Letters From Timothy

This reading is one of passages in the Gospels that the Catholic Church invokes to explain the sacrament of Eucharist. In it, like the scene at the Last Supper, Jesus offers up his flesh and blood for his disciples and followers to “eat” and “drink,” offering immortal life. The demand seems to echo ancient sacrificial religions and cannibalism, and it even sounds a bit horrific-indeed, the Broadway musical “Lestat” about a vampire played off of this quote, and had a tagline that read “Eat of me and live forever.” But if anything, this reading serves to emphasize that rarely do Jesus-or the Bible-speak literally. (more…)