Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
The Eucharistic banquet
I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” …. Jesus said to them …. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life …. remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me …. whoever eats this bread will live forever.” Jn 6,51-58
In its unfolding since the call of Abraham, the history of salvation is a continuous, constant invitation to a banquet which, in the fullness of joy, will be complete only at the end of time. As long as we are on this world the feast, however beautiful, is – and has always been – incomplete: at the oaks of Mamre, Abraham invites the Lord, in the guise of three travelers, for lunch, but it is a short and quick meeting; the lunch of the people of Israel before their flight from Egypt is consumed quickly, even standing up; during the wedding at Cana, where Jesus began his public life, the wine starts lacking; at the banquet at Matthew’s there is the annoying presence of the Pharisees who complain that Jesus eats with tax collectors and sinners; in the parable of the banquet the first guests, with various excuses, do not accept the invitation; during the Lord’s Last Supper with the apostles, even the betrayal of Judas will be committed. It is the story of human events which, however beautiful, always bring to an ephemeral, incomplete joy, disturbed by sin and the limits of man. There was, however, a banquet in the history of salvation which, however men were disturbing it, was by no means damaged in the immensity of that invitation. It was when Jesus Christ offered Himself on the Calvary. This donation, which took place two thousand years ago, is continually updated by the Church in the sacrament of the Eucharist: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world”. Nevertheless, even the event of the Eucharist features aspects which could be improved, however the amount of its grace is by no means overshadowed by the human incompleteness in which it is accomplished: the joy and praise of those who participate in it should be more complete and involving, and communion with the Lord should take place under both species, bread and wine. In a banquet one is supposed to eat drink: it makes no sense that the priest eats and drinks, and the same is not allowed to the faithful. Before the Eucharist we are all equal and we all need a complete sacrament: “for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins” (Mt 26,28). It is necessary that the very Church reconsiders this aspect of the Eucharistic liturgy. In our family, during the Sunday lunches, when we celebrate the week’s events, we also allow children to taste the “vin santo”, a small taste this strong sweet wine. The feast is a feast for all.