St. Augustine Catholic Church     314-385-1934

My flesh is true food and my blood is a true drink…

               Pastor’s Pen                 

A Word from Fr. Chris

 

My flesh is true food and my blood is a true drink…(John 6:51-58)

The Sunday readings of the last four weeks have consistently been speaking to us about food which we know is an essential and necessary commodity in our human existence.  Food quenches hunger enables us to grow healthily and can eliminate sickness.  Without food we can even die.

From natural food our Lord Jesus Christ, in His teaching, moved us to another kind of food which, according to Him came down from heaven and that whoever eats this food will live forever.  This food, He said, is His own body for the life of the world.  This teaching sounded strange and confusing to His hearers and they asked, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?”  We know that from other gospel sources some of His hearers at this point left Him.  But Jesus continued and emphatically and mandatorily said, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you will not have life in you.  For anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I shall raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:54)

It is this teaching from Jesus, our unflinching faith and hope for eternal life, that draws us to receive Him as Holy Communion each time we are present at Mass.

Having listened to this teaching of Christ about this heavenly food that gives eternal life, it goes to say that we must prepare ourselves for the worthy reception and fruitfulness of this sacrament to avoid desecration or abuse.

Therefore, Holy Communion is to be received with purity of heart, proper reverence, and honor.  Amen.

 

Fr. Chris

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