Will we Catholics leave too?

The readings for this 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time present to us, in no uncertain terms, the scandal of the Eucharist. Besides it being the most cherished sacrament of the Catholic church, it is an unavoidable point of divergence between Catholics and Christians of other denominations. In Jesus’ day, it distinguished his true followers from those with a mistaken view of the Messiah. Today, as in Jesus' time, we are presented with a choice: to believe and conform our lives to the Eucharistic Lord, or to walk away from him as many others did.

The first readings for this Sunday recount the choice Joshua sets before the Israelites shortly before his death. Like his predecessor Moses, he knew that they would eventually forsake the Covenant, worshiping idols instead of the God who liberated them from Egypt. Moses said to the Levites before his death, “Take this book of God's Law and place it beside the Covenant Box of the LORD your God, so that it will remain there as a witness against his people. I know how stubborn and rebellious they are. They have rebelled against the LORD during my lifetime, and they will rebel even more after I am dead” (Deut 31:27). This witness of Moses against the Israelites contrasts with Joshua’s witness against them: their own decision.

“When they stood in ranks before God, Joshua addressed all the people: ‘If it does not please you to serve the LORD, decide today whom you will serve. As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD’" (Jos 24:15). 

We too are presented with a choice: will we follow the Lord with complete devotion, or will we serve the false idols of our day – materialism, relativism, and heresy?

In today’s second reading, Saint Paul reminds husbands and wives that marriage is a sacrament of self-sacrifice. The verse that gains the most attention is verse 22 of the quoted chapter: “Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.” But people often forget the verse before that: “Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ.” These verses are not contradictory to each other, but are an injunction to a higher form of subjection on the part of Christian couples. Pope Saint John Paul II explains this in his Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem:

“The author [Paul] knows that this way of speaking, so profoundly rooted in the customs and religious tradition of the time, is to be understood and carried out in a new way: as a ‘mutual subjection out of reverence for Christ’ (cf. Eph 5:21). This is especially true because the husband is called the ‘head’ of the wife as Christ is the head of the Church; he is so in order to give ‘himself up for her’ (Eph 5:25), and giving himself up for her means giving up even his own life. However, whereas in the relationship between Christ and the Church the subjection is only on the part of the Church, in the relationship between husband and wife the ‘subjection’ is not one-sided but mutual.”

This subjection of the Church to Christ is displayed powerfully in today’s Gospel reading. Jesus’ words from last week’s Gospel, which this Sunday’s Gospel follows, could not be clearer:

“If you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in yourselves.” (John 6:53).

How did the Jews and many of his disciples respond? By leaving him en masse. He puts the question to his own Apostles, “Do you also want to leave?” Thankfully, led by Saint Peter, they stayed with him and had the grace to believe this teaching when many did not.

We Catholics who live in the United States are in the midst of a three-year Eucharistic revival program, by which our bishops will hopefully restore belief in the Eucharist on the part of the Catholic faithful. These Sunday readings remind us that the Eucharist will often demand of us difficult choices. Will we strive to live lives worthy of this august sacrament, or will we live like everyone else? Will we make good on the promises of our baptism, or will we forsake the Lord for modern idols? Will we obey our Lord and eat his body and blood in the Eucharist, or will we turn away from what it means to be a Catholic?

The choice is ours. May God grant us the grace to choose him who has the words of eternal life (John 6:68).