Posted in Faith
Gospel: Mark 14: 22 – 26
We have seemingly limitless food options in a modern world filled with convenience stores and grocery stores with entire aisles dedicated to cereals, chips, or condiments. It can be easy to forget that in many places around the world, access to simple bread and clean water is still the difference between life and death. As vital as this daily food and drink are to our survival, Christ is pointing out in this gospel that there are other things that we hunger and thirst for that are also essential to human life: companionship, forgiveness, mercy, and love.
It is no accident, then, that Jesus chose bread and wine to transform into his Body and Blood. Christ sustains us physically by offering the bread and wine, and he fills us spiritually with his love and mercy when the bread and wine transform.
The Last Supper is, like Christ, many things at once. Jesus breaks bread with his chosen friends to eat a meal together. But it is also an anticipated memorial of his sacrificial death on the cross. Our Lord’s Body was brutalised in crucifixion so that when our own bodies are exhausted, our spirits may enter the kingdom of Heaven. Our Lord’s Blood was shed freely in atonement so that when we break our relationships with God and our fellow humankind, we may embrace a new covenant between God and humanity.
As we partake in Holy Communion, let us appreciate the true miracle. Let us be sustained by the bread and wine transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ. Let it be a chance to grow in oneness with God.
Reference
Mary Grace Mangano 15 M.S.M., 17 M.Ed. FaithND - Reflection - June 2, 2024.
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