Wedding Feast of the Lamb

“Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

Today we hear the conclusion of St. John’s Bread of Life discourse. Jesus had become quite popular and people flocked to him by the thousands to witness one of the miracles he was performing. He had just told them that he was the bread of life who had come down from heaven and that his flesh was true food and his blood was true drink. If they did not eat his flesh and drink his blood they had no life within them.

Many of Jesus’ disciples found this teaching too difficult to believe. They left him and returned to their former ways of life. Hind sight is 20/20. When we read the gospel, we wonder how anyone could leave Jesus. Yet, we need to look no further than our own pews to see that we aren’t so different. It is estimated that 70% of Catholics no longer believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. They too have found this teaching to be difficult and have walked away from the Church. Even worse, many have lost the relevance of God in their lives altogether.

In a wedding ceremony, the bride and groom exchange rings as a sign of their love and fidelity. The rings are just a symbol of the love they have for one another. The real love they have is expressed when then they give their full selves to each other in a sacrificial life. Like with a bride and groom, Jesus gives us his full self in sacrificial love. The Eucharist is not a sign of this love, but love itself.

How long would a marriage last if the husband gave his wife a ring and then never spent time with her? How much more would our faith be in vain if the Eucharist were only a symbol? Without the real presence of Jesus, Mass ceases to be the wedding banquet of the Lamb to his bride the Church and becomes nothing more than an instruction of the faithful. Why would you attend a wedding if the groom wasn’t there and only sent a ring in his place?

But the Mass is the wedding banquet where the groom gives us himself, body, blood, soul, and divinity, so that we may have life within us and be with him for all eternity. Mass should be the reason we have to miss every other thing. Instead, we use the flimsiest of excuses to miss Mass. Mass should be the place we long to be, not the place we dread to go. So many Catholics have become run-away brides who have cast off the new life they have received at baptism for fleeting pleasure that leads to ruin.

Jesus waits for you at the altar. He wishes for nothing more than to give himself fully to you in sacrificial love. Approach him as a bride approaches her true love on her wedding day. The Eucharist is the source and summit of our Catholic faith. It is not only where our faith begins, but it is the fulfillment of it. It is what sets us apart from all other people on this earth.