PARISH NEWS

Was ever a command so obeyed?

Jesus offers himself as the food of eternal life from the Father in this week's startling gospel from John (John 6:51–58). He tells the crowds:

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world…..for my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink."

This isn't easy to listen to and then in Luke 22:19 he tells us to:

"Do this in remembrance of me."

Precise understanding of these passages, has been a feature of angst and division among Christians, certainly since the Reformation. None the less, most regard the ritual as significant in the life of their Christian community.  Dom Gregory Dix, an Anglican monk and eminent liturgist of the last century, vividly sums it up:

“Was ever a command so obeyed? For century after century, spreading slowly to every continent and country and among every race on earth, this action has been done, in every conceivable circumstance, for every conceivable human need from infancy and before it to extreme old age and after it, from the pinnacles of human greatness to the refuge of fugitives in the caves and dens of the earth."

For Catholics, celebration of the Eucharist is central to our worship and liturgy. When I have the opportunity, I like to observe parishioners of every age and background reverently receiving communion, part of my own communion and at one with the millions who are fed by the Body and Blood of Jesus, both today and down through the centuries.

Deacon Mark Kelly