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<b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-weight:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal">Friends,
 we come today to <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>the end of the extraordinary sixth chapter of John’s 
Gospel. Before this, Jesus told his listeners, "Unless you gnaw on the 
flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you." 
</b></span>Well, today, we have the denouement of the story.</span><br><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal"> </span><br><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal"><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>We hear that "many of Jesus’ disciples who were listening said, <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal">‘</span>This saying is hard; who can accept it?<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal">’</span></b></span>" Notice that we are talking about<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b> Jesus’ followers. </b></span>And yet they <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>find</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>this teaching </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>impossible to take. </b></span></span><br><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal"> </span><br><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal">If his words were meant in a symbolic sense, they wouldn’t have had this shocking effect. If what he meant was simply,</span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:italic"> This bread is a symbol of my body</span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal">, why would there be such a strong reaction? I mean, the Jewish Scriptures deal in poetic metaphor all the time. The
point is that they had understood him in this context only too well.</span><br><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal"> </span><br><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal">Given
 every opportunity to explain himself better,<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b> Jesus </b></span>does nothing of the 
kind. Instead, he <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>upbraids</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>them </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>for their lack of </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>faith</b></span>. <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>This is why the
 Catholic tradition has insisted, against </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>all attempts to soften</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>these 
words </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>of Jesus, that he should be taken straightforwardly. </b></span></span></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b>

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