This Saying Is Hard: Christ had just revealed to his followers his divine plan to become “living” bread. The Eucharist was to be his way of uniting intimately to each one of us from generation to generation.
Belief in the Eucharist is only possible through a faith that comes from a deep interior revelation from God. Only those who listen to our Lord as He speaks to them interiorly. It is only that interior conviction that comes from God that can be proof of the truthfulness of the Holy Eucharist.
We must be listening with the spirit not in the flesh…It is the Spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life.
In the case of those who walked away from Jesus, they heard His teaching, but their hearts were closed to the gift of faith. They remained stuck on a purely intellectual level, and, thus, the idea of eating the Flesh and Blood of the Son of God was more than they could comprehend.
Those who rejected him would do so not because of misunderstanding, but because they chose not to believe—they wanted their own way. They knew exactly what He was saying.
What do we do when we find ourselves challenged by a tenet of Church teaching? Do we spend time praying, studying, inquiring, and humbly seeking the truth? Do we take our struggle to Christ, admitting we are shocked, burdened, confused, or angry? He welcomes our angst and suffers with us as he gently guides us to truth.
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