John 6:58 (WEB)
This is the bread which came down out of heaven—not as our fathers ate the manna and died. He who eats this bread will live forever.”
Catechism · 2
The Anointing of the Sick
“This presence is particularly active through the sacraments, and in an altogether special way through the Eucharist, the bread that gives eternal life and that St. Paul suggests is connected with bodily health.” — Catechism footnote: Cf. Jn 6:54, 58; 1 Cor 11:30.
The Seven Petitions
“For this reason the specifically Christian sense of this fourth petition concerns the Bread of Life: the Word of God accepted in faith, the Body of Christ received in the Eucharist.” — Catechism footnote: Cf. Jn 6:26-58.
Fathers and councils · 25
Ambrose of Milan
“There are not a few who raise this further objection, that it is written: “As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth Me, liveth also by Me.”” — editor's note: S. John vi. 58.
Read the whole comment
Augustine of Hippo
“After this address, too, his narrative is again borne on to one subject after another, in a sublime strain.” — editor's note: John vi. 22–72.
Read the whole comment“John, on the other hand, has said nothing about the body and blood of the Lord in this context; but he plainly certifies that the Lord spake to that effect on another occasion, with much greater fulness than here.” — editor's note: John vi. 32–64.
Read the whole comment“For see how those took scandal as from the sun, those carnal ones to whom Christ preached of His flesh, saying, “He that eateth not the flesh of the Son of Man and drinketh His blood, shall have no life in him.”” — editor's note: John vi. 54–69.
Read the whole comment“After He had said, “Except a man eat my flesh, and drink my blood, he shall not have life in him,” lest they should understand it carnally, He said, “It is the Spirit that quickeneth, but the flesh profiteth nothing: the words which I have spoken unto you are spirit and life.”” — editor's note: John vi. 54–59.
Read the whole comment
John Chrysostom
“He calleth Himself, ( ver. 48 ,) “the bread of life,” because He maintaineth our life both which is and which is to be, and saith, “Whosoever shall eat of this bread shall live for ever.”” — editor's note: Ver. 58 , ὃ ς ἂν φάγῃ, [ὁ τρώγων, G. T.].
Read the whole comment“Ver.” — the author cites it
Read the whole comment
Cyprian of Carthage
“If any man eat of my bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread which I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world.”” — editor's note: John vi. 58.
Read the whole comment
Tertullian
“Now, just before (the passage in hand), He had declared His flesh to be “the bread which cometh down from heaven,” impressing on (His hearers) constantly under the figure of necessary food the memory of their forefathers, who had preferred the bread and flesh of Egypt to their divine calling.” — editor's note: John vi. 31, 49, 58.
Read the whole comment
Catena Aurea on John
- BedeCatena Aurea on John
He had said above, Whoso eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life: and now to shew the great difference between bodily meat and drink, and the spiritual mystery of His body and blood, He adds, For My…
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on John
i. e. this is no enigma, or parable, but ye must really eat the body of Christ; or He means to say that the true meat was He who saved the soul.
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on John
Or thus: Whereas men desire meat and drink to satisfy hunger and thirst, this effect is only really produced by that meat and drink, which makes the receivers of it immortal and incorruptible; i. e. the society of…
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on John
Or, having given a promise of eternal life to those that eat Him, He says this to confirm it: He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in him.
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on John
As for those, as indeed there are many, who either eat that flesh and drink that blood hypocritically, or, who having eaten, become apostates, do they dwell in Christ, and Christ in them? Nay, but there is a certain…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on John
That is to say, such an one eateth the body and drinketh the blood of Christ not in the sacramental sense, but in reality.
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on John
And because I live, it is manifest that he will live also: As the living Father hath sent Me, and I lice by the Father, even so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me. (Aug. de Verb. Dom. [Nic.]). As if He said,…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on John
He saith not, As I eat the Father, and live by the Father, so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me. For the Son does not grow better by partaking of the Father, as we do by partaking of the Son, i. e. of His…
Read the whole comment - Hilary of PoitiersCatena Aurea on John
Of the truth then of the body and blood of Christ, no room for doubting remains: for, by the declaration of our Lord Himself, and by the teaching of our own faith, the flesh is really flesh, and the blood really…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on John
That we who cannot obtain eternal life of ourselves, might live by the eating that bread, He descended from heaven: This is the bread which cometh down from heaven.
Read the whole comment - Hilary of PoitiersCatena Aurea on John
He calls Himself the bread, because He is the origin of His own body. And lest it should be thought that the virtue and nature of the Word had given way to the flesh, He calls the bread His flesh, that, inasmuch as…
Read the whole comment - Theophylact of OhridCatena Aurea on John
For we do not eat God simply, God being impalpable and incorporeal; nor again, the flesh of man simply, which would not profit us. But God having taken flesh into union with Himself, that flesh is quickening. Not…
Read the whole comment - BedeCatena Aurea on John
And to shew the wide interval between the shadow and the light, the type and the reality, He adds, Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on John
The death here meant is death eternal. For even those who eat Christ are subject to natural death; but they live for ever, because Christ is everlasting life.
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on John
For if it was possible without harvest or fruit of the earth, or any such thing, to preserve the lives of the Israelites of old for forty years, much more will He be able to do this with that spiritual food, of which…
Read the whole comment - BedeCatena Aurea on John
Mystically, Capernaum, which means beautiful town, stands for the world: the synagogue, for the Jewish people. The meaning is, that our Lord hath, by the mystery of the incarnation, manifested Himself to the world,…
Read the whole comment
Cross-references · 12
Cited together in Catechism §1509.
Cited together in John Chrysostom on John 6:55–59 (4) (Catena Aurea).
Cited together in John Chrysostom on John 6:55–59 (4) (Catena Aurea).
Cited together in John Chrysostom on John 6:55–59 (4) (Catena Aurea).
Cited together in John Chrysostom on John 6:55–59 (4) (Catena Aurea).
Cited together in John Chrysostom on John 6:55–59 (4) (Catena Aurea).
Cited together in Catechism §1509.
Cited together in On the Resurrection of the Flesh Chapter 37.
Cited together in On the Resurrection of the Flesh Chapter 37.
Cited together in On the Resurrection of the Flesh Chapter 37.
Cited together in On the Resurrection of the Flesh Chapter 37.
Cited together in On the Resurrection of the Flesh Chapter 37.