Do you have “tunnel vision?” It's a way of seeing life, people, family, love in the most narrow of terms. Many of the people who were initially attracted to Jesus had thus narrow vision of His mission. There came a point when their narrow minded understanding caused them to leave Jesus, for his teaching was just too hard to “stomach.”
Jesús tells the people clearly that He is the bread come down from heaven and unless they eat his body, his flesh, they will have no life. And Jesus doesn’t stop there, for he also says that they must drink his blood!!! Many were repulsed by their tunnel vision, understanding in the most literal way the teaching of Christ. They actually believed Jesus was asking that they be cannibals!!!!
Tunnel vision....
This narrow minded vision is just as strong today as people view everything from the past in the most narrow of terms if any unjust attitudes surface. People’s reputations can be ruined by the need to “purify” the culture, ridding it of any taint of sin or injustice. We must learn from the past, not destroy it.
People viewing others through political lenses can suffer from tunnel vision, reducing a human being to a label. Jesus was able to see humanity with the widest lense imaginable, the lens of compassion. His words and teachings speak to the depth of hearts that allow the Spirit to interpret the true meaning of what he was trying to say.
Understood by the Spirit, we “feed” on the Body of the Risen Lord, the living Lord of Life, not a corpse. The presence of Christ in the Eucharist is a physical presence of His Risen Body, so deeply does Christ love us. He becomes “food” for our spirits and bodies... how much more intimate can God be for us, that we consume Him in the meal of Eucharist, slowly becoming what we consume???? Expand your vision!!
Peace,
Fr. Frank