During Conclave Church will Focus on Real Presence

The conclave will officially begin after a special Mass held for the cardinal electors on Wednesday of this week. During the conclave, cardinals participate in daily morning and evening prayers and concelebrate Mass. Their readings may be different than the readings set for the third week of Easter.

The regular readings are about 'The Bread of Life Discourse' which focuses on the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, the primacy of Christ and the importance of Peter.

This discourse highlights the doctrinal importance of three identities:

1. The identity of the Eucharist: It is the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus. Jesus makes it clear that he is going to give his body and blood as real food and drink for eternal life.  Like many in our own times, when people heard the teaching on the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist they went away sad because they could not, in faith, accept it.  “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”  Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day” -Jn 6: 48-54.

2. The identity of Jesus: He alone is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Outside of Jesus, no other means of salvation are possible. He is calling us to reject indifferentism which holds that other or even all religions are a means of salvation. When most of the people assembled found the teaching of the Real Presence to be too weird, they left complaining that “the saying is hard; who can accept it?” -Jn 6:60. They failed to trust in Jesus as the Holy One of God. Then Jesus asks the apostles if they too were falling for the heresy of indifferentism and apostasy. “Jesus then said to the Twelve, ‘Do you also want to leave?’”-Jn 6:67. 

3. The identity of Peter: Peter is the first pope. In Matthew chapter 16, Simon was given the keys of the kingdom with authority ‘to bind and to loose’. His name was changed to ‘rock’ or  ‘Peter’. As the first to occupy the office of the papacy, it is Peter who speaks for the others. He bases his faith and the faith of the whole church on the credibility of the words that Jesus speaks which he calls, ‘the words of eternal life’. He rejects all other voices and spiritual leaders as being insufficient. Peter said, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God” -Jn 6:60-69.

Since this discourse is quite long, it is broken up over several days.

On Wednesday, the first day of the conclave, the gospel is from John 6:35-40...

Jesus said to the crowds,"I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst. But I told you that although you have seen me, you do not believe. Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day."

On Thursday, the second day of the conclave, the gospel is from John 6:44-51...

"Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my Flesh for the life of the world."

On Friday, the third day of the conclave, the gospel is from John 6:52-59...

"The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his Flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my Flesh is true food, and my Blood is true drink. Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.” These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.”

On Saturday, the fourth day of the conclave, the gospel is from Jn 6: 60-69...

"Many of the disciples of Jesus who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, “Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him. And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me  unless it is granted him by my Father.” As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer walked with him. Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?” Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe
and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”