Today’s reading and the Feast itself call us to see the invitation and the demand that sharing in the Eucharist implies.  This is a shift from early in the last Century when the Church focused almost entirely on paying attention to the elements rather than the continuous living character of sacraments.  Most of us are aware that food and drink are good, but we rarely look at them for themselves, but rather what they do to us.  The shift back to the early Church’s awareness of sacramental life that came with the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy of Vatican II helps us see that what the Father and Jesus are saying to us in these Scripture texts is that the sharing, praying and giving that we do in the sacraments connects us to the outpouring of Divine Life that they are doing in these sacraments.

In the Deuteronomy text, the Manna referred to was not worshipped for itself even though it was an act that demonstrated God’s care.  The Jews were to be grateful for the gift of the Manna for giving them the relationship with God who was accompanying them to the promised life of a “land of milk and honey.”  Eating the Manna was about getting enough but not hoarding, and about being one people – a whole people who shared their gifts and made this journey through difficulty and suffering in the desert possible.

The Passage from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians reminded the early Christs that they are participating in the one personhood of Christ in the Trinitarian life of love and the common good.  The Bread and Wine consecrated to the purposes of Christ transform those who eat them in the living Body of Christ right now in history, hopefully transforming the world into a land of milk and honey for every one – not for themselves alone.

John’s Gospel challenges us to realize that eating and drinking are acts of cooperation that we do – that is we consume the life of the Christ in order to be that Body of Christ that Paul refers to.  Jesus gave us himself in the food and drink to say to us “I will become your being if you take me into yourself and live out my vision of love.”  Food and drink are the ordinary media of nurture and transformation of the Body that has been born to this Divine Life in Baptism.  If we eat and drink the same elements (bread and wine which we have provided and now consecrated to this purpose by Christ through the Church together) we become Christ – and in-so-doing also become each other.

This transformation is more that we can grasp, but when we pray deeply about it and respond to the needs of the world conscious of all it implies, we transform the world as Christ has transformed us.  Today’s Feast celebrates and reminds us of this wonderful and awe-inspiring vocation that we have to be Christ in the world of today.  That is what a Christian must be to live in communion with God and God’s will for us.