Bread of Life Discourse

My Dear Parishioners,

Jesus did not speak figuratively nor symbolically nor metaphorically but used very concrete and very literal language throughout His teaching on the Holy Eucharist in the Gospel of John, Chapter 6. His chapter is what we now call His “Bread of Life Discourse.” He used very concrete words for “flesh” and “blood” and “eat.”

Jesus’s language was so graphic that, to the ears of the crowd, He actually sounded “grotesque.” He was so graphic that the crowds thought that He wanted them to become cannibals! The word that Jesus used for “eat” can also be translated as “chew.” That is as graphic as it gets! The fact that the crowds understood that Jesus was speaking literally, and not symbolically, is why they murmured “how can this man give us His flesh to eat?” The fact the crowds understood that Jesus was speaking literally is why they walked away (John Bergsma, The Word of the Lord, Year B pg. 349-350, 357-358).

We Catholics still take Jesus literally. We literally believe that He is the true bread from Heaven. We literally believe that His flesh is true food, and His blood is true drink. We literally believe that we must share in His flesh and blood in order to share in eternal life. We do so because Jesus told us so!

Thankfully, at the Last Supper, He revealed to us how He was going to share His Body and Blood with us. Thankfully, He continues to share His Life-Giving Body and Blood with us at each Mass and every time we receive Holy Communion.

We have so much for which to be thankful. We have so much for which to give praise.

O Sacrament Most Holy, O Sacrament Divine, all praise, and all thanksgiving, be every moment thine!

St. Joseph, Patron of the Church, pray for us!

Fr. Michael J Pawelko, Pastor

 

Saints’ Quotes On The Eucharist Courtesy of the Catholic Stand

Catholic Stand – Living the Truth the Church Teaches

St. Ignatius of Loyola

“One of the most admirable effects of Holy Communion is to preserve the soul from sin, and to help those who fall through weakness to rise again. It is much more profitable, then, to approach this divine Sacrament with love, respect, and confidence, than to remain away through an excess of fear and scrupulosity.”

St. Ambrose of Milan

“If it is “daily bread,” why do you take it once a year? Take daily what is to profit you daily. Live in such a way that you may deserve to receive it daily. He who does not deserve to receive it daily, does not deserve to receive it once a year.”

St. Padre Pio

“Always remain close to the Catholic Church, because it alone can give you true peace, since it alone possesses Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, the true Prince of Peace.”

St. Faustina, Divine Mercy in My Soul Diary

“I desire to unite Myself to human souls, Know, My daughter, that when I come to a human heart in Holy Communion, My hands are full of all kinds of graces which I want to give to the soul. But souls do not even pay any attention to Me; they leave Me to Myself and busy themselves with other things…They treat Me as a dead object.” (1385)

“Every morning during meditation, I prepare myself for the whole day’s struggle. Holy Communion assures me that I will win the victory; and so it is. I fear the day when I do not receive Holy Communion. This bread of the Strong gives me all the strength I need to carry on my mission and the courage to do whatever the Lord asks of me. The courage and strength that are in me are not of me, but of Him who lives in me – it is the Eucharist.” (91)

St. Alphonsus Liguori

“Of all devotions, that of adoring Jesus in the Blessed
Sacrament is the greatest of the sacraments, the one dearest to
God and the one most helpful to us.”

St. Maximilian Kolbe

You come to me and unite Yourself intimately to me under the form of nourishment. Your Blood now runs in mine, Your Soul, Incarnate God, compenetrates mine, giving courage and support. What miracles! Who would have ever imagined such!”

St. Ephraem

“O Lord, we cannot go to the pool of Siloe to which you sent the blind man. But we have the chalice of Your Precious Blood, filled with life and light. The purer we are, the more we receive.”

Mother Teresa

“Jesus has made Himself the Bread of Life to give us life. Night and day, He is there. If you really want to grow in love, come back to the Eucharist, come back to that Adoration.”

St. Augustine

“Recognize in this bread what hung on the cross, and in this chalice what flowed from His side… whatever was in many and varied ways announced beforehand in the sacrifices of the Old Testament pertains to this one sacrifice which is revealed in the New Testament.”

“He who is all-knowing knew of nothing more that he could give than the Eucharist. He who is all-powerful could not do any more than he does in the sacrament and he who is all loving had nothing more that He could give. The Eucharist is a Divine storehouse filled with every virtue.”

 St. Francis of Assisi

“What wonderful majesty! What stupendous condescension! O sublime humility! That the Lord of the whole universe, God and the Son of God, should humble Himself like this under the form of a little bread, for our salvation”

 St. Therese of Lisieux

“Do you realize that Jesus is there in the tabernacle expressly for you – for you alone? He burns with the desire to come into your heart…don’t listen to the demon, laugh at him, and go without fear to receive the Jesus of peace and love.”

“Receive Communion often, very often. There you have the sole remedy, if you want to be cured. Jesus has not put this attraction in your heart for nothing.”