Gospel of John, Chapter 6:51

Have you ever had a little child offer you part of his candy or share her doll? Can you remember how happy and warm you felt? Certainly it was not the candy or
the doll that mattered. It was the trust and love that touched you. We like to be trusted and loved. That is what makes life worth living. A child can penetrate the hardest heart with its simple sharing, its trust and its love. Today’s scripture asks us to think about the Eucharist; to think about the way our God shares and trusts and loves. In a way, Jesus is as innocent and undemanding, as trusting and loving, as a little child. In fact, Jesus once said that to be part of the kingdom of God, we must become like little children. We must be like Him, sharing the simplicity of a little child.

The Eucharist is not just a sacrament that takes place during mass in Church. It begins in the Church but it does not end with Church. It is not a symbolic act that is performed once a week to be forgotten as we go about our real lives of working and caring for our loved ones. In the church, we experience the gift of God, His love and His trust. But, the rest of the story must take place when we leave the church building. It must include our own willingness to share with others, to share whatever we have, to be a person who truly believes in the Eucharist.

All ownership is forever mortgaged by the needs of others. In other words, we must share what we own with one another. Jesus does not hesitate to share with us his own body and blood in the Eucharist. You and I must share with those in need, the needy of our own age, men and women who are discouraged and broken. We must become like little children with open hands and outreached arms. Only then can the world find peace and justice and hope. What begins in church can explode into our world and change it profoundly if we will only be transformed by the Eucharist.

This kind of transformation brings us to a new level of life so that we can forget ourselves and share with one another. That willingness to lose our own selfish lives is built on the complete confidence that Jesus, the bread of life, is within us sharing life and love for all our brothers and sisters, especially the least among us.

Fr. Hugh Duffy