Come to the banquet of Wisdom
Twentieth Sunday - Year B
Proverbs 9:1-6: Ephesians 5:15-20; John 6:51-58
Wisdom and folly, both call the simple and those devoid of sense (Prov. 9:1-18). Wisdom promises a long life (Proverbs 9:11), but folly leads to the depths of Sheol (Proverbs 9:18). Which invitation should we accept? Which banquet should we join?
One can get drunk with wine, but one can also be filled with the Holy Spirit. Paradoxically, those who get drunk try to satisfy their spiritual thirst. The Latin word "spiritus" can refer either to alcohol or to spirit. The difference, however, is huge. Getting drunk on wine ends with a hangover, filling oneself with the Holy Spirit through common prayer, praise, and thanksgiving (Eph. 5:19-20) leads to sanctity.
You can believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist or you can doubt it and argue about it. Melchizedek - the King of Salem and a priest of God Most High - had welcome Abraham with bread and wine, and then blessed him (Gen. 14:18). Wisdom prepared bread and wine and invites us to participate in her feast (Prov. 9:5). Finally, our Lord, during the Last Supper, took bread and wine and said: take it, this is my body, drink it, this is my blood (Mark 14:22-24; John 6:54). All of them offer us bread and wine, indicating that we should "Taste and see the goodness of the Lord" (Ps. 34:9).
Wisdom invites us to follow the way of understanding (Prov. 9:6). Saint Paul calls us to understand what the will of the Lord is (Eph. 5:17), and Jesus declares that whoever eats “the bread that came down from heaven. . . will live forever "(John 6:58). The way of understanding builds one’s own life on Jesus’ teaching by putting His words into practice (Matt 7:24). The Lord wills our salvation (1 Tim. 2: 4) and our sanctification (1 Thess. 4: 3). What about the Eucharist? “The destruction of death, which Christ accomplished by his death, and the restoration of life, which he accomplished by his resurrection, are effects of this sacrament“ (Saint Thomas Aquinas).
In the well-known account of creation, God made Adam from the dust of the earth and “blew into his nostrils the breath of life” (Gen. 2:7). However, the Hebrew word “life” used there is a plural noun. The same applies to the tree of life which God planted in the middle of the garden: “the tree of life” (Gen. 2:9). What kind of two lives did God give us? We possess biological life and also spiritual life. As there is food that satisfies our biological life, so there is also food that satisfies our spiritual life. Unfortunately, we seem to forget this timeless truth.
"Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you" (John 6:53). A wise person is the one who can discern that we humans possess not only biological life but also spiritual life and both need to be taken care of. Just as daily food provides nourishment for our body, so the Eucharist nourishes our soul. Moreover, the Eucharist ‘connects’ us with the Spiritual Source of our existence, God Himself: "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him, says the Lord" (John 6:56). Let us come then to the banquet of Wisdom remembering the words we hear in the Mass: “blessed are those invited to the banquet of the Lamb” (Rev. 19:9).