Jesus told the people who were
listening to him, “I am the bread of life. Anyone who eats this bread will
live forever and I will raise him up on the last day.” (Jn.6:36,51,54) When they asked Him further,
“What is this Bread of Life? How can
you give it to us?” Then he came out more clearly, “This bread, is my
Body. The food that I will give you is My Body, the drink that I
am going to give you is My Blood.” The
words of Jesus is very clear, He
said, “My Body, My Blood!”
But
of course, when they looked at Jesus,
they were looking at Him; at His physical body. And they understood that what
Jesus was going to give them as food is his own
body and blood. But what they did not understand my dear friends is,
Jesus meant another form. They were right in understanding , that Christ was
giving His body and His blood. And He was saying, “My flesh is real food, and
my blood is real drink. If you do not eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have
no life everlasting.” (Jn.6:55)
Many
of the Jews found it difficult to
understand that what Jesus will give as food is his own body and the drink he
will give is his own blood. Because of
this, many of them left him. They would not be able to understand what Jesus
was saying at the very beginning. One needs to have faith to the One sent by
God. You must believe.” And believing
doesn’t necessarily mean that you
understand. When we believe my dear
friends, it means we accept something to
be true ,because we believe on the words of someone who is truthful. Precisely
it is the same case that when we accept Christ’s words to be true, it is because He is truthful, and He cannot be
mistaken and He cannot tell a lie.
What
happened on that Holy Thursday, the very
last night of His life. Jesus knew that
the following day He will die. And Jesus
loves His people and He loved them to the end. And it was with so much love
that Jesus celebrated the last supper with his
Apostles.And tin that event He instituted the
Holy Eucharist. He took bread,
and then He said, “this is My Body which shall be given up for you.” Then, he
took the cup filled with wine and then
He said, “This is the cup of My Blood, the blood of the new and everlasting
covenant. It will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven.”