The visible bread which they expected is not coming, and they find Our Lord speaking of Himself as having come down from heaven. They knew Him very well and say: "Is not this the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?"

Our Divine Lord does not condescend to an explanation of His Incarnation in the womb of Mary. The Jews were too carnal for this, and a long way must be travelled heavenwards, before their eyes were capable of looking on such a brilliant truth.

The postponing of revelations is one of the most singular features in the teaching of Our Lord. He educates His hearers, He raises their curiosity, He prepares them by showing wonders, and then He discloses to them only a portion of the very doctrine which is to be the faith of the future.

They had spoken here of him whom they took to be His Father, Joseph; He answers at once, by telling them of His real Father. This Father is shown to us in the words of His Son as a kind, gentle, loving Being, and not as the harsh Deity, whose voice was thunder, and whose hand loved to smite. We see Him looking over the children of men, night and day sustaining them, never taking a Sabbath, so careful of them that not even a hair of their heads can fall off without His permission.

He sees from Himself what a struggle innocence has in this world. How it is maligned, outraged, and persecuted. He sees that goodness attracts but a few, and this few is difficult of management.

We see Him now gently drawing the souls of men to His Son, in order that He may accept them, nourish them, cherish them, and prepare them for eternal life. The Son is the judge, in order that He may feel the more compassion for us after His experience of human nature. His double experience will serve Him when passing our sentence.

He sees from outside of Himself the mockers and scorners and unbelievers, who can see nothing in a carpenter's son but meanness, even though that Son move the elements by His word.

Now he comes to the one point. You must submit to be taught of the Father; you must listen to the good voice which whispers within you, and when you have listened come to Me.

The Father I speak of is not visible to human eye or human

mind. I, who am God of God, have seen the Father. He that believeth in Me hath everlasting life. Now, what I want you all to believe, after I have proved that My Word is to be relied on, is this:

I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE.

The manna you spoke so much of was food for the body and those who ate it are dead.

The manna which I give you came from God Himself, is the food of the soul. If the soul be properly nourished thereby and pass thus from the body, it will enjoy life everlasting.

Thus every divergence, every interruption, every explanation, and every turn of the sentence brings Him to this one great truth, that He is the Bread of Life. He proceeds then to explain how He is this; and, indeed, if we knew not of the Last Supper it would be a trial of faith.

1Jesus the son of Joseph.-It seems as if some of the people from Nazareth were amongst the objectors. Perhaps those who treated Him so badly when He preached in their synagogue.

21 came down from heaven.-They could not understand this; and, Our Lord, instead of explaining it, goes on to re-assert it.

3Murmur not. It requires grace and a special gift to believe what I am telling you, and you are very far from that gift yet. Ask it and it will be taught you.

Draw him.-Theologians go to great lengths in explaining the attraction of grace. Several heresies have been started on the subject—notably Jansenism-and have been condemned. That it is a moral suasion is certain, if it be more, is another question.

Taught of God.-See Isaias liv. 13; Jeremias xxxi. 33-34; Ezechiel xi. 19, and xxxvi. 26; Joel ii. 28.

Hath learned.-Hearkened to the inspiration of grace.

"Who is of God.-He means Himself.

8Bread of Life.-This is the dogma again.

"They died.-Because it was intended for the body.

10 He may not die.-Because IT is intended for the soul. The former required no dispositions except a mouth; the latter requires Faith, Hope, Charity and Baptism.

58. "Sicut misit me vivens Pater, et ego vivo propter Patrem et qui manducat me, et ipse vivet propter me.

59. "Hic est panis qui de cœlo descendit: non sicut manducaverunt patres vestri manna, et mortui sunt. Qui manducat hunc panem vivet in æternum."

58. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by "the Father; so he that eateth me, the same also shall live by me.

59. This is the bread that 15came down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna, and died. He that eateth this bread shall live for ever.

raised within the last three

The question which has been centuries upon the meaning of this passage of the Scripture is plainly stated: Did Jesus Christ mean the REAL PRESENCE of Himself in the Eucharist.

Some old Catholic writers were not quite sure of it, and thought it might have a mystic meaning. All the Fathers, doctors, councils and writers of note in the Catholic Church-as well as candid and learned writers outside it-maintain that Our Lord did mean the Real Presence. In fact, to explain the words in a figurative sense is an impossibility; many have tried it and have failed most egregiously. Luther, the very Coriphæus of Reformers, gave it up, and believed the Real Presence after a manner of his

own.

Let us transfer ourselves in spirit to this synagogue in Capharnaum. Our Divine Lord had performed great miracles. He had shown superhuman and vast powers. He was talking to the crowd about a wonderful superhuman bread, far beyond the manna, which would feed the soul through the body. It was a thing to be eaten, it was living bread, and He Himself was living bread. Both were the same thing, and this truth was repeated over and over. All are wondering to know what this great food must be, and when He has wrought them up to the highest pitch of excitement and expectation, that grand, sonorous voice, which could move heaven and earth, and make itself heard in the depths of the ocean, enunciates with all the awe-inspiring majesty of the Divine Presence those sententious words:

"The bread which I will give is MY FLESH for the life of the world."

There is a lull. The deep meaning is caught. They begin to debate. What does He mean? How can He do such a thing as this? Our Lord replies :

"Amen, amen I say to you: Except you eat the FLESH of the SON OF MAN, and drink HIS BLOOD, you shall not have life in you."

The great truth is now announced and repeated with a grand asseveration, it is a truth they must hold and follow under pain of exclusion from the Kingdom of Heaven. Before proceeding to His exposition let us weigh the meaning of these words.

S. John had two peculiar traits in his character, as manifested in this Gospel. When he tells us Our Lord promised a Sacrament, he forbears to mention its institution. Baptism is promised in the third chapter, Eucharist here, and he does not mention them again as the others do.

Secondly: S. John always explained anything which he thought could be taken up wrong, or was so by the hearers of Our Lord. Instances are numerous throughout the whole Gospel.

From the context then, as John leaves it, the Jews were right in understanding Our Lord to mean the Real Presence.

Some circumstances are worth considering:

Ist. He says meat indeed and drink indeed:-i.e, real, no image or figure, but things to be tasted and consumed.

2nd. Why a distinction of species? One is the same as another in figures.

3rd. Then it is something new: I will give-therefore it cannot be a figure or a piece of doctrine. He had given those.

4th. There is a precept under pain of reprobation. Is damnation a figurative thing?

5th. The Jews were shocked, and the disciples were scandalised, and they were never enlightened, when a word might do it.

6th. He knew that doctors, councils, theologians and all good Christians to the end of time would take Him at His word, and yet He left it so.

The genuine meaning of the passage is this: I shall give My body and blood upon the Cross in order that those lost in sin and dead to grace may be made to live. I shall give My body and blood in a way that I do not reveal now (the Eucharist) to keep those souls who have received life, living until the resurrection of their souls after death, and the resurrection of their bodies at the Last Judgment; that is to say, for Eternity.

This exposition, and this alone, makes all the parts of this wonderful pronouncement cohere intelligibly to our poor minds.