[stephenkhoo]

THE EUCHARIST IS THE WORK OF GOD IN THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT BY WHICH WE SHARE IN THE PASCHAL MYSTERY OF CHRIST

SCRIPTURE READINGS: ACTS 5:34-42; JN 6:1-15



Following the exposition of the Sacrament of baptism, yesterday, the liturgy gives us a preview of another sacrament which also celebrates the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus, namely, the Eucharist. Through a further exposition of these sacraments, the Church leads neophytes who have been newly baptized to appreciate the sacraments that they have received. Hence, this period is called Mystagogia because it leads them deeper to the mysteries they celebrate.

Those familiar with the gospel will also remember that St John has no Eucharistic institutional narrative. Instead, he replaced it with the discourse on Jesus as the living bread from heaven and the bread of life. But today’s focus on the Eucharist is not so much on the Eucharist as the bread of life and His real presence, which will be touched on the following week.

Rather, it is to be seen in the context of the Passover of the Israelites. For we note that right from the outset, the gospel says, “Jesus went off to the other side of the Sea of Galilee – or of Tiberias – and a large crowd followed him, impressed by the signs he gave by curing the sick. Jesus climbed the hillside, and sat down there with his disciples.” These words are reminiscent of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea led by Moses who were impressed by the signs that he performed before Pharaoh, namely, the plagues, and the people, recognizing Moses as their leader appointed by God, followed him from the land of slavery to the Promised Land. The fact that Jesus sat at the hillside is a reference to Moses who went up the Mountain to receive the Laws from God and was recognized as the authoritative teacher and prophet.

More significantly, St John purposefully mentioned that “it was shortly before the Jewish feast of Passover.” Clearly, this miracle is not only situated in the Jewish Passover but also the Passover of Jesus, which means that St John intends to underscore that participation in the Eucharist is truly a participation in the paschal mystery of Jesus Himself. Christians remember how Jesus celebrated the farewell meal with the disciples before His death. In the Synoptic gospels, that farewell meal was a Passover Meal. In John’s reckoning, it was only a farewell meal as John wants to emphasize Jesus as the Passover Lamb slaughtered at the time when the Temple sacrificed the lambs for the Passover Meal in the evening. In other words, Jesus is the New Passover, being the one who celebrated the Passover Meal and at the same time, the Passover Lamb.

Now, when we combine these two themes together, namely, the celebration of the Passover of the Israelites and that of Jesus as the New Passover, we can recognize why Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. Moses is only a prefigurement of Jesus who is to come. Indeed, the people were waiting for a prophet like Moses as Deuteronomy prophesied, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brethren – him shall you heed” (Dt 18:15). Jesus unlike Moses does not simply teach the Word of God; rather He is the Word of God in person. He does not only feed the people with heavenly food, manna from heaven which does not last, but He gives the people eternal food that truly satisfies. Indeed, the gospel says, “When they had eaten enough he said to the disciples, ‘Pick up the pieces left over, so that nothing gets wasted.’ So they picked them up, and filled twelve hampers with scraps left over from the meal of five barley loaves.”

Truly, Jesus is the Bread of Life and this bread gives life because He is the Bread from Heaven, the Word made flesh and now truly present in the Eucharist. Only He can satisfy our deepest hunger which is our hunger for God. And what is more, He gives abundantly. The Eucharist therefore is the privileged place of encountering the Risen Lord today. It is the place of encounter because the Eucharist is not simply a sign but a reality, the sacrament par excellence. For in the Eucharist, Jesus the Risen Lord is truly present in His entire being, humanity and divinity.

John, anticipating some skeptics on the ludicrous claim of Christians, prefaced the discourse on the Eucharist by these two miracles, namely, that of the multiplication of loaves and the walking on the sea. By showing Jesus’ power over nature in the multiplication of loaves and by walking on the sea, as in the case of Moses, John underscores that nothing is impossible for God. If the Risen Lord chooses to make Himself present in the Bread and wine in the Eucharist, just as He chose to empty Himself to assume our humanity, it is therefore credible to believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

Indeed, as in the Resurrection, and from hindsight, the Incarnation, and now the Eucharist, which is the consequence of the resurrection and the incarnation, our faith in the Real Presence of our Lord in the Eucharist is ultimately faith in the power of the Holy Spirit. For this reason, last Sunday we are told that in the evening of Easter day, the Lord appeared to the disciples and bestowed on them the Holy Spirit, commissioning them to do what He had done, for He said, “’As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.’ After saying this he breathed on them and said: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained.’”

Consequently, we are saying that faith in the Risen Lord, which is encountered through the sacraments, especially in the Eucharist, is not the work of man but the work of God. It is important that we Catholics hold on to this vital element of our faith. Without faith in the Real Presence of our Lord in the Eucharist, we will deprive ourselves of the most efficacious means of encountering the Lord. For this reason, we are invited to take heed of the advice of Gamaliel. He advised the Sanhedrin who opposed the message of the resurrection, saying, “If this enterprise, this movement of theirs, is of human origin it will break up of its own accord; but if it does in fact come from God you will not only be unable to destroy them, but you might find yourselves fighting against God.’

What, then, is left for us to do? Simply to believe! Yes, like Thomas we are called to confess when we receive the Eucharist, “My Lord and my God!” How many of us can make this act of faith from the bottom of our hearts? If we can, then we will find great joy and liberation in our lives like Thomas. Then, like the apostles, we will be ready to suffer with and for Christ.

And trials we have many! So long as we try to speak the truth about Jesus, we will face persecution. Today, Christianity is on trial again. At first, the world is against Catholics because we speak against immorality and injustices. Relativism has made all other views as opposed to it. Relativism, ironically, is the absolute truth that the latter wishes to impose on humanity, just as the world accuses us Christians of holding on to absolutes in morality.

But having encountered the Risen Lord, we will be able to imitate the apostles and the saints when we suffer unjust criticism, misunderstanding, rejection and even persecution. We can keep our focus on God and with His help we know that this enterprise is the work of God; not simply the work of man. But you might say, “I lack faith.” Well, do not worry. As in the gospel today, we are called to bring the little we have. If Jesus can multiply five barley loaves and two fish to feed the five thousand, surely, He can make use of the little faith we have and transform that faith into a mature flowering faith. Let us surrender in faith and make an act of belief in the Real Presence of our Lord in the Eucharist and we will encounter the Risen Lord again. With that encounter, there is nothing we cannot overcome in this life because we know that He is with us until the end of time.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh