John 6:52-59 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood shall live

As a child my siblings and I were always curious about vampire and zombie movies.  There was always something so very wrong with sub human creatures drinking human blood, or eating their brains that made us laugh.  We knew it was fiction.  As an adult I was briefly amused and annoyed when a friend learned that I was a Catholic and asked how could I be?--I was such a nice person, but did how could I partake in human sacrifice every Sunday and eat them?  It was a clear sign that our Church needs to do more in educating our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who belong to other churches. 

In today's Gospel the Jews are taken aback asking themselves, "How can this man give us his Flesh to eat?"  It is as shocking to them as it was to my friend.  What does Jesus mean?

Think back to the wedding feast at Cana.  That is a precursor to the Heavenly banquet.  We are to be nourished and sustained in our faith.  All we need to do is believe.  The Son came down from Heaven like the manna in the desert.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us, " From the beginning Jesus associated his disciples  with his own life, revealed in the mystery of the kingdom to them, and gave them a share in his mission, joy, and sufferings." (CCC 787)  In joining with him, we come into communion with him, an ecclesiological communion which mimics that of the Father and Holy Spirit to the Son.  We share in his resurrection.  His flesh is our flesh, his blood our blood.  We, the Church,  are his body and he is our head.  At the Last Supper he gave us himself through the grace of transubstantiation whereby the substance of the bread was changed to Him while the outer veil remained like bread, and the same with the wine, that substance became him, for us to consume, to be nourished, not just physically, but spiritually with the grace that is God, inebriated with his Divine love and mercy. 

Mark 6:7-13 Called to the Journey Through Humility

For today's readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/020416.cfm)

In today’s Gospel Jesus sends the disciples out two by two with instructions to take nothing with them except a walking stick and the authority over unclean spirits.  It was a faith walk.  We have all been on them to some degree.  Where they were welcomed, they could stay.  Where they were not welcomed, they should move on and “shake the dirt from their feet” meaning they should leave everything, even ill sentiments behind.  They went and preached repentance, drove out demons, anointed, and cured the sick.

Jesus is the eternal Word of God that came and lived among us.  He is the fullness of God’s Revelation to us.  Our faith is the free affirmative response to God’s calling to us.   Grace is God’s life in us.  God’s love for us, as through the Son, is limitless.  Living our faith, like the disciples do when he calls them on their journey, is saying “yes” to Jesus’s call to bring the reign of God.  This reign of God is His saving love fully manifest in the world.  We this transmitted to those who have faith, to the disciples, to us. Miracles are only one sign of this love, and we hear about them a little today as the disciples share the reign of God through their call for repentance and to receive God’s love.  It is an affirmation too that although God is everywhere, although temporarily limited in His human form, we are likewise called to share in His work.   By professing God, by sharing the teachings of Christ, the disciples were publicly professing their faith.  We are called to do that too.  This is one of the reasons that we state our creed, our beliefs at mass.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “Whoever says ‘I believe’ says, “I pledge myself to what we believe.” (CCC 185) 

In the first reading today we meet David and Solomon.  Solomon receives the kingdom to rule and keep.  They are our examples of men of faith.  Both, like us are sinners.  The difference is that David, as many bad things as he did, repented of his sins and asked God forgiveness.  He received the gift of humility.  We do not see that with Solomon.  So which do we use as our example today when we hear the call to follow the Word of God?  Are we ready to go with as little as the disciples, except for our great faith?