"If Christ did not want to dismiss the Jews without food in the desert for fear that they would collapse on the way, it was to teach us that it is dangerous to try to get to heaven without the Bread of Heaven."

"If I can give you any advice, I beg you to get closer to the Eucharist and to Jesus... We must pray to Jesus to give us that tenderness of the Eucharist."-Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910 – 1997)

Gospel Text: (JN 6:52-59)

The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying,

“How can this man give us his Flesh to eat?”

Jesus said to them,

“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.

For my Flesh is true food,

and my Blood is true drink.

Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood

remains in me and I in him.

Just as the living Father sent me

and I have life because of the Father,

so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.

This is the bread that came down from heaven.

Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died,

whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

In our Gospel reading from John, Jesus continues the “Bread of Life” discourse, and there are many listening to Him that do not understand Him: “How can this man give us [his] flesh to eat?” They, too, are blind to who and what Jesus is.

What can heal us of this blindness? - Openness to Jesus

As Jesus says, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” When we receive the Eucharist in the state of grace, we are being opened to Jesus in a special way. We can open ourselves to Jesus by studying the Word. We can open ourselves to Him by opening ourselves to each other.

The greatest cause of “blindness” in the world today is sin. One good confession with a Priest cures our blindness. So simple! Remember what Jesus said in the book of Matthew: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.(Mt: 5:8)

When we trust in the love of the risen Lord, we begin to see more and more, until the time when we are with Jesus and can see Him “face to face.”