Return to Holy Family Church Home Page
Today the significance of Jesus as the bread of life and the implications for our own lives are revealed in all their fullness. We have heard that Jesus is not merely bread from heaven; he is also the bread of life. We have also heard that only those who believe in him have the promise of eternal life. In today's readings we are invited to sit at the banquet he has prepared for us, there to feed on his own flesh and blood.
Wisdom, this mysterious being that was with God at the time of creation, invites us to her banquet. Wisdom in the biblical sense looks to the proper ordering of life according to the norms of faith. In today’s first reading from the book of Proverbs, two women are the central figures, Lady Wisdom and Folly. Wisdom leads her believer to the fullness of life, Lady Folly, to death. It is Lady Wisdom who appears to us in today's reading. The food is wisdom's instruction, providing an extravagant and satisfying banquet. Wisdom's house is the created universe. Seven columns. Within her earthly home, she has prepared her banquet and then through her maiden messengers, she has summoned her guests. To enter wisdom's home is to turn away from the path of folly by walking in the way of God's truth. True wisdom, is the understanding of God’s love in and through a lived experience.
Since she is the way to God, those who accept her invitation will feast on the things of God. Wisdom is not only generous in what she offers; she extends her invitation to all. In fact, she goes out in search of those she wishes to feed. She never commands, as does law. She feeds the desire for knowledge and insight; she satisfies the hunger for learning. Wisdom is interested in the simple, the innocent, the childlike, those who are eager to learn. She oversees all of the mysteries of the universe; in her hands are the treasures of life. These are the delicacies with which she spreads her table; this is the fare that she offers her guest. No one can survive without Wisdom; the way of understanding is the way of life.
Wisdom continues as a theme in the reading from Ephesians. It still leads to life but here in a fuller sense than in Proverbs. It is life in Christ that becomes the final point with Christian wisdom. Foolishness and ignorance are to be avoided, like Proverb's Lady Folly is the direct opposite of true wisdom. Saint Paul encourages us to be vigilant and prudent on our journey. He reminds us that fools follow their own designs and do not heed the call of Wisdom. They succumb to the temptations of the evil days in which they live, and they feast on selfishness, ignorance, and wickedness.
In many ways the banquet Jesus offers is like the feast of Wisdom. It is lavish with choice foods and drink that gladdens the heart. It promises to enrich us in ways beyond our imagination, and it is open to all. At this Eucharist, this Paschal sacrifice we feast on his body and his blood. Jesus gives himself totally to us, to strengthen our union with him, to separate us from sin, to build on the unity of the faithful, and to deepen our commit to the poor. If we feed at Wisdom's table, we will know the things of God. If we feed at the table of the Lord, we will have life because of him, and we will be raised up on the last day to live forever. This is truly a bold claim and a hard saying. We are told that the food we eat is his body and what we drink is his blood. We are told that his body, not merely his teaching, is the true bread that came down from heaven. We are told that if we eat and drink what he offers we will have eternal life. Jesus himself makes these claims and extends the invitation. And the acceptance of Jesus in faith has its concrete and lived _expression in the Eucharist.
Today’s liturgy goes beyond any human wisdom. The fullness of the revelation of God made present to you and I, here and now, is truly an encounter with heaven here on earth. And for you and I to increase, to strengthen our relationship, our intimacy with Jesus the “Living Bread”, we cannot under estimate the power of prayer and God’s grace bestowed upon us in and through the Eucharist Celebration.