Growing up in Houston, I idolized legendary basketball player Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls. You remember the catchy jingle from those Gatorade commercials? Well, I wanted to be like Mike. For me, MJ was larger than life. My brother and I would play basketball in our backyard for hours on end and I would imitate Michael Jordan’s moves, with the tongue wagging and all. I practiced my free-throw shots the same way that MJ shot his free throws and, of course, my patented Air Jordan fade-away jumper. In my mind, I was unstoppable, just like Mike. However, there were certain things about Michael Jordan that, even as a teenager, I knew was not something that I should imitate.
However, as much as I enjoyed playing basketball, I never thought that I was good enough to compete against other kids and that became an obstacle for me when I had to play against others in gym class. I remember during gym class one time, I was selected to play on a team. However, because of my self-defeating attitude, I did not make good shot selections; I turned the ball over a few times; and I passed up on easy shots. As a result, I avoided playing basketball games with other kids after that, mostly because I was never picked to play on a team. Today’s Gospel passage reminded me of this experience from my youth, because of the way that we allow others to limit us or worse how we put limitations on ourselves. This is what the Jews murmured about Jesus, saying: "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he say, 'I have come down from heaven'?"
This is similar to when he was rejected in his hometown of Nazareth, the people had this to day about him: “‘Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary. . .?’ And they took offense at him. Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house.’ So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there. . . He was amazed at their lack of faith” (Mark 6:3-6). You see, when the Jews looked at Jesus, they limited themselves to only what they thought they knew about him and not who he said that he is - the Son of God, the “living bread that came down from heaven.” What about us? How have we “domesticated” Jesus (Bishop Robert Barron) and, by extension, limit the power of the Eucharist in our lives? Would Jesus be amazed at our lack of faith?
My sisters and brothers in Christ, our faith teaches us that Jesus is not just the bearer of the Word, he is the Word himself. Moreover, the bread and the wine are not mere symbols of Jesus’ Body and Blood. In the words of institution, the bread becomes his Body given up for us and the wine becomes his Blood poured out for us for the forgiveness of sins. We know and believe this because this is what Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel: “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.” This is why the Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Christian life. . . For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself. . . to receive in faith the gift of his Eucharist is to receive the Lord himself” (CCC 1324, 1336). The Eucharist “cannot be apprehended by the senses but only by faith, which relies on divine authority” (CCC 1381, quoting Saint Thomas). Saint Cyril once said: “Do not doubt whether this is true, but rather receive the words of the Savior in faith, for since he is the truth, he cannot lie.”
In today’s second reading, Saint Paul urges us to “be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God.” Now, I tell you what, I have been trying to be an imitator of our Lord Jesus Christ ever since I was received into the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil, in 2008, and even more so after I was ordained a deacon in March of 2019. I do not know about you all, but I certainly cannot be an imitator of God on my own. This is not me putting limitations on myself but, in humility, I know that I need help in the spiritual life to become an imitator of God. What is it that Jesus said: “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41)? I need the Eucharist, which I receive at Mass, because “[in] the celebration of the Mass, we are shown what love truly is, and we receive grace that enables us to imitate the love that Christ shows us” (The Mystery of the Eucharist in the Life of the Church, 34).
I believe all of us here, with all our imperfections, desire to be imitators of God, which is one of the reasons why we attend Mass regularly so that we can receive our Lord in the Eucharist as often as we can. The fruits of Holy Communion are (1) an intimate union with Christ Jesus and (2) separation from sin. The Lord said: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him” (John 6:56, CCC 1391). Moreover, the Eucharist “cannot unite us to Christ without at the same time cleansing us from past sins and preserving us from future sin” (CCC 1393). And so, with great humility, we come to Mass to encounter our Lord in his Word and in the Eucharist so that when we leave our sanctuary here and go out there into the secular world, we can become ever closer an imitator of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, in word and in how we live our lives.
And so the “the question then, is this: Are we simply going through the motions of faith, or do we have a personal, living relationship with Jesus Christ? Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI put it this way: ‘Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction’ (Deus Caritas Est, 1)” (Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly, July/August 2024). In a few moments here, we will have an opportunity to encounter the love and mercy of our Lord in the Eucharist. In the same way that our Lord nourished and strengthened his servant, Elijah, so he could walk “forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb,” our Lord Jesus Christ will nourish and strengthen us with his Body and Blood for our own journey through life. Do we believe this “with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37)? We should or we are lying to Jesus every time we come up to receive Holy Communion and respond to the ministers with an “Amen” when they say to us “The Body of Christ” and “The Blood of Christ.”
I want to end with a quote from a saint and a prayer, both of which I believe will help us deepen our love for our Lord Jesus Christ in the Eucharist - the “living bread that came down from heaven.” St. Augustine once said: “If we receive the Eucharist worthily, we become what we receive” (Easter Sermon, 227). Finally, may this Anima Christi prayer remind us that we can become imitators of our Lord when we receive him in the Eucharist worthily and allow his Presence to permeate our very being, soul, and spirit. “Soul of Christ, sanctify me. Body of Christ, save me. Blood of Christ, embolden me. Water from the side of Christ, wash me. Passion of Christ, strengthen me. O good Jesus, hear me. Within your wounds hide me. Never permit me to be parted from you. From the evil Enemy defend me. At the hour of my death call me and bid me come to you, that with your Saints I may praise you for age upon age. Amen.”
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