“I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.”

We continue to read from St John’s Gospel Chapter 6. This week Jesus speaks about giving His flesh to eat and His blood to drink much to the disdain of the Jews who started arguing among themselves about this.

Recently, I read an article, in the Catholic Standard, that touched me deeply. It was written by Fr Peter J Daly and was entitled “Missing the Greenan family and their secret of love”.

In the article the parish priest laments that this family who lived in his parish had to move away and in doing so they left “a big hole in the community life” Why you may ask?

This family consists of the parents Ed and Vicki and ten children. They attended the 8.00 a.m. Mass every Sunday. (How do you get ten children up for 8.00 a.m. Mass?) Three daughters are altar servers and one boy, six years old is an usher.

What is remarkable about this family is not that it consists of ten children, but the fact is that six of the children are adopted from various countries: Russia, Estonia, Bulgaria and one was abandoned at a Baltimore hospital – and much more is that each of these adoptive children is a special-need child. Each one has some sort of physical handicap. As Fr Daly mentioned, their medical bills must be astounding.

Ed, is a jeweller in a family business and he works long hours. Vicki gave up professional life to nurture children. This couple was on the track of young professionals but once they discovered all the children in the world needing care, things changed. Fr Daly wrote: “No more boat. No more sportscar. The minivan became a maxivan”.

Yet he claimed that somehow Vicki found time to coordinate the parish lectors and the altar servers and every Wednesday she came to Eucharistic adoration with one or two children in her wake. The children sat quietly for an hour while mom prayed.

He continued, “I wish I could bottle what they have. They have figured out what life is for. It is for love. God’s love is like Ed’s and Vicki’s. It always sets another place at the table.” Remarkable isn’t it?
Isn’t this what Jesus speaks about when He says, “This is my body given for you”?

Ed and Vicki like so many other parents, living and dead, as evidenced by the many beautiful eulogies we read week after week in the Catholic News, have fully grasped what Jesus means when He says, “the bread that I shall give is my flesh for the life of the world.”Unlike the Jews they do not question because they understand what it means to live and love selflessly.

Because they have experienced a deep and personal relationship with God in Jesus they are able to live in Him and He lives in them. They know what it means to share themselves freely and unconditionally. Jesus invites us all into that deep and lasting relationship with Him by giving Himself in the form of bread and wine in the Eucharist.

“Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood has eternal life, and I shall raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.”

Thank you Jesus for giving yourself to us in the Eucharist.

Lord, we thank you for our parents, grandparents, teachers and catechists and all those who have touched our lives for helping us to fully understanding what it means to lay down one's life so that others might live. Bless them, Lord.

We thank you for all the Vickis and Eds who live and love selflessly in our world today.

Thank you Lord, for giving us your flesh to eat and your blood to drink so that we can gain eternal life.

Forgive us Lord, for the times we choose to eat the bread our ancestors ate and are dead.

• the bread of consumerism and materialism
• of unforgiveness and hatred
• of self-centredness and greed
• of prejudices and power

We ask forgiveness for those parents, care-givers and persons in charge of institutions who over the years have failed to love the children and those in their care selflessly; instead they have festered mistrust, fear, insecurity and pain that have led to the violence we now experience in our society.
Teach us Lord, to love as Jesus loved, to look beyond the bread we eat and the blood we drink. To also look beyond the broken bodies and the dirty clothes as the Mother Teresas of our country and the world over do as they reach out to the poor and homeless.
Send us leaders, Lord,, who will draw life from you, so that they can lead without fear or favour and so lead us all to eternal life. Amen

Gospel Meditations for August are by Miriam Mannette. Miriam is a retired primary school teacher and Confirmation catechist. She and her husband Tony are members of the Santa Rosa, Arima parish community.