African Christians find it hard to understand the justifications that have been offered for some of the major controversies and divisions that have harmed the unity of the one church of Lord Jesus Christ. Here are some of such justifications. The separation between the Greek and the Latin churches occurred because of disagreement over whether the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father through the Son (the Greek position) or from the Father and the Son (the Latin position). The Protestant Reformation was anchored on the conviction that one is justified by faith alone as opposed to the Catholic position that one is justified by faith expressed in good works. Many Christian confessions are still divided because of disagreement over the manner in which Jesus is present in the Eucharistic bread. Some think he is physically present, others think he is spiritually present, and yet others that he is only symbolically present. All agree on the fact that the Eucharistic bread is the body of Christ but they disagree on the manner in which this mystery occurs. In today’s gospel Jesus focuses on the fact that the bread of the Eucharistic is indeed himself but does not say a word on the process whereby this identity between the bread and himself takes place. Why then would Christians, who all believe in the presence of Jesus in the Eucharistic, distance themselves from one another because of disagreement on how this happens? One would have thought that what unites them, their common belief that the bread of the Eucharist is the body of Christ, should be more important than what separates them, their different ways of explaining the manner in which this takes place. In John’s gospel passage Jesus speaks of the food that he gives for the life of the world in many different terms. Firstly, he speaks of it in terms of BREAD AND WINE, although he uses the word “drink” not “wine.” But he speaks of it in terms of ordinary and normal food and drink. “Whoever eats of this bread will live forever,” (verse 51b) “for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink” (verse 55). Secondly, he speaks of it as being his FLESH AND BLOOD. “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life (verses 53-54). “Flesh and blood” is a phrase that means the whole person. Some scholars think that by speaking separately of his flesh (“meat,” not “body” as in the other gospels) and his blood, Jesus is referring to himself as the lamb of sacrifice with its blood separated from its flesh. And thirdly, he speaks of the life-giving food as HIMSELF. “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. ... whoever eats me will live because of me” (verses 51,57). Here he identifies the bread from heaven not just with his body which is only a part of his total person but with himself in its totality. With this understanding that Jesus equates the Eucharistic bread with his total person, we can see that, strictly speaking, it is an understatement to say that the Eucharistic bread is the body of Christ. It is more than the body of Christ. It is the whole of Christ. Using a traditional expression, it is “the body and blood, soul and divinity” of our Lord Jesus Christ. Similarly, speaking of the presence of Christ in the Eucharist could be seen as an understatement. Jesus Christ is not merely present in the Blessed Sacrament, as if one could break the consecrated host and find Christ hidden inside it, rather the Blessed Sacrament is Jesus Christ himself. It is not so much a question of presence as that of identity. That is why it baffles African Christians to learn that Christians down the centuries have fought and killed one another over the question of Jesus’ presence in the Blessed Sacrament when Jesus himself did not tell us that he is present in the Sacrament but that he is the bread of the Eucharist. As we receive communion today, let us be conscious that we are receiving Jesus Christ himself and let us open our hearts to receive the new life that he brings to us. For he promised that “Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me” (verse 57).