Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood...

The second part of the discourse on the Bread of Life begins when Jesus starts to identify the bread as his Flesh (Jn 6:51) which brings about the strong reaction of the crowd. “How can this man give us his Flesh to eat?” (v 52).

- 

At this point the mystery of the “bread” is transposed into the mystery of Jesus’ offering of himself: giving his flesh and blood refers to his act of sacrifice as an act of love (Jn 13).

The Bread of Life is now more clearly identified to Jesus’ Body and Blood, what we long to receive in Holy Communion in the second part of the Mass. And communion is indeed the perfect word because as Jesus says, “Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood remains in me and I in him” (v 56).

Most biblical scholars attest that the Gospel of John does not have the institution of the Eucharist during the Last Supper because the author already expounds its meaning here in John 6. John opts to manifest the meaning of the Eucharist more fully in chapter 13 with the washing of the feet: the loving act of serving each other as Jesus Master serves us to the point of dying for us.

First Reading - Acts 9:1-20