Gospel Reflection for the Twentieth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B.
By The Benedictine Community
Taste and see the goodness of the Lord (Psalm 33)
We are coming to the end of the Bread of Life Discourses which conclude next Sunday with many of Jesus' followers rejecting him for his 'intolerable language.'
As Catholic Christians we rejoice in this intolerable language, in the sheer physicality of what we consume each time we are privileged to receive the Eucharist. To consume, to ingest, to integrate into ourselves the body, blood, soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ is not only to become organically a part of Jesus but also to receive into ourselves His whole Person. And this we do each time we receive the Eucharist.
My favourite prayer is the Adoro Te of St Thomas Aquinas which begins: O Hidden Godhead, humbly I adore Thee, who truly art beneath the form before me.....
Let us cherish and adore ' this wondrous gift, so far surpassing hope or thought..... and live Eucharistic lives of thanks and praise.