You’ve heard the old saying, “You are what you eat.” Well, there’s a new field of study called Nutrigenomics, a branch of nutritional genomics that studies the effects of foods on gene expression. It turns out that the saying is quite literally true. What we eat does have an effect on our genes.
Therefore, it’s pretty important that we not eat anything unclean. Is this possibly the reason for all those boring pages in the old testament, telling the Jews what they could and could not eat? A pig’s DNA, I’m told is very similar to human DNA. Does that explain the law?
In Isaiah the prophet is told to eat a scroll and then prophesy. Eating the Word made the prophet’s mind in line with God’s mind and he was able to express the will of God to the people. In Revelation, the same thing happened to John.
So is it any wonder that the Eucharist, the body and blood of Christ, is “the source and summit of our faith”?
Jesus said, “Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you.” Maybe when we partake of the Eucharist, our DNA or our genetic makeup is changed to resemble His.
I know that in most cases, the Eucharist, when examined scientifically is still bread and wine. When looked at under a microscope, there’s no scientific proof of the transformation into the body and blood of Jesus. However, Eucharistic miracles do occur. One of them lead to the solemnity of Corpus Christi.
If eating a scroll made Isaiah like unto God, how much more so will eating the body of Christ draw us closer to His image?
RL Martin 