"You Are the Holy One of God"
April 20th Readings Reflection: Saturday of the Third Week of Easter
Today’s Gospel contains St. Peter’s beautiful declaration of faith: “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that [Y]ou are the Holy One of God.”
This statement came after Jesus declared His Flesh and Blood to be “meat...[and] drink indeed” (Jn 6:56 DRB). In these words, Jesus was preparing His disciples for the Holy Eucharist, whereby we receive His Flesh and Blood hidden under the appearances of bread and wine. Many of Our Lord’s disciples found His words too difficult to accept and no longer followed Him. However, Simon Peter declared his undying belief in Christ’s divinity.
In writing about this Gospel passage, St. Augustine of Hippo said that St. Peter and the other faithful Apostles “believed in order to know.” In other words, they accepted Jesus’ teachings on the grounds of faith before they fully understood Who He is. “Had [they] wished first to know,” wrote St. Augustine, “and then to believe, [they] could never have been able to believe.” This is because certain truths pertaining to our Faith are supernatural, which means that our reason alone cannot understand these truths without the light of divine revelation.
The disciples who left Jesus in today’s Gospel rejected the grace of faith in their attempt to understand Christ’s words. They understood Christ’s words on a very literal level, believing “that He was going to distribute His [B]ody in bits,” as St. Augustine wrote. Some of Jesus’ disciples thought that He was implying cannibalism, and instead of seeking to go deeper into His words and understand what He might truly be saying, they stopped at this superficial understanding and left Him.
The Eucharist is a supernatural mystery that we cannot fully understand on earth. Our eyes see bread and wine, but by the virtue of faith, we believe the Eucharist to be the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ Himself, made present by the words of the priest at the Consecration. As a supernatural mystery, the Eucharist exceeds our natural reason; we simply cannot believe in Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist without faith. When our faith is tested, as it inevitably will be throughout our earthly lives, may St. Peter’s declaration of faith remind us of the truth of our belief: “[Y]ou are the Holy One of God.”
Thank you so much!!!!!