Faith Is Lived, It Becomes Our Very Skin, And It Is Incarnational

A man called me the other day, he wanted to know about our Fr. Patrick, who was a monk here, for a few years, then left to be a parish priest. He was a good priest, much loved but died in 2013 of cancer. He was very good friends with Fr. Patrick and I could tell that he missed him. He was sorry that he found out six years after his death.

As we were talking, the man wanted to ask me a question about the Eucharist. He was struggling with his faith about the sacrament. It is always difficult for me to talk on this theological level since I do not have much training in this area. So I decided to take a track that I felt more comfortable with.

So I started with the fact of simply living out one’s faith. Seek to live the life that Jesus is calling each of us to, and to seek to gift of faith. It is good to think about one’s faith, to study as deeply as one can, but it is the living out of faith that is the most important. To seek to do the loving thing every day, to be aware of our interaction with others, and when we fail, to admit it, and if posited to seek redress. When we struggle with ourselves and pray in that struggle, we find our faith growing, since we have an open heart. Most importantly to consciously be aware of our union with Jesus.

The revelation of Jesus is that we are all so deeply loved by the Father and Jesus came to reveal to us that love. It is harder to accept than many believe. The Eucharist points to the reality of that love, for Jesus becomes ‘food’ for our souls; we consume God. That is hard for many to accept, and some may find it repugnant.

“This remembrance entails the use of tangible elements: bread and wine. It isn't enough simply to say, “Remember!” The elements of bread and wine are given to stir our minds and hearts. The physical act of eating and drinking is designed to remind us that we spiritually “ingest” and depend upon Jesus and the saving benefits of his life, death, and resurrection. Just as food and drink are essential to sustain physical existence, so also the blessings and benefits that come to us through the body and blood of Christ are paramount to our spiritual flourishing.”

(https://www.crosswalk.com/…/10-things-to-know-about-taking-… )

Jesus lost many disciples over this statement:

“52 The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?”
53 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For My flesh is [k]food indeed, and My blood is [l]drink indeed. 56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. 58 This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.”
59 These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.
60 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a [m]hard saying; who can understand it?”

61 When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples [n]complained about this, He said to them, “Does this [o]offend you? 62 What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? 63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. 64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. 65 And He said, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.”

66 From that time many of His disciples went [p]back and walked with Him no more. 67 Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?--John 6: 53-66

For Catholics, as well as all of the older branches of Christianity, the Eucharist is central to their worship.
So how does one’s faith the Eucharist deepen? Well by praying of the 6th chapter of the Gospel of John, but most of all by living it. By making Holy Hours, or by arriving before mass and spending time simply being with Jesus, present in this special way. Faith is lived, it becomes our very skin, and it is incarnational. It is not just some intellectual assent, as important as that may be. Yet, without a deep inner relationship with Christ Jesus, it becomes just emptiness, something to do on Sunday and then for the rest of the week to forget it.

We are all called to a deep union with the Infinite. The revelation of Christianity is that God wishes for the intimacy more than we do, hence the overflowing grace that is given us when we have the slightest desire to seek God. It can be a slow journey, but one that needs to be taken at some point in one’s life. The deeper our trust, the quicker we grow in union with God, for it is by trust that we respond to the love of the Father and grow in our ability to listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

Do not fear trusting God, nor in faith in His infinite mercy, and do not let others dissuade you of this deep truth about our faith.—BrMD