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Commentary on the Gospel for Thursday, October 17, 2024
Wheat of Christ
It seems that the teeth of wild animals have little to do with a peaceful mill. And both, it would seem, have little to do with the Eucharist. And yet, in the imaginations of the first persecuted Christians, the two were intimately connected. A quote later in the life of St. Ignatius is attributed to St. Augustine: «See what you are. Become what you receive,» but already in the life of the early Christians there was this sense and conviction of entering through the Eucharist into Christ’s own life and becoming one with him, in one body. The crushing of «one’s own flour» or, as today’s Gospel says, of the grain of wheat that falls to the ground and dies, was indispensable for union with Christ. That is why Ignatius says: «I am Christ’s wheat and I will be crushed by the teeth of wild beasts. This was a cause for joy, because it meant entering into the life of God. «Where I am, there will my servant be…»
This sounds very beautiful, but it turns out to be a somewhat impossible ideal. It presupposes the heroism of the martyrs, and we are not there. But we have to go a little further. We all have, to a greater or lesser extent, a «crusher» close to us; it may be the person who annoys us; or a deep concern for a child or relative; or an impertinent neighbor; or an overbearing boss; or even an untimely cold! All of these things cannot be described as beasts or as grinding mills, but they represent concrete ways in which one can become the body of Christ by allowing one’s own wheat to be ground. Often, as we await the heroic occasion, the fangs of wild beasts, the grandeur of bloody martyrdom, we can forget the little irritations and mills of daily life. What mill grinds us into flour? How can this help us to enter into the Eucharistic reality of being the Body of Christ?
On the other hand, there is the warning. If the grain of wheat does not die, it remains only a grain of wheat. And that completely denies the destiny of a much greater identity: to be the Body of Christ.