A Choice To Stay or To Go

The more serious the choice, the more far-reaching are its consequences. For example, the simple choice of whether or not to go out to eat has rather limited consequences: for budget, for diet, for companionship. The more serious choice, for example, of being faithful to our responsibilities in life has far-reaching consequences: for ensuring the well-being of others, for modeling honesty and justice, for maintaining wholesome relationships. The most serious choice we make in life is to believe in the risen Christ as our Bread of Life and to bear this out by the way we live.

Jesus confronts his hearers with a most serious choice: to stay with him or leave, to believe in him or not.The consequences of this choice are as far-reaching as possible: encountering the “Holy One of God,” being given “Spirit and life,” receiving “eternal life.” Every time we choose to eat the Body and drink the Blood of the risen Christ, we witness to our choice to stay with Jesus and believe in him. We can make this choice because,in the Eucharist, Jesus has chosen to stay with us, believe in us, and give himself to us.

We must show others that we have chosen to stay with Jesus and believe in him beyond our participation in the Eucharistic celebration and receiving him in Holy Communion. We do this, for example, by looking on the face of others we encounter each day as the face of Christ, by confronting others with the consequences of their choices, by giving ourselves to others in need as Jesus gives himself to us. The way we live is already a choice to stay or go, believe or not.