But I would like to repeat one important truth which St John Paul II taught in his encyclical “Ecclesia de Eucharistia”: “The Church draws her life from the Eucharist. This truth does not simply express a daily experience of faith, but recapitulates the heart of the mystery of the Church… For the most holy Eucharist contains the Church's entire spiritual wealth: Christ himself, our Passover and living bread.” If you choose to walk away from the Church, you are walking away from Christ.

Today, our Lord is asking you and me the same question He asked Peter: “What about you, do you want to go away too?” Simon Peter answered, ‘Lord, who shall we go to? You have the message of eternal life, and we believe; we know that you are the Holy One of God.’ Thank you, Simon Peter. Thank you for asking the question that matters most. And thank you for giving us the only answer which matters most.

Before we receive our Lord Jesus Christ who is truly, really and substantially present in the Eucharist, we too are given an ultimatum - we are challenged to make an assent of faith, a declaration of our commitment to our Lord and an acceptance of what He tells us as true. Our “Amen” is not a demand that Christ and the Church must comply with our every demand, whim or fancy. Saying “Amen” means that we will accept the Lord on His terms and commit ourselves to transformation just as how bread and wine is changed into the Body and Blood of Christ. “Amen” is saying “I will change!” Saying “Amen,” means we assent to our faith with our head and heart and will, that what we are about to receive is truly, really and substantially the Body of Christ. Not only do we believe in the real presence but we also commit ourselves to living and acting as Jesus did and does. St Augustine tells us: “You reply ‘Amen’ to that which you are, and by replying, you consent... Be a member of the body of Christ so that your ‘Amen’ may be true!”

Real Food and Real Drink

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B

We come to the close of our Lord’s Discourse on the Bread of Life. One would imagine that His audience’s hearts had been softened by all the explanation which our Lord had offered thus far and which we have heard for the past few weeks. But our Lord’s teaching on this subject reaches its climax today with this shocking revelation. The kid’s gloves are off and no mushy gooey diet is served to His listeners. Our Lord gets to the very heart of the matter and says it as it is: “if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in you. Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood has eternal life, and I shall raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.” If eating flesh makes you sick to your stomach, try drinking blood to down the gory meal!

If it is disgusting to demand that they eat His flesh, can you imagine the horror of His audience when the Lord tells them that they must also drink His blood. The Jews have one of the most hemophobic cultures on this planet; there is little that is more disgusting and offensive to a Jew than being expected to touch blood, let alone consume it. And the text did not use the standard Greek verb “to eat” here when it emphasises this eating and drinking: φᾰγεῖν (phagein) is the standard, classical Greek verb “to eat,” the way humans eat a meal. The verb here instead is τρώγειν (trōgein), used especially of animals eating or feeding, most literally translated as “to bite, chew, gnaw.” No dainty fine dining here but a blood fest!

Up to this point, the growing crowd had been thrilled with the Lord. After all, He could heal the sick and feed the masses with a meagre supply of bread and fish! Was this the long-awaited Prophet, the likes which they have not seen since Moses? They were even ready to make Him king. But our Lord discerned something defective about their enthusiasm. They desired more loaves from heaven, a repeat performance of what Moses did for their ancestors during the Exodus, but not the bread He had come to give them: Himself. So, He tested their understanding and readiness to accept what He was about to offer them with a series of increasingly provocative statements, culminating in the one above. We should not be surprised that they took offence; it sounded like cannibalism. The “Jesus for King” campaign suddenly evaporated.

Protestants would look at this passage and insist that the crowds had misunderstood our Lord by taking His words literally whereas they should be understood metaphorically. Here is where our Protestant brethren have gotten it wrong. It is ironic how Protestants take many passages in the Bible literally but not this one, even though our Lord insists that He was. Our Lord was indeed speaking literally instead of metaphorically. His declaration that He was the Bread of Life is radically different from all the other “I am” pronouncements. No one expects Jesus to be speaking literally when He describes Himself as the Door or the Vine. But here our Lord insists that His flesh and blood are real food and real drink. As one aging statesman is fond of saying: “no kidding… it’s not hyperbole … but seriously!”

There seems little question about what the Lord meant: If He did not intend for His words to suggest an actual eating and drinking of His body and blood, He would not have emphasised this statement more explicitly when questioned about it, and He would have made some effort to clarify the misunderstanding when His disciples protested, if it was in fact a misunderstanding. We would hear how He refused to correct His words in next week’s final instalment of Chapter 6 of John’s Gospel, even when many of His disciples decided to walk away in protest. He did not stop them because for once, they did understand what He meant and since He literally spoke the truth, there is no need for Him to apologise or correct His speech. Our Lord refused to revise His speech even if it meant losing these number of followers. They were not true “disciples” who were ready to accept Him at His word.

“If you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you will not have life in you.” That’s a tall claim, in fact, the tallest! Other types of food give sustenance and provide us with the necessary nutrition for health and growth and ensures our survival. But only one food can guarantee Eternal Life. It is the Eucharist: “Anyone who eats this bread will live forever!” The first reading taken from the Book of Proverbs speaks of Wisdom preparing a feast. The Eucharist is indeed the Feast of Wisdom because it is the Feast of Life – eternal life which is communion with God. This life in communion with God is the highest wisdom, and surpasses all wisdom, because it seals this bond between God and man. By eating the Body and drinking the Blood of Christ in the Eucharist we become united to the person of Christ through his humanity. “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.”

In being united to the humanity of Christ we are at the same time united to His divinity. Our mortal and corruptible natures are transformed by being joined to the source of life. In a divine twist, that which was desired by Adam and Eve (food that would make them like gods) but denied to them as a result of their disobedience and foolishness, is made available through this food which Christ, Holy Wisdom, now commands us to partake.

One of the keys to understanding Catholic theology — and one of the beauties, in its simplicity and complexity at the same time — is that just as this passage conveys both a physical and a spiritual sense, each of the Sacraments conveys both a physical and a spiritual effect. The Sacraments consist outwardly in simple, physical actions: washing with water, anointing with oil, the laying on of hands. And these actions not only symbolise a spiritual reality — the washing away of sins, the passing of authority and commissioning of duty — but they actually accomplish spiritually what they represent physically. Likewise, the Eucharist, by the simple act of eating and drinking the consecrated Hosts, not only symbolises and represents Communion in Christ’s Body, but actually infuses us with His grace because IT IS the Body and Blood of Christ. We literally, physically, spiritually share in Christ’s Body and Blood, in His humanity and divinity, in His eternal life. We believe this to be true because He had said so and who are we to doubt when you’ve heard it from the horse’s mouth.

The Second Pascha

Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Today, Roman Catholics throughout the world celebrate the great Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Our brothers and sisters from the Eastern Christian tradition, on the other hand, celebrate the event as the Dormition, or falling-asleep, of the Holy Theotokos, the Mother of God. From ancient times, this event has been regarded by Orthodox Christians in the light of a second Pascha, or a second Easter. Thus, the Assumption finds its true glorious meaning in the revealing radiance of the Easter dawning sun.

The Resurrection of Christ, the Holy Pascha, is THE pivotal turning point in the story of humanity’s salvation. With His resurrection, Jesus Christ trampled upon the gates of Hades, released its prisoners from the clutches of death and the devil, and opened for us the gates of paradise, which was originally intended for man - the crown of all creation, and which became closed to us because of the sin of pride and disobedience to God on the part of our ancestors. What man lost through Adam, he has regained through the second Adam. God Himself chose to come down to earth, became incarnate in the form of man, and once again opened to us the gates of paradise, having manifested - instead of pride - the greatest humility, instead of disobedience - complete obedience even unto death on the cross, and instead of sin, He - the most pure and absolutely sinless - took upon Himself the burden of all the sins of the world. With these three qualities - humility, obedience and purity of nature - the Lord showed us the highest example of what man can be like, of what he should be like, and of what the Creator intended him to be.

However, we may well be tempted to think that only God incarnate could be such an ideal man, while a mere mortal could never attain such perfection. But to show us the error of such thinking, we have before us the Mother of God, who is the highest example of the attainment of such perfection, and who teaches us with her entire life, her death and her Assumption that man can attain perfection precisely by means of these three qualities - humility, obedience to the will of God, and moral purity. Her Assumption is evidence and proof of such a life. Mary is indeed the first fruit of the new humanity, the creature in whom the mystery of Christ – His Incarnation, death, Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven – has already fully taken effect, redeeming her from death and conveying her, body and soul, to the Kingdom of immortal life. In the Assumption of Our Lady, it is these three qualities of hers which are commemorated - humility, obedience and purity, - which have elevated her, a mere mortal, above all earthly creatures and above the entire heavenly host.

As in all other feasts of Mary, we do less to honour her but in reality worship the Sovereign Lord who fulfilled His plan of salvation through His humble maid, the most supremely perfect among His creatures. In this area, the Fathers of the Church have often used the method of scriptural typology to speak of Mary’s relation to Christ. Typology is a special kind of symbolism. When we say that someone is a type of Christ, we are saying that a person in the Old Testament behaves in a way that corresponds to Jesus’ character or actions in the New Testament. For example, in the second reading, Paul describes Adam as a type of Christ. Though death entered this world through the first Adam’s disobedience, eternal life was made accessible again through the obedience of the second Adam, Jesus Christ himself.

If Adam is a type of Christ, Eve is a type of Mary. The Fathers of the Church often spoke of Mary as the new Eve. St John Chrysostom, the great Doctor of the East spoke of how the garden of Eden was closed forever to our parents through the disobedience of Adam and Eve, but now the gates of Paradise, Heaven has been opened to the one who showed perfect obedience, Mary, the Mother of God and Our Beloved Mother. Where Eve listened to the deceptive voice of the serpent, a fallen angel, which caused humanity’s fall, Mary listened to the revealing and liberating Word of God, communicated through an angel of God, and became the instrument of bringing man’s cause of salvation into the world, her son our Lord Jesus. As a result of the fall, the serpent would constantly strike at the heel of the children of Eve but the ancient serpent, now a dragon in the Book of Apocalypse, will be deprived of victory over the Lady who defeats the foe of the Church. Death and pain became the fate of our first mother because of the folly of sin, eternal life would be the prize won for our Blessed Mother because of her faithfulness to the will of God.

One may be tempted to ask: Isn’t the story of the Paschal Mystery, Christ’s death and resurrection sufficient? The answer is ‘Yes.’ But as the story of Adam is incomplete without the mention of Eve, the story of the new Adam would be similarly incomplete without speaking of His new counterpart. If Jesus, the new Adam, is the primary cause of humanity’s salvation, then Mary, the new Eve, is the primary representative of redeemed humanity in displaying the effect of Jesus’ redemptive work. If the old Eve followed the old Adam into exile after the Fall, the new Eve followed the new Adam in suffering, in the Passion, and so too in definitive joy of the resurrection. Christ is the first fruits but His risen flesh is inseparable from that of His earthly Mother, Mary. In Mary all humanity is involved in the Assumption to God, and together with her all creation, whose groans and sufferings, St Paul tells us, are the birth-pangs of the new humanity.

Mary’s Assumption shows the Way – it is Christ who has saved her from the moment of her conception in her mother’s womb and it is Christ whose redemption has preserved her body from corruption and now leads her to heaven. The Mother leads us to her Son, the Second Pascha casts further light on the first, the fidelity, humility and purity of the New Eve reflects the perfect model of the New Adam. Mary shows us the way to heaven through her Assumption.

Today, as we raise our eyes above and through our imagination try to behold the splendour of this wondrous event of our Blessed Mother being assumed body and soul into heaven into the welcoming arms of the Holy Trinity in the presence of the angelic hosts and saintly choir, our vision looks beyond the person of Mary. The Assumption provides us with a glimpse of our future glory, our final home, the holy beatitude of heaven. Pope Benedict speaks to us of the power of this feast as one which “impels us to lift our gaze to Heaven; not to a heaven consisting of abstract ideas or even an imaginary heaven created by art, but the Heaven of true reality which is God himself. God is Heaven. He is our destination, the destination and the eternal dwelling place from which we come and for which we are striving.”

Bread which is Flesh

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B

It is said that the New Testament is concealed in the Old and the Old Testament is revealed in the New. This is never clearer than when studying the Eucharist throughout Scripture. The juxtaposition of the gospel with the story of the Exodus continues. As the Israelites complained in the desert that they had no food to eat nor water to drink, the crowds here begin to complain about our Lord’s audacious claims that He is “the bread that came down from heaven.” It must be noted at this stage that the crowds’ main objection was not that our Lord claimed to be the new Manna.

Their main objection at this stage, as in other parts of the gospel, had to do with His origins. The Lord claims to have come from heaven. But this was a necessary claim in the schema of claims which our Lord had made and will be making. Only by coming from God, could He reveal things about God known to Him alone and only if He came from God could He offer them life here and in the hereafter. But these claims were too much for His audience to stomach. Their incredulity is supported by the fact that they thought they knew His parents, His family, and His all-too human origins. “Who is this upstart who now claims to come from heaven?”

Before our Lord moves to explaining how He is indeed the Bread from heaven which they must eat if they wish to enjoy everlasting life, He provides a fourfold path to receiving His message. They must acknowledge that they are being taught by God, hear His teaching and learn from it and finally, believe in Him. This Bread from heaven sounds like the Divine Logos, the Word, introduced by St John in his prologue to his gospel: “In the beginning was the Word: the Word was with God and the Word was God.” Jesus is indeed the Word of God and our response must be to acknowledge that He comes from the Father, listen to Him, learn from Him and finally believe in Him.

So, far this claim that our Lord makes is still somewhat acceptable. For Israel, the manna as food provided by God Himself had stopped when they took possession of their land, but a new “bread from heaven” continued in the Law - God’s revelation to His people. The Israelites believed that through the Law, God was literally “feeding” His people. In their minds, our Lord was merely applying the same principle to Himself. In other words, they thought that our Lord was merely suggesting to them to consume His wisdom as spiritual nourishment.

But the Word is not just a concept to be heard like the Old Law. This Word has become flesh and here our Lord proceeds to lay down the foundation of His Eucharistic theology - this Word is also the Bread of Life from heaven and “anyone who eats this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.” In this way, our Lord is saying that He has not come to annul God’s former gifts, whether it be the manna or the Law, but to bring them to completion in Himself. The manna in the desert, though it appeared miraculously, could not offer eternal life, but our Lord being “the living bread which has come down from heaven” can now offer them this gift. He is the perfection of the gift of God to Israel.

Our Lord dismisses all suggestions that He is speaking metaphorically with the last statement which closes today’s segment of the discourse: “the bread that I shall give is my flesh!” “My flesh!” If our Lord had kept to speaking of Himself as Bread, they would not have had such a violent reaction but now when the Lord speaks of His flesh as real food (and next week, He introduces His blood as real drink), the very thought of cannibalism was the most revolting thing imaginable for a people who were obsessed with dietary restrictions and ritual purity.

His listeners were stupefied because now they understood Jesus literally—and correctly. In next week’s installment, He will again repeat His words, but with even greater emphasis. When our Lord refers to Himself as a vine, or a door, or any other metaphor, no one is offended, has trouble understanding, or leaves Him. It is only when He says they must eat of His flesh that many are shocked and compelled to abandon Him. This tells us that the disciples understood our Lord to be speaking literally and not figuratively. Whatever else might be said, the early Church took these words literally. St Justin Martyr, wrote, “Not as common bread or common drink do we receive these; but … both the flesh and the blood of that incarnated Jesus” (First Apology 66:1–20). St Cyril calls the Eucharist “the medicine of immortality.”

But this spiritual food which our Lord wishes to give us is also food meant as provision for the journey of life. The scene of Elijah in the first reading being fed by the Angel is often seen by the Church as an Old Testament allegory of the Eucharist, especially when the Eucharist is given as “viaticum.” “Viaticum” literally means food “to take with us on the journey.” The Latin word once denoted the provisions necessary for a person going on a long journey—the clothes, food, and money the traveller would need along the way. The viaticum was vital provision for an uncertain journey. Fittingly, the early Church employed this image to speak of the Eucharist when it was administered to a dying person. The viaticum, the bread of one’s last Communion, was seen as sustenance for Christians on their way from this world into another, “food for passage through death to eternal life.”

The journey of life is never easy. It is often a long trek, sometimes through the bleakest of landscapes, towards the promised land, our Heavenly homeland. Sometimes we give way to the longing for the comforts of culture’s captivity and drown in the world’s materialistic allures. Sometimes we yield to the temptation like Elijah to sit beneath the broom tree of despair and wish for death. But today’s readings remind us that even in our weakest moments, even in our darkest hour, even when we stumble and grumble, even when we sometimes lose sight of the goal, God does not forsake us. Christ continues to feed us with this divine food, giving us strength to endure. It is the food that will serve us “when all else fails.” And so, we do not lay down to die; we walk on, from exile toward home, from shadows and appearances to beholding God face to face.