"The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world."

This past Tuesday, August 6, was the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord. This special feast celebrates that day when the Lord was transfigured before Peter, James and John and gave them a glimpse of his heavenly glory. It also fits well with what Jesus tells us in the Gospel this coming Sunday.

When confronted by the people around him, who mock him and question his origins when he says he is the "bread come down from heaven", Jesus responds by trying to reveal to them who he is. He teaches, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him" and he speaks of a prophesy that says "They shall all be taught by God." Through this he is showing the people his connection to the Father and that he is the fulfillment of the promise of being taught directly by God.

Jesus then confronts the people by saying "I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they [still] died [recalling the story from last week's first reading]... 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 is leaving no room for interpretation here; he is saying that he came from the Father in heaven, he is the way to know the Father and he is the way to eternal life. And so later in the Gospel, when Jesus is transfigured before the Apostles (as we celebrated Tuesday), he reveals in action what he is revealing through his teaching in this Sunday's Gospel: He is the Word Made Flesh, God Incarnate.

Let us pray this week that we may come to know and believe more and more this reality: that Jesus is the Word Made Flesh, that the bread he gives (the Eucharist) is his flesh for the life of the world, and that "whoever eats this bread will live forever."

Want to read the readings for this Sunday? Click here to find them.

Click here to see the readings from the Transfiguration of the Lord.