THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HOLY EUCHARIST AND MANNA
Friday, April 28, 2023
PETER CHANEL, P. M., (Opt. Mem)
LOUIS MARY DE MONTFORT, P. (Opt Mem.)
Psalm. 117: 1-2 (R. Mark 16:15)
Gospel. John 6: 52-59
TOPIC FOR REFLECTION
HOLY EUCHARIST AND MANNA: ANY DIFFERENCE?
Jesus re-emphasized that it is only those who eat His flesh and drink His blood that will live forever.
The Jewish people were only used to the old story of how their forefathers were fed with manna from Heaven, and Jesus now telling them that the manna which their forefathers ate can not give life and that is more reason they all died. However, whoever eats His flesh and drinks His blood will live forever.
My dear, just imagine you were alive when Jesus was telling them this, what will be your mixed feelings too?
Now two things came up from what Jesus said.
a. They ate manna, and they die.
b. Whoever eats His flesh and drinks His blood, will not die, but lives forever.
Hmmm.....
Can we now imagine some of their main confusion that every other person would want to ask questions for clarification?
Now, let us read their conversation again.
JEWS: “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
JESUS: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.”
Now, hearing these hard teachings, some of the Jews might have some of these thoughts in their mind, which may call for their reactions.
1. If Jesus says those who ate the manna died, but of His body and blood, whoever eats and drinks will not die. It's strange, does it mean one will live in this world forever?
2. How can He claim that His flesh and blood are for consumption? Does He want to turn us into cannibalism?
3. Manna is from Heaven, and Jesus is from Heaven too, then why is manna less effective than the Holy Eucharist?
Well, my dear friend, let us not waste time. The fact is that there is a great difference between the manna from Heaven and the Holy Eucharist which also come from Heaven.
1. God fed the people of Israel manna from Heaven when they were in the wilderness because they were hungry and had nothing to eat. The manna is termed miraculous because the food came from Heaven and it was not cooked nor harvested from the farm which was beyond imagination. Hence, it was not a spiritual food for the soul. Cf. Ex. 16: 31-35.
Nehemiah 9:15 says: You provided bread from heaven for them for their hunger,
You brought forth water from a rock for them for their thirst, (Significant of the Body and Blood of Christ the solid Rock)
2. The Holy Eucharist is Jesus himself. He is not to fill anyone who received Him because of hunger, but rather to dwell and live inside the person who received it. So, because Jesus lives forever, and as He dwells inside the person who receives Him, such a person too will live forever.
3. Another difference is that the Manna is the food of the flesh, which gives physical strength, while the Holy Eucharist is the food of the soul which gives spiritual strength.
4. Anybody can hold the manna and eats it as he or she likes, while the Holy Eucharist is only for practicing Catholics who are in the state of Grace. Still, the Catholics can not even hold it anyhow.
5. The Manna from Heaven needs no special person like a priest to make it available, but the Holy Eucharist needs a priest to consecrate it into the body and blood of Jesus which will be under the appearance of bread and wine.
In summary, let us be informed that the Manna from Heaven is a prefigure of the Holy Eucharist which was to come, and has already come.
Peace ✌️ be with you.
Rev. Fr. Segun Oladeji, CRS.
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