Famished without His flesh

The texts today from the Roman Catholic Lectionary speak powerfully of how the steadfast love and faithfulness of God praised by the psalmist are found in Christian tradition in the remarkable lives of the people like Saul of Tarsus. Friar Jude Winkler explains that the account read today from the Book of Acts is one of three which describe his conversion on the road to Damascus. The road itself is frequently cited in literature to underline a watershed event. Friar Jude suggests that the author of the Book of Acts, Luke, may have cast the religious officials in Jerusalem in the role of lawbreakers as the action of capture and return of Jews from Damascus to Jerusalem would have been illegal under Roman law. The difficulty with literal reading of the Bible comes with our expectation that journalistic, unbiased and non symbolic language is the standard used by ancient authors. The Evangelists are not neutral observers. They have the overwhelming task of putting in limited human language the Good News of God, infinite, eternal and unable to be contained or explained. The Gospel of John and particularly the Bread ofLife discourse in Chapter 6 is described by the Evangelist as “This teaching is difficult. Who can accept it?” (John 6.60). Perhaps Catholic Christians are responding superficially when they present this teaching using the modern phrase as “What it is”. Friar Jude describes some of the core scandal created in the Jewish mind by the consumption of blood. The apparent position of some Christians that John is writing in purely symbolic language is unsatisfactory language for the Way which knows eternal life is intimate relationship with Jesus, Son and Risen! The eschatology of John is now and after bodily death. The One Body, for which Paul proclaims salvation to the Gentiles, is presented in the Eucharistic theme of the Second Vatican Council in that through our communion with Jesus we become what we are!