...And the Word became Flesh and dwelt among us

The followers of Jesus have heard words they do not understand. Quite simply, they are repelled! In their minds and experience it is impossible to believe that Jesus is inviting them to eat his flesh and drink his blood…so, many of those who had followed Jesus up to this point now walk away. They have reached an obstacle which they cannot overcome. (John 6:51-58)

Isn’t that a little like us. We only know what we have experienced and a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing and can lead us to the wrong conclusions. When it comes to God, we know only a little. Like all living things, our understanding of God continues to grow and to change. And so to know only a little, and to think the little that we do know is all that there is to know, can be fatal. Like the followers of Jesus, we have some “knowledge” about God but do we really know Him not by words or intellect but in the depth of our being? Faith is deepened in situations where self-reliance is no longer possible, where it is difficult to rely on our intellect, reason or abilities.

Richard Rohr writes that the Eucharist is an encounter of the heart, knowing Presence through our available presence. In the Eucharist, we move beyond mere words or rational thought and go to that place where we don’t talk about the Mystery; we begin to chew on it.

We must move our knowing to the bodily, cellular, participative, and unitive level. Then we keep eating and drinking the Mystery until one day it dawns on us, in an undefended moment, “My God, I really am what I eat!” Henceforth we can trust and allow what has been true since the first moment of our existence: We are the very Body of Christ. We have dignity and power flowing through us in our naked existence—and everybody else does too, even though most of us do not know it. This is enough to guide and empower our entire faith journey. If Christians did not already have Eucharist as our central ritual, we would have to create something very similar. [(Rohr, Eucharist-Real Presence, July 24, 2018, Center for Action and Contemplation (Meditations@cac.org)]