Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear Friends,

“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” John 6:56

Why is the idea of Remaining in Christ so important?

The word “remain” is used 118 times in the new testament and can also be translated as “abide” "continue," "dwell," "be present" and "endure." I like this word or concept because it gives the sense of a togetherness in motion. When I hear remain, I think of walking with. Jesus wants to walk with me, to stay by my side and accompany me on the journey. He doesn't force me to come to him all by myself based on my own effort but rather he comes down, meets me where I am at and then give me the fuel for our journey. For this reason he chooses the image of Bread. He is the fuel for our journey, we need his nutrients to sustain us and keep us going until we can embrace him fully in his eternal glory. The faith is not a stagnant moment in time but a journey in which he draws us to himself and provides the fuel for this adventure.

The image of bread also shows the intense union in which He remains in us and in which we remain in him. Bread is made of grains of wheat, water, yeast and salt yet in the final product these ingredients are indivisible and inseparable. They have been baked into one unity and many metaphors can be drawn from how we are unified in Christ into his body. Saint Augustine says “ Understand and rejoice. One bread; what is this one bread? The one body which-we being many, are. Remember that bread is not made from one grain, but from many. When you were being exorcized, it's as though you were being ground. When You were baptized it's as though you were mixed into dough. When you received the fire of the Holy Spirit, it's as though you were baked. Be what you can see, and receive what you are.” We are no longer individual grains of wheat, we are united into something bigger than ourselves, Christ himself. He has brought us into himself and remains in us and we in him through the flesh and blood which he gives to us at every sacrifice of the mass.

-Ben Brazelton, Drexel Campus Minister