se among
the faithful.

To begin with the words of the promise. While Jesus was once preaching
near the coast of the Sea of Galilee He was followed, as usual, by an
immense multitude of persons, who were attracted to Him by the miracles
which He wrought and the words of salvation which he spoke. Seeing that
the people had no food, He multiplied five loaves and two fishes to such
an extent as to supply the wants of five thousand men, besides women and
children.

Our Lord considered the present a favorable occasion for speaking of the
Sacrament of His body and blood, which was to be distributed, not to a few
thousands, but to millions of souls; not in one place, but everywhere; not
at one time, but for all days, to the end of the world. "I am," He says to
His hearers, "the bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the desert
and died.... I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man
eat of this bread he shall live forever, and the bread which I will give
is My flesh for the life of the world. The Jews, therefore, disputed among
themselves, saying: How can this man give us His flesh to eat? Then Jesus
said to them: Amen, amen, I say to you: Unless ye eat the flesh of the Son
of Man and drink His blood, ye shall not have life in you. He that eateth
My flesh and drinketh My blood hath everlasting life, and I will raise him
up on the last day. For My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood drink
indeed."(367)

If these words had fallen on your ears for the first time, and if you had
been among the number of our Savior's hearers on that occasion, would you
not have been irresistibly led, by the noble simplicity of His words, to
understand Him as speaking truly of His body and blood? For His language
is not susceptible of any other interpretation.

When our Savior says to the Jews: "Your fathers did eat manna and died,
... but he that eateth this (Eucharistic) bread shall live forever," He
evidently wishes to affirm the superiority of the food which He would
give, over the manna by which the children of Israel were nourished.

Now, if the Eucharist were merely commemorative bread and wine, instead of
being superior, it would be really inferior to the manna; for the manna
was supernatural, heavenly, miraculous food, while bread and wine are a
natural, earthly food.

But the best and the most reliable interpreters of our Savior's words are
certainly the multitude and the disciples who are listening to Him. The