19th Sunday of Year B

CATHOLIC PRODUCTIONS (5:00) – In this intro video, which is for the Mass Readings on 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B), Dr. Pitre gets into the Bread of Life Discourse in John 6. Before Jesus can have the people understand that they must eat his flesh, he first must disclose to them his divine identity and have faith in him so that they can believe his teaching on the Eucharist.

OUR SUNDAY VISITOR

OUR SUNDAY VISITOR

Key Points to the Readings

Dr. Kieran J. O’Mahony, OSA

HEARERS OF THE WORD (PDF)

Navarre Bible

SUNDAY COMMENTARY (PDF)

Raymond E. Brown

Introduction to the New Testament

Ave Maria Press

A Catholic Study of God’s Word

Niell Donavan

Sermon Writer

saint louis university

Scripture in Depth

PREACHING THE LECTIONARY by Reginald Fuller

FIRST READING: In Christian usage this passage has a twofold interest: (1) it is a type of Jesus’ fast in the wilderness and of the Church’s Lenten fast (this passage forms the Old Testament lesson for Friday in the first week of Lent in Lesser Feasts and Fasts of the Episcopal Church); (2) it forms a type of holy communion.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM: Of this psalm the Jerome Biblical Commentary states: “A wisdom psalm, though it is widely classified as a psalm of thanksgiving.”

SECOND READING: This passage continues the parenesis of Ephesians. The baptismal references are again clear (“the Holy Spirit … in whom you were sealed” and “put away”).

GOSPEL:  The evangelist has worked in a tradition from the story of Jesus’ rejection in the synagogue at Nazareth as given in the Synoptists.

19th Sunday of Year B

INTRODUCTION

Food for the Journey

God knows our needs and is attentive to fulfilling them. However, what we think we need isn’t always what He knows we need.

Excerpts from Michal E. Hunt’s Agape Bible Study.  Material slightly reformatted. Used with permission.

First Reading

Supernatural Food

In the First Reading, the prophet Elijah suffered not a crisis of faith but a crisis of expectation after he triumphed over the false prophets of Baal. He expected that the victory God helped him win against the pagan priests and their false god would result in repentance and turning back to the one true God for the people of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and their king. When national repentance did not take place, Elijah believed he had failed God his people. God responded to his prophet’s grief by giving him supernatural food for his journey to receive a spiritual renewal in a private revelation of the divine at Yahweh’s “holy mountain.”

Responsorial Psalm

There is Refuge in the Lord

Response: Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

In the Responsorial Psalm, the psalmist tells of having experienced the power of the Lord’s mercy in a time of distress. He testifies to the Lord’s faithfulness, deliverance, and protection. And he invites everyone who reads his testimony to “taste” God’s goodness for themselves by appealing to His mercy, taking refuge in the Lord God, and celebrating communion with God in the sacred meal of the Toda (pronounced to-dah, which in Hebrew means “thanksgiving”), the sacrifice and sacred meal that reestablished peace and fellowship with God.

The superscription identifies Psalm 34 as a Psalm of David: Of David, when he feigned insanity before Abimelech, and Abimelech sent him away (NJB, Ps 34:1 in NABRE). The psalmist begins by praising God as he invites the afflicted to unite themselves to Yahweh, who hears their cries and will deliver them from adversity (verses 2-4, 6). The other verses give his reasons why the faithful should praise the Lord. He has experienced the power of the Lord in his life in times of distress, and he bears witness to God’s faithfulness, deliverance, and protection. Finally, he invites others to “taste and see how good Yahweh is,” perhaps meaning to experience God’s goodness for themselves by appealing to God’s mercy and taking refuge in Him. Or he may be referring to literally “tasting” God’s mercy in the sacred “thanksgiving” communion meal of the Toda that reestablished peace and fellowship with God (Lev 7:11-15/7:1-5).

Excerpts from Michal E. Hunt’s Agape Bible Study.Material slightly reformatted. Used with permission.

Second Reading

Be Imitators of God

In our Second Reading, St. Paul reminds the Christians of Ephesus that God the Holy Spirit has “sealed” us “for the day of redemption” in the Sacrament of Baptism.  Submitting to Christian Baptism is an act of faith necessary for our salvation in which the Christian dies to sin and experiences a resurrection to a new life in Christ Jesus (see Mt 16:16; Eph 1:13 and 2 Cor 1:22). However, baptized Christians can “grieve the Holy Spirit” when they do not live in the image of Christ in their new life but instead exhibit traits of the old, sinful life. When we receive the sacred meal of the Eucharist, in imitation of Christ, we surrender our lives to God, and He gives us “food for the journey” through this life so we can arrive at His “holy mountain” in Heaven.

Gospel

Jesus, the Living Bread

In the Gospel reading, Jesus used the symbolism of bread that was the “staff of life” for the people of His time. He revealed that we need His glorified, resurrected flesh and blood as the “food” that nourishes and sustains us on our journey through life (Jn 6:54) as He testified, saying, “I AM the bread of life” (Jn 6:35).

Jesus promised that a person who possessed His glorified life would not die the death of alienation from God. Therefore, we can have confidence in what Jesus promised when He said: “I am the living bread that came down from Heaven … whoever eats this bread will live forever” (Jn 6:51). The “living bread” is Christ’s gift to us in the New Covenant sacred meal of the Eucharist that replaced the Old Covenant sacred meal of the Toda (Lev 6:15, 19b-20; Lk 22:20). Thus, the Old Covenant communion meal of the Toda that reestablished peace with God foreshadowed the supernatural gift of Christ in the New Covenant sacred meal of the Eucharist (from the Greek word eucharistia, meaning “thanksgiving”).

19th Sunday of Year B

LIFE RECOVERY NOTES

Self Doubt

1 Kings 19:5-18 Self-doubt is common to all of us. Elijah doubted himself when he was on the run from Jezebel. God dealt with Elijah in a loving, patient manner by reassuring him that he was not alone. Reassurance and rest are a solid prescription for someone afflicted with self-doubt. We need to build a community of support to help us through the difficult times of recovery. Without the help of others, it will be impossible for us to succeed.

SOURCE: Content taken from THE LIFE RECOVERY BIBLE notes by Stephen Arterburn & David Stoop. Copyright © 1998, 2017. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries. All rights reserved.

Conforming to God’s Will

Ephesians 4:31-32 A life of recovery is committed to knowing God better through prayer and meditation on his Word. In examining our life, we realize just how demanding God’s standards for righteous living are, but since it is God’s grace that helps us conform to his will, we need not despair. As we obey him, he will teach us to live without bitterness, anger, or harsh words. God is in the business of healing our relationships. When we do things his way, we are well on the way to reconciling with our alienated friends and building solid foundations for recovery.

SOURCE: Content taken from THE LIFE RECOVERY BIBLE notes by Stephen Arterburn & David Stoop. Copyright © 1998, 2017. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries. All rights reserved.

FEASTING ON THE GOSPELS – JOHN

The People Question Jesus

GOSPEL: Most of the time, grumbling is the result of a reality that fails to match our expectations. When events unfold that fall short of our hopes, and when we can locate a person or situation to blame, we complain. It is natural to draw parallels between the people in this passage and the Israelites who complained in the wilderness, whom Jesus references in his response. In both cases, people had targeted the person who they felt was to blame for their hunger; so they unleashed their complaints.

However, in this case, the people are questioning Jesus not only out of hunger, but out of confusion. They are struggling to reconcile the messenger with his message. They cannot come to terms with the fact that this Jesus, who is uttering profound words of wisdom, is the very same Jesus they have known since his childhood. In a sense, they are getting caught up in the same great christological controversies that will later captivate the early church: how can this Jesus be both human and divine?

SOURCE: EXCERPT taken from FEASTING ON THE GOSPELS—JOHN. All rights reserved.

AFRICA STUDY BIBLE

The Issues of Life

Ephesians 4:17-32 –

SOURCE: Excerpt taken from THE AFRICA STUDY BIBLE

PREACHER’S COMMENTARY

My Flesh for the World

GOSPEL:

John 6:48–51 – Again Jesus makes that simple, unequivocal assertion, “I am the bread of life.” The contrast with all physical bread, particularly the manna given their fathers in the wilderness, is sharply drawn. That bread, Jesus says, they ate and are dead. But Jesus is “the bread” which comes down from heaven. His coming is once for all. The Incarnation will not be repeated! Yet He continues to come. Whoever “eats of this bread” will not die. He states it negatively at first, contrasting it with the physical bread. Then, as is so often done in this Gospel, it is stated positively, “He will live forever.”

But how do we eat this bread? For even eating physical bread is a mystery and a gift of grace. On a few rare occasions I have been overwhelmed watching desperately hungry people gulping down a few scraps of bread, far more precious than pieces of gold.

In verse 51 Jesus makes an even more offensive claim. The bread these Jews are invited to eat is His flesh, which He shall give for the life of the world. “Flesh” to their ears is a lowly, vulgar word. How can the life of God be given through flesh “which in its appearance is contemptible”?⁴ And yet it is precisely here, in this Man of flesh, that God, in His surprising mercy, has set life before us. That which has been despised as the “material of death” God has chosen to make the vehicle of redemption. For Jesus offers both His life of perfect obedience and His death on the Cross in the flesh. Here is where we discover and receive life.

SOURCE: Excerpt taken from THe Preacher’s Commentary, Complete 35-Volume Set: Genesis–Revelation offers pastors, teachers, and Bible study leaders clear and compelling insights into the entire Bible that will equip them to understand, apply, and teach the truth in God’s Word.

LIFE APPLICATION STUDY BIBLE

God Gives Elijah Special Strength

1 Kings 19:3ff Elijah experienced the depths of fatigue and discouragement just after his two great spiritual victories: the defeat of the prophets of Baal and the answered prayer for rain. Often discouragement sets in after great spiritual experiences, especially those requiring physical effort or involving great emotion. To lead him out of depression, God first let Elijah rest and eat. Then God confronted him with the need to return to his mission—to speak God’s words in Israel. Elijah’s battles were not over; he still had work to do. When you feel let down after a great spiritual experience, remember that God’s purpose for your life is not yet over.

1 Kings 19:8 When Elijah fled to Mount Horeb, he was returning to the sacred place where God had met Moses and had given his laws to the people. Obviously, God gave Elijah special strength to travel this great distance—over 200 miles—without additional food. Like Moses before him and Jesus after him, Elijah fasted for 40 days and 40 nights (Deuteronomy 9:9; Matthew 4:1, 2). Centuries later, Moses, Elijah, and Jesus would meet together on a mountaintop (Luke 9:28–36).

SOURCE: EXCERPT taken from LIFE APPLICATION STUDY BIBLE. All rights reserved.

19th Sunday of Year B

JOHN 6:41-46

41. The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.

42. And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?

43. Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves.

44. No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

45. It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.

46. Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father.

COMMENTARY

CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. xlvi. 1) The Jews, so long as they thought to get food for their carnal eating, had no misgivings; but when this hope was taken away, then, we read, the Jews murmured at Him because He said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. This was only a pretence. The real cause of their complaint was that they were disappointed in their expectation of a bodily feast. As yet however they reverenced Him, for His miracle; and only expressed their discontent by murmurs. What these were we read next: And they said, Is not this Jesus, the Son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that He saith, I came down from heaven?

AUGUSTINE. (Tr. xxvi. 1) But they were far from being fit for that heavenly bread, and did not hunger for it. For they had not that hunger of the inner man.

CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. xlvi. 1) It is evident that they did not yet know of His miraculous birth: for they call Him the Son of Joseph. Nor are they blamed for this. Our Lord does not reply, I am not the Son of Joseph: for the miracle of His birth would have overpowered them. And if the birth according to the flesh were above their belief, how much more that higher and ineffable birth.

AUGUSTINE. (Tr. xxvi) He took man’s flesh upon Him, but not after the manner of men; for, His Father being in heaven, He chose a mother upon earth, and was born of her without a father. The answer to the murmurers next follows: Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves; as if to say, I know why ye hunger not after this bread, and so cannot understand it, and do not seek it: No man can come to Me except the Father who hath sent Me draw him. This is the doctrine of grace: none cometh, except he be drawn. But whom the Father draws, and whom not, and why He draws one, and not another, presume not to decide, if thou wouldest avoid falling into error. Take the doctrine as it is given thee: and, if thou art not drawn, pray that thou mayest be.

CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. xlvi. 1) But here the Manichees attack us, asserting that nothing is in our own power. Our Lord’s words however do not destroy our free agency, but only shew that we need Divine assistance. For He is speaking not of one who comes without the concurrence of his own will, but one who has many hindrances in the way of his coming.

AUGUSTINE. (Tr. xxvi. 2. et sq.) Now if we are drawn to Christ without our own will, we believe without our own will; the will is not exercised, but compulsion is applied. But, though a man can enter the Church involuntarily, he cannot believe other than voluntarily; for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness. Therefore if he who is drawn, comes without his will, he does not believe; if he does not believe, he does not come. For we do not come to Christ, by running, or walking, but by believing, not by the motion of the body, but the will of the mind. Thou art drawn by thy will. But what is it to be drawn by the will? Delight thou in the Lord, and He will give thee thy heart’s desire. (Ps. 36) There is a certain craving of the heart, to which that heavenly bread is pleasant. If the Poet could say, “Trahit sua quemque voluptas,” how much more strongly may we speak of a man being drawn to Christ, i. e. being delighted with truth, happiness, justice, eternal life, all which is Christ? Have the bodily senses their pleasures, and has not the soul hers? Give me one who loves, who longs, who burns, who sighs for the source of his being and his eternal home; and he will know what I mean. But why did He say, Except my Father draw him? If we are to be drawn, let us be drawn by Him to whom His love saith, Draw me, we will run after Thee. (Cant. 1:4) But let us see what is meant by it. The Father draws to the Son those who believe on the Son, as thinking that He has God for His Father. For the Father begat the Son equal to Himself; and whoso thinks and believes really and seriously that He on Whom He believes is equal to the Father, him the Father draws to the Son. Arius believed Him to be a creature; the Father drew not him. Thomas says, Christ is only a man. Because he so believes, the Father draws him not. He drew Peter who said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God (Mat. 16); to whom accordingly it was told, For flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven. That revelation is the drawing. For if earthly objects, when put before us, draw us; how much more shall Christ, when revealed by the Father? For what doth the soul more long after than truth? But here men hunger, there they will be filled. Wherefore He adds, And I will raise him up at the last day: as if He said, He shall be filled with that, for which he now thirsts, at the resurrection of the dead; for I will raise him up.

AUGUSTINE. (de Qu. Nov. et Vet.) Or the Father draws to the Son, by the works which He did by Him.

CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. xlvi. 1) Great indeed is the Son’s dignity; the Father draws men, and the Son raises them up. This is no division of works, but an equality of power. He then shews the way in which the Father draws. It is written in the Prophets, And they shall all be taught of God. You see the excellence of faith; that it cannot be learnt from men, or by the teaching of man, but only from God Himself. The Master sits, dispensing His truth to all, pouring out His doctrine to all. But if all are to be taught of God, how is it that some believe not? Because all here only means the generality, or, all that have the will.

AUGUSTINE. (de Prædest. Sanctorum, c. viii) Or thus; When a schoolmaster is the only one in a town, we say loosely, This man teaches all here to read; not that all learn of him, but that he teaches all who do learn. And in the same way we say that God teaches all men to come to Christ: not that all do come, but that no one comes in any other way.

AUGUSTINE. (super Joan. Tr. xxv. 7) All the men of that kingdom shall be taught of God; they shall hear nothing from men: for, though in this world what they hear with the outward ear is from men, yet what they understand is given them from within; from within is light and revelation. I force certain sounds into your ears, but unless He is within to reveal their meaning, how, O ye Jews, can ye acknowledge Me, ye whom the Father hath not taught?

BEDE. He uses the plural, In the Prophets, because all the Prophets being filled with one and the same spirit, their prophecies, though different, all tended to the same end; and with whatever any one of them says, all the rest agree; as with the prophecy of Joel, All shall be taught of God. (Joel 2:23)

GLOSS. These words are not found in Joel, but something like them; Be glad then ye children of Sion, and rejoice in the Lord your God, for He hath given you a Teacher. (Quia dedit nobis lectorem justitiæ. Vulg.) And more expressly in Isaiah, And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord. (Isa. 54:13)

CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. xlvi. 1) An important distinction. All men before learnt the things of God through men; now they learn them through the Only Son of God, and the Holy Spirit.

AUGUSTINE. (de Prædest. Sanctorum, c. viii. et seq.) All that are taught of God come to the Son, because they have heard and learnt from the Father of the Son: wherefore He proceeds, Every man that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh to Me. But if every one that hath heard and learnt of the Father cometh, every one that hath not heard of the Father hath not learnt. For beyond the reach of the bodily senses is this school, in which the Father is heard, and men taught to come to the Son. Here we have not to do with the carnal ear, but the ear of the heart; for here is the Son Himself, the Word by which the Father teacheth, and together with Him the Holy Spirit: the operations of the three Persons being inseparable from each other. This is attributed however principally to the Father, because from Him proceeds the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Therefore the grace which the Divine bounty imparts in secret to men’s hearts, is rejected by none from hardness of heart: seeing it is given in the first instance, in order to take away hard-heartedness. Why then does He not teach all to come to Christ? Because those whom He teaches, He teaches in mercy; and those whom He teaches not, He teaches not in judgment. But if we say, that those, whom He teaches not, wish to learn, we shall be answered, Why then is it said, Wilt thou not turn again, and quicken us? (Ps. 84:6) If God does not make willing minds out of unwilling, why prayeth the Church, according to our Lord’s command, for her persecutors? For no one can say, I believed, and therefore He called me: rather the preventing mercy of God called him, that he might believe.

AUGUSTINE. (Tr. xxvi. 7. et seq.) Behold then how the Father draweth; not by laying a necessity on man, but by teaching the truth. To draw, belongeth to God: Every one that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh to Me. What then? Hath Christ taught nothing? Not so. What if men saw not the Father teaching, but saw the Son. So then the Father taught, the Son spoke. As I teach you by My word, so the Father teaches by His Word. But He Himself explains the matter, if we read on: Not that any man hath seen the Father, save He which is of God, He hath seen the Father; as if He said, Do not when I tell you, Every man that hath heard and learnt of the Father, say to yourselves, We have never seen the Father, and how then can we have learnt from Him? Hear Him then in Me. I know the Father, and am from Him, just as a word is from him who speaks it; i. e. not the mere passing sound, but that which remaineth with the speaker, and draweth the hearer.

CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. xlvi. s. 1) We are all from God. That which belongs peculiarly and principally to the Son, He omits the mention of, as being unsuitable to the weakness of His hearers.

JOHN 6:47-51

47. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.

48. I am that bread of life.

49. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.

50. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.

51. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever.

COMMENTARY

AUGUSTINE. (Tr. xxvi. s. 10.) Our Lord wishes to reveal what He is; Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me, hath everlasting life. As if He said; He that believeth on Me hath Me: but what is it to have Me? It is to have eternal life: for the Word which was in the beginning with God is life eternal, and the life was the light of men. Life underwent death, that life might kill death.

CHRYSOSTOM. ([Nic.] Theoph.) The multitude being urgent for bodily food, and reminding Him of that which was given to their fathers, He tells them that the manna was only a type of that spiritual food which was now to be tasted in reality, I am that bread of life.

CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. xlv. 1) He calls Himself the bread of life, because He constitutes one life, both present, and to come.

AUGUSTINE. (Tr. xxvi. 11) And because they had taunted Him with the manna, He adds, Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. Your fathers they are, for ye are like them; murmuring sons of murmuring fathers. For in nothing did that people offend God more, than by their murmurs against Him. And therefore are they dead, because what they saw they believed, what they did not see they believed not, nor understood.

CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. xlvi. 2) The addition, In the wilderness, is not put in without meaning, but to remind them how short a time the manna lasted; only till the entrance into the land of promise. And because the bread which Christ gave seemed inferior to the manna, in that the latter had come down from heaven, while the former was of this world, He adds, This is the bread which cometh down from heaven.

AUGUSTINE. (Tr. xxvi. s. 12) This was the bread the manna typified, this was the bread the altar typified. Both the one and the other were sacraments, differing in symbol, alike in the thing signified. Hear the Apostle, They did all eat the same spiritual meat. (1 Cor. 10)

CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. xlvi. 2) He then gives them a strong reason for believing that they were given for higher privileges than their fathers. Their fathers eat manna and were dead; whereas of this bread He says, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. The difference of the two is evident from the difference of their ends. By bread here is meant wholesome doctrine, and faith in Him, or His body: for these are the preservatives of the soul.

AUGUSTINE. (Tr. xxvi. 11) But are we, who eat the bread that cometh down from heaven, relieved from death? From visible and carnal death, the death of the body, we are not: we shall die, even as they died. But from spiritual death which their fathers suffered, we are delivered. Moses and many acceptable of God, eat the manna, and died not, because they understood that visible food in a spiritual sense, spiritually tasted it, and were spiritually filled with it. And we too at this day receive the visible food; but the Sacrament is one thing, the virtue of the Sacrament another. Many a one receiveth from the Altar, and perisheth in receiving; eating and drinking his own damnation, (1 Cor. 11:29) as saith the Apostle. To eat then the heavenly bread spiritually, is to bring to the Altar an innocent mind. Sins, though they be daily, are not deadly. Before you go to the Altar, attend to the prayer you repeat: Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. (Matt. 6:12) If thou forgivest, thou art forgiven: approach confidently; it is bread, not poison. None then that eateth of this bread, shall die. But we speak of the virtue of the Sacrament, not the visible Sacrament itself; of the inward, not of the outward eater.

ALCUIN. Therefore I say, He that eateth this bread, dieth not: I am the living bread which came down from heaven.

THEOPHYLACT. (in v. 83) By becoming incarnate, He was not then first man, and afterwards assumed Divinity, as Nestorius fables.

AUGUSTINE. (Tr. xxvi. 13) was The manna too came down from heaven; but the manna was shadow, this is substance.

ALCUIN. But men must be quickened by my life: If any man eat of this bread, he shall live, not only now by faith and righteousness, but for ever.

JOHN 6:51

51. —And the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

COMMENTARY

AUGUSTINE. (Gloss. Nic.) Our Lord pronounces Himself to be bread, not only in respect of that Divinity, which feeds all things, but also in respect of that human nature, which was assumed by the Word of God: And the bread, He says, that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

BEDE. This bread our Lord then gave, when He delivered to His disciple the mystery of His Body and Blood, and offered Himself to God the Father on the altar of the cross. For the life of the world, i. e. not for the elements, but for mankind, who are called the world.

THEOPHYLACT. Which I shall give: this shews His power; for it shews that He was not crucified as a servant, in subjection to the Father, but of his own accord; for though He is said to have been given up by the Father, yet He delivered Himself up also. And observe, the bread which is taken by us in the mysteries, is not only the sign of Christ’s flesh, but is itself the very flesh of Christ; for He does not say, The bread which I will give, is the sign of My flesh, but, is My flesh. The bread is by a mystical benediction conveyed in unutterable words, and by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, transmuted into the flesh of Christ. But why see we not the flesh? Because, if the flesh were seen, it would revolt us to such a degree, that we should be unable to partake of it. And therefore in condescension to our infirmity, the mystical food is given to us under an appearance suitable to our minds. He gave His flesh for the life of the world, in that, by dying, He destroyed death. By the life of the world too, I understand the resurrection; our Lord’s death having brought about the resurrection of the whole human race. It may mean too the sanctified, beatified, spiritual life; for though all have not attained to this life, yet our Lord gave Himself for the world, and, as far as lies in Him, the whole world is sanctified.

AUGUSTINE. (Tr. xxvi. 13) But when does flesh receive the bread which He calls His flesh? The faithful know and receive the Body of Christ, if they labour to be the body of Christ. And they become the body of Christ, if they study to live by the Spirit of Christ: for that which lives by the Spirit of Christ, is the body of Christ. This bread the Apostle sets forth, where he says, We being many are one body. (1 Cor. 12:12) O sacrament of mercy, O sign of unity, O bond of love! Whoso wishes to live, let him draw nigh, believe, be incorporated, that he may be quickened.

SOURCE: eCatholic 2000 Commentary in public domain.

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