Homily 505 | 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time | Year B
In today’s Gospel, Jesus finishes his teaching on the Eucharist. Having told his disciples that they must eat his flesh and drink his blood, he now asks the pressing question, “Does this shock you?” The obvious answer is, “Yes!” The words would have been shocking to the crowd that heard them and they should remain shocking to us today.
“But there are some of you who do not believe.” If a recent survey is to be believed, as many as 70% of Catholics who attend Mass do not believe that the Eucharist really is Jesus. It’s not just a symbol. After the consecration, the bread and wine have been completely transformed into the body, blood, soul, and divinity, of Jesus Christ. Only the appearances of bread and wine remain.
Surely we can say with the crowd, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” We accept this teaching of Jesus, not because we fully understand it, but because Jesus said it. The same God who created everything out of nothing by his Word changes bread and wine into God by the words spoken at every Mass. Peter does not understand how Jesus will give his body and blood for food and drink, but he trusts Jesus and he trusts the power of his words, “Master, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life.