Signs, to be effective, must be clear and understandable. To make this point, just think of a time you were at the DMV and couldn’t figure out the correct line to stand in all day…or maybe traveling in a foreign airport where you didn’t speak the language and the signs were “as clear as mud.” That feeling of not-knowing is unsettling to say the least.

Today’s gospel is another example of the importance of understanding signs—signs which are intended to lead us to something, perhaps “the big picture.” We again here this weekend from John’s gospel, chapter 6, known as the Bread of Life discourse.

"I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst." (John 6) In this short phrase in the midst of the Bread of Life discourse, we hear the basic theme of John’s reflection: that Jesus came to reveal a divine connection to God. Father Raymond Brown, a powerful Scripture scholar, tells us that the Mass challenges us to understand signs, both external signs and central signs—which we see in the Mass. The external signs are things like the priest’s vestments or candles or incense. These signs lead us deeper into the mystery of God by making them “other worldly,” or out of the normal everyday experience. Central signs within the context of the Mass are things such as wine and bread—and the words of Consecration. These Central signs are items that tell the “big picture” and bring to reality; understanding that the wine and bread, by praying the exact words of Christ, bring about a transformation of the material things into something beyond our understanding—wine become Precious Blood, bread becomes the Body of Christ. Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity—Salvation.

For many Catholics these external signs—as well as the Central signs—may become
misunderstood or taken for granted or they seemingly become “overused” and so they hold less and less mystery as we, in our human nature, make them “just another thing to do—a tradition, like putting up the Christmas tree—and so after a while they (seem to) lose their power.

But as we read and listen to this Bread of Life discourse in John’s Gospel once again, let us open our ears and our hearts and listen to what John is telling us: The Body and Blood of Christ is a true sign—a sign that illustrates that God sent Jesus the Christ. His Son, into the world to be among us and to bring us a real connection to and encounter with God Himself. We are called to be more open and to see more deeply the Eucharistic meal as an encounter with God. As we approach the altar of the Lamb, do we realize what we are consuming—Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ our Savior who is one and the same—God.

Faith in Jesus Christ should lead us to focus on each Eucharistic meal—the Mass—as the real and true presence of Christ. We are then One with the Father in-and-through the power of Christ. May our prayer this and every Sunday be one that gives us the grace to recognize mere bread and wine as Christ our Lord and God our Father, a real encounter with the God who loves you, created you, and now desires only to save you, for all eternity. Bread and wine—meaning so much more