Holy Communion

Sunday, August 23rd, 2009
John 6:53, 60-69

53So Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
When many of his disciples heard it, they said, ‘This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?’ 61But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, ‘Does this offend you? 62Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64But among you there are some who do not believe.’ For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. 65And he said, ‘For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.’
66 Because of this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. 67So Jesus asked the twelve, ‘Do you also wish to go away?’ 68Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.’

Today, class, we are going to look at how Jesus introduced his followers to Quantum Physics.

Just kidding, though I’m sure there is a Catholic physicist out there somewhere who could expound on this possibility. What Jesus did do, though, was challenge his followers to take a Quantum Leap. The definition of ‘Quantum Leap’ is: “An abrupt change or step, especially in method, information, or knowledge.” It is not a change that occurs gradually over a continuous period; it’s sudden. The quantum leap Jesus was asking his followers to take was not a leap in accepting some knowledge that could be proved or disproved by looking at the facts. He was not asking them to grow slowly into this knowledge. This was a leap of faith he was challenging them with.

Thomas Merton says that communication and communion are two fundamentally different modes of knowing. Communication is a logical, linear and one-dimensional way of imparting information that leads up to a definite conclusion. Communion is a way of knowing that which can’t necessarily be verified or quantified using visible proof or logical argument.

You could ask your spouse, “Do you love me?” and he could truthfully answer, “I go to work every day. I take out the garbage. I keep an eye on the kids when you’re making supper. I wash the dishes. Sometimes I give you a back massage. I carry in the groceries. How can you ask if I love you?”

By listing all the things he does for you, he is communicating that he loves you. Just by doing those things, he is communicating his love. This is fantastic. We couldn’t exist in relationship without these verifiable proofs of our love for each other. But they aren’t enough. Relationship needs communion as well as communication. There is something of the mystery of God’s sweet love in the moment a man or woman looks deep into the eyes of his or her partner and says, “I love you,” especially if it’s not said just because it’s expected under the circumstances. This same mystery can exist between a parent and child. It is a knowing that goes deep and beyond what can be shown on the surface and is the foundation for the whole relationship. Every relationship needs a renewal of a commitment to communion every once in a while – a fresh determination to say, “I love you”, not just do “I love you.”

Jesus said, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” In other words, he is saying that unless you open yourself to real communion with him you cannot enter into the mystery of his love. He is saying that love goes deeper and has more impact on the whole psyche than what can be seen and measured and it is not a one-way street. At least two are needed for communion to take place. He isn’t saying that unless you eat his flesh and drink his blood he won’t allow you enter into communion with him; he’s saying that you won’t have the capacity to be in communion with him.

The fact that Jesus lived on earth and died on a cross is a historically verifiable fact. If we are open to believing the eyewitness accounts of the disciples as truth, his rising from the dead could also be considered a fact. All this is marvelous information that has been communicated to us by scripture and by historical documents. But our hearts need more than that and Jesus knew that. His dieing on the cross communicated his immense love for us, but the Eucharist should be a communion with that love. Eucharist is meant to be the mystery of Jesus looking deeply into the eyes of our hearts as he says, “I love you.” The sad thing is that, for many people, Eucharist has dwindled to being a linear communication. It has become a symbol of what he did for his people while our reception of it is simply a symbol of our love for him. We know this is not our Catholic theology but sometimes the mystery of communion gets lost in our distraction with ‘doing’. We can continue to receive without being fully aware of what we are supposed to be receiving. We can lose the spirit and the life. Some people have lost, or never had in the first place, a sense of their phenomenal value to the Lord and don’t feel they are worthy enough to see him look into their eyes and to hear him say, “I love you.” They only feel they are supposed to tell him they love him. This is not communion. Communion is an intimately shared experience.

Jesus said, “It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh (including the brain) is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” In case you feel the meaning of this should be obvious but because you don’t really ‘get it’ then you must be spiritually obtuse, please remember where we started. Jesus challenged his disciples to take a huge leap of faith – he didn’t explain, in a logical linear fashion, what he meant. This wasn’t another one of his parables. He knew his followers would not be able to intellectually grasp what he was saying because this was a teaching of communion not communication. All he was asking was that they stick with him and trust him.

“Do you want to leave me as well?” he asked the twelve. Bless their hearts; they gave the only possible answer of the committed follower of Jesus. “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know (or ‘you have communicated to us’) that you are the Holy One of God.” Even though his words didn’t make logical verifiable sense to them, all they could do was trust.

And sometimes that’s all you can do. If you go to Mass and you are aware that you are feeling dry and uninspired, take the route of the quantum leap. Say to Jesus, “Lord, where else can I go? You have the words of eternal life. I have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” Then, when you go up to receive the body and blood of Christ, take another quantum leap of faith toward true communion. As the Body and Blood pass your lips, tell Jesus you love him. Then allow your sanctified imagination to see the eyes of Jesus looking at you and hear him say, in a moment of wonderful communion,

“Believe me, I love you, too!”