Thursday of the Third Week of Easter
Today's Mass Readings
In today’s reading from the Gospel of John, Jesus continues to emphasize what He has been explaining to the crowd and to His disciples in the Gospel readings this entire week: He is the Bread of Life. Those who followed Moses and who ate the manna in the wilderness all eventually died. Jesus informs His audience that if they eat of the Bread of Life, i.e. if they eat Jesus, they will not die but have eternal life. Jesus explains that the bread of which He speaks is His flesh. Clearly Jesus does not mean that those who eat of His flesh, (which He will explain in the reading tomorrow is real food), will not die a physical death like the Israelites in the wilderness. All of us will in fact die a physical death at some point in the future. The difference is that whereas the manna in the wilderness only sustained the Israelites for a short period of time, the Eucharist - Jesus’ body and blood - will sustain us for eternity, so that even after we die physically, we can life forever in eternal life.
The Christian Mysteries, in other words, the Sacraments like Baptism and the Eucharist allow us to participate in the heavenly realm right now while we remain on earth. These sacraments also bring us to eternal life so that we are raised to heaven after death. In the first reading for today from the Acts of the Apostles, Philip encounters the Ethiopian eunuch who is reading from the Prophet Isaiah about the suffering servant of the Lord. Philip asks the Ethiopian if he understands the passage. The Ethiopian asks in return, “How can I, unless someone instructs me?” The Ethiopian shows that we need help with interpreting Scripture. After Philip explains the passage and shares the message of Jesus with the Ethiopian, he baptizes the Ethiopian.
Although baptism is usually a public affair, we see that this is not simply a symbol for the community, since no one else is around to witness the Ethiopian’s baptism. Rather, his baptism enters him into the very life of the community of Christians. The Church traditionally refers to this period after baptism as Mystagogy. It is initiation into the Mysteries, the Sacraments, of the Church. In the early Church, those wishing to convert began to learn about Jesus and the Scriptures, and then after their Baptism they began to learn more about the Church’s sacramental life.
For us, the Easter season is truly a liturgical experience of Mystagogy; we experience the paschal mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection. At the same time, ALL of our lives since our Baptism (whether as infants or as adults) are part of this Mystagogical experience. Jesus invites us to Mystagogy in the Bread of Life Discourse. Jesus wants us to enter into the Sacred Mysteries by receiving Christ in the Holy Eucharist, and then by living Eucharistic lives of love, self-sacrifice, and service. As we continue to rejoice in this Easter season, let us really deepen our appreciation for the Eucharist, and let us strive to understand and live out the Church’s sacramental life in our own lives.
- Jeff and Maria Morrow