Today we continue to follow Jesus’ teaching on what we celebrate today as the Eucharist. Jesus previously said in chapter 6 of John’s Gospel to his followers, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.” Bishop Robert Barron writes that today, we have the final outcome of the story. We hear that “many of Jesus’ disciples who were listening said, ‘This saying is hard; who can accept it?’” Notice that we are talking about Jesus’ followers. And yet they find this teaching impossible to take. If Jesus’ words were meant in a symbolic sense, they wouldn’t have had this shocking effect. If what he meant was simply, This bread is a symbol of my body, why would there be such a strong reaction? The Jewish Scriptures deal in poetic metaphor all the time. The point is that they had understood him in this context only too well. Given every opportunity to explain himself better, Jesus does nothing of the kind. Instead, he upbraids them for their lack of faith. This is why the Catholic tradition has insisted, against all attempts to soften these words of Jesus, that he should be taken straightforwardly. Jesus then asks his disciples a troubling question: “Do you also want to leave?” Father Patrick van der Vorst writes that this question comes after many of his followers had abandoned him. Today’s reading serves as a reminder that we all have a choice to make every day. Jesus doesn’t want us to stay with him against our will. However, if we do decide to stay, like the Twelve, he has plenty of work for us to do. Jesus didn’t force them into doing anything; he simply asked, and they responded. Christ will indeed take us to incredible places if we remain with him. He doesn’t force us to lead catechism classes, become eucharistic ministers, arrange flowers for the church, attend a seminary, or pray with our families. It is all our free choice. As summer slowly draws to a close, maybe today is a good day to think of what we want to say “yes” to when work and schools start again in September. If we continue to say yes to what he proposes to us, we embark on an exciting and adventurous path towards the greatness he has in store for each of us. Our faith is indeed a rich, wonderful adventure, one to which we are asked to say yes to every day, and not walk away.