"For we being many are one bread, one body, because we are all partakers of the one bread." 1 Corinthians 10:17What is this bread that the scripture is speaking of?
In the previous verse, 1 Corinthians 10:16, it tells us what this bread is: "The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? "
So the source of our unity is Jesus' real body, represented to us in the form of bread. In John Chapter 6, Jesus states that He indeed is this bread:
"33: For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. 34: Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. 35: And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. "
But many did not believe him and found it repugnant to think of themselves as cannibals. John 6: 52:
"The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"
But Jesus reinterated that it was true with these words in John 6:53:58:
53:"Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. 54: Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. 55: For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56: He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. 57: As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. 58: This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever."
But many did not believe Jesus and as the scripture says in John 6:66:
66:"From that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him."
Do we walk away from this teaching of Jesus, or do we hold fast and believe that this Jesus in holy communion is the source of unity as scripture tells us. Jesus turned to the twelve and said in John 6:67: "will ye also go away?"
Peter answered in John 6:68: "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life."
Which way will you follow...the way of the disciples who turned their backs on Jesus or the way of Peter who believed even though he did not understand."
For more information, see http://1bread.catholic.org
and http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/a.html
