You Want Me to Do … WHAT?

WE ARE GROWING AS A COMMUNITY!

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Hi, it’s so good to be back. This is one of my favorite gospels. This Gospel, part of John in the Bread of Life Discourse, got to me. After this week and next week, we’re wrapped up for the for the Bread of Life Discourse.

Let’s get into it—this is such a cool Gospel.

Gospel John 6:51-58

Jesus said to the crowds:
“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.”
The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying,
“How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

Jesus said to them,
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,
you do not have life within you.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
has eternal life,
and I will raise him on the last day.
For my flesh is true food,
and my blood is true drink.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
remains in me and I in him.
Just as the living Father sent me
and I have life because of the Father,
so also the one who feeds on me
will have life because of me.
This is the bread that came down from heaven.
Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died,
whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

Whoever eats my flesh, true food, true drink … remains in me and I in Him. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. I don’t know how much more clear it can be! You can’t misinterpret the words. THAT, to me, was the biggie! It wasn’t like He was speaking in a parable. As a matter of fact, you’ll see next week, people were appalled at what He was saying. Think about it, He is talking to a bunch of Jewish people who did not have blood anywhere. Blood was the sacrifice, right? So when they made food, they didn’t touch any blood. You want me to drink your blood, are you kidding me? That’s insane. This is why they were mumbling and murmuring about themselves—this dude is nuts—he is crazy!

And He didn’t come back and say, “Yeah, hey guys I’m just joking. It’s a symbol. Just have a piece of bread and some grape juice. It’s all right.” No, He did not do that, He made it clear.

So this week, if you are already going to Mass and you didn’t know what the Eucharist is or what you are going up for at Holy Communion—you know now that it is the real presence of God. I hope that now you look at Mass in a whole new light. And oh, by the way, if you haven’t been to confession in a long time and have mortal sins on your soul, you better get to confession! Because if you receive the Eucharist, the living God into your body and you’re NOT in a state of grace, you are condemning yourself to Hell. Please take that into consideration. Kind of a big deal.

Hopefully, I’ve just shined the light on the purpose of the Mass and the Eucharist for some of you who didn’t know. For those of you “fallen away Catholics” this is what you are missing by not going to Mass. If you’re like me, five years ago, you would rather have a root canal than go to Mass! But now that you know, people should be beating down the door to receive the living God every Sunday, if not every day.

That’s the other ask I have for this week. If you haven’t been to daily Mass before … go! It is so cool. There are not a lot of people. The parishes have a bunch of different times, six in the morning, eight in the morning, nine—sometimes there’s one at noon and sometimes in the evening. I’m pretty sure you can find one that works for your schedule. You can find mass times at www.masstimes.org. Just type in your zip code, put in the day and boom, every Mass around you comes up. I would do yourself a favor though, check the parish’s website/bulletin to confirm because I’ve been burned.

And if you aren’t a Catholic and you want to check it out I think you should go! I remember reading about Scott Hahn, who is a notorious Presbyterian minister who used to be a professor. He was an ANTI-Catholic! But after doing a lot of research and a lot of soul-searching he started attending Mass in the back pew. And every time he went he saw something new and he tied something back to the Bible. And finally, he left his livelihood. I mean this was his JOB but he found the truth and could not deny it. And now he’s one of the biggest Catholic speakers, authors and theologians out there.

So if you’re thinking, “Maybe Kendra’s got something here,” I hope you go to a Mass, check it out, see how it is. Do not go and receive the Lord though you must go through a Rite of Initiation. And that’s not because we’re being mean. We just want you to go through the process of understanding the faith and realizing what you’re receiving up there and the Catholic faith in its fullness.

Please do not receive him when you are not in a state of grace. When you do that, you’re pretty much flipping Him off saying, “Hey buddy, I don’t really care about you. I’m in a state of mortal sin. I’m not living the way that you want me to live, but I’m going to put you in my dirty and corrupted body anyway.” Homie don’t play that …

So go to daily Mass if you can. If you’re going to Mass, remember what you’re getting. And for those of you who are lukewarm, and I know there’s some of you out there, Jeff. Remember … forget what’s going on other than you and that encounter with God. That is the meat of the Mass, your encounter with the Lord during that time in that church. Okay? It’s a short one. I can’t wait until next week because that one’s a doozy as well. In the meantime, have a blessed and inspired week. Talk to you soon.

Kendra Von Esh

Kendra Von Esh is a Speaker, Faith Coach, and Author who has a passion to help others to deepen their relationship with God and the Catholic Faith.