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DO NOT BE FOOLISH! EAT THE BREAD AND LIVE! BY REV FR VICTOR IBIYEMI

AUGUST 19, TWENTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME- PROVERBS 9:1-6, PSALM 34, PHESIANS 5:15-20, JOHN 6:56, JOHN 6:51-58.

 In an age where stupidity has taken over rationality, where foolishness has taken over wisdom, where lies have taken over truth, where confused-complexity has taken over simplicity, where fake has taken over real, where mere-religiosity has taken over spirituality, where death has taken over life, where deception and dishonesty have become hallmarks of contemporary success stories. The First Reading invites us to Wisdom’s Gentle Appeal. Wisdom herself invites us to her feast to Eat and Live. Wisdom invites us to forsake foolishness so that we may have life. 

The psalmist continues from last Sunday in the persistent appeal to Taste and See the goodness of the Lord. The appeal to become wise is continued in the Second Reading. St. Paul admonishes us to abandon the foolish lifestyle by which many have lost opportunities to become great. St. Paul exhorts us to 

1) Understand the Will of God, 2) Avoid drunkenness, 3) To be filled with the spirit 4) Always conscious to be in the presence of God by speaking, singing and praying all the time. In the Gospel, our Lord Jesus Christs responds to the foolishness of the Jews by teaching them the Sound Theology of the Eucharist. He declares that powerful truth without mincing words. “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life within you.” The Eucharist is not ordinary bread and wine. With the words of Consecration, through Transubstantiation, the bread and wine on the altar becomes the True Body and Blood of Jesus Christ (In all his fullness- Soul and Divinity). The eating of Jesus’ flesh and blood creates a bond that will never be broken not even by physical death. He is life and anyone who eats him will be alive forever.


Dear brothers and sisters, today’s message is an appeal to those who are not receiving the Eucharist for any reason whatsoever. The Lord says to you today: Do not be foolish! Eat and Live! What is debarring you from Living? Is it your lifestyle? Your marriage? Your work? Your attitude? Your understanding of the Eucharist? What exactly? The Lord says to all of us today: Do not be foolish! Eat and Live. May God give us the grace to bring down all the walls debarring us from participating in the Eucharist and whenever we eat, may we Live through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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