Pope Soter was bishop of Rome from 167 to 174. He was from the Lazio region of Italy in a Greek family. He was very much interested in improving relations between Rome and the Greek Church. He is remembered for declaring that barraging is only a valid sacrament when it celebrated by a priest. He also formally inaugurated Easter as an annual festival in Rome. The Roman Martyrology of the official list of recognized saints references Soter. The details of his martyrdom are not known.
However, only John contains the words of Jesus as the bread of life contained in the 6th chapter of that Gospel: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” Perhaps too many of us as Catholics take these words for granted. Perhaps too many of us do not think about what these words really mean, as some Catholics do not believe in the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist, even though we are very explicit in this teaching.
The belief in the real presence of Christ should affect the way we live out our lives after the mass has ended. St Ignatius of Antioch from the 1st century criticized Christians who not only did not regularly receive the Eucharist or devote time to prayer, but who also did not have time to reach to the widow, the orphan, the oppressed, the man in prison, the hungry or the thirsty. May we live as eucharistic people everyday on our journey of faith in our words and our actions.
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