Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 116
Lectionary: 116
Elijah went a day’s
journey into the desert,
until he came to a broom tree and sat beneath it.
He prayed for death saying:
“This is enough, O LORD!
Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”
He lay down and fell asleep under the broom tree,
but then an angel touched him and ordered him to get up and eat.
Elijah looked and there at his head was a hearth cake
and a jug of water.
After he ate and drank, he lay down again,
but the angel of the LORD came back a second time,
touched him, and ordered,
“Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!”
He got up, ate, and drank;
then strengthened by that food,
he walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb.
until he came to a broom tree and sat beneath it.
He prayed for death saying:
“This is enough, O LORD!
Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”
He lay down and fell asleep under the broom tree,
but then an angel touched him and ordered him to get up and eat.
Elijah looked and there at his head was a hearth cake
and a jug of water.
After he ate and drank, he lay down again,
but the angel of the LORD came back a second time,
touched him, and ordered,
“Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!”
He got up, ate, and drank;
then strengthened by that food,
he walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb.
R. (9a) Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall be ever in my mouth.
Let my soul glory in the LORD;
the lowly will hear me and be glad.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Glorify the LORD with me,
Let us together extol his name.
I sought the LORD, and he answered me
And delivered me from all my fears.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Look to him that you may be radiant with joy.
And your faces may not blush with shame.
When the afflicted man called out, the LORD heard,
And from all his distress he saved him.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
The angel of the LORD encamps
around those who fear him and delivers them.
Taste and see how good the LORD is;
blessed the man who takes refuge in him.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall be ever in my mouth.
Let my soul glory in the LORD;
the lowly will hear me and be glad.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Glorify the LORD with me,
Let us together extol his name.
I sought the LORD, and he answered me
And delivered me from all my fears.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Look to him that you may be radiant with joy.
And your faces may not blush with shame.
When the afflicted man called out, the LORD heard,
And from all his distress he saved him.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
The angel of the LORD encamps
around those who fear him and delivers them.
Taste and see how good the LORD is;
blessed the man who takes refuge in him.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Brothers and
sisters:
Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,
with which you were sealed for the day of redemption.
All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling
must be removed from you, along with all malice.
And be kind to one another, compassionate,
forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.
So be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love,
as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us
as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma.
Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,
with which you were sealed for the day of redemption.
All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling
must be removed from you, along with all malice.
And be kind to one another, compassionate,
forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.
So be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love,
as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us
as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven, says the Lord;
whoever eats this bread will live forever.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven, says the Lord;
whoever eats this bread will live forever.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Jews murmured
about Jesus because he said,
“I am the bread that came down from heaven, ”
and they said,
“Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph?
Do we not know his father and mother?
Then how can he say,
‘I have come down from heaven’?”
Jesus answered and said to them,
“Stop murmuring among yourselves.
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him,
and I will raise him on the last day.
It is written in the prophets:
They shall all be taught by God.
Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me.
Not that anyone has seen the Father
except the one who is from God;
he has seen the Father.
Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever believes has eternal life.
I am the bread of life.
Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died;
this is the bread that comes down from heaven
so that one may eat it and not die.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
whoever eats this bread will live forever;
and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”
“I am the bread that came down from heaven, ”
and they said,
“Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph?
Do we not know his father and mother?
Then how can he say,
‘I have come down from heaven’?”
Jesus answered and said to them,
“Stop murmuring among yourselves.
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him,
and I will raise him on the last day.
It is written in the prophets:
They shall all be taught by God.
Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me.
Not that anyone has seen the Father
except the one who is from God;
he has seen the Father.
Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever believes has eternal life.
I am the bread of life.
Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died;
this is the bread that comes down from heaven
so that one may eat it and not die.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
whoever eats this bread will live forever;
and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”
Scripture Study, Aug.
9, 2015
August 9, 2015
Nineteenth Sunday In Ordinary Time
This weekend we celebrate the Nineteenth
Sunday in Ordinary Time. For five Sundays (17th to 21st Sundays of Ordinary
Time) in a row during the summer of year B, we read from Chapter 6 of John’s
Gospel including the “Bread of Life Discourse”. This week we read the third
installment and the Gospel requires me to ask myself, “Am I murmuring in my
heart or do I fully accept the revelation of God that Jesus brings?” The first
reading gives us an example of God’s care for His servants in the form of food
for the journey which an angel brings to a very discouraged Elijah. The angel
provides food and water for Elijah’s journey to Mt. Horeb. In the second
reading, Paul reminds the Ephesians of the unity among Christians that should
be seen in their lifestyle and their interactions with each other. I must ask
myself how is the unity of the Body of Christ expressed in my life and in my
attitudes towards others.
First Reading: 1 Kings 19:4-8
4 [Elijah] went a day’s journey into the desert, until he
came to a broom tree and sat beneath it. He prayed for death: “This is enough,
O LORD! Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” 5 He lay down and fell asleep under the broom tree, but then
an angel touched him and ordered him to get up and eat. 6 He looked and there at his head was a hearth cake and a
jug of water. After he ate and drank, he lay down again, 7 but the angel of the LORD came back a second time, touched
him, and ordered, “Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for
you!” 8 He got up, ate and drank; then
strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights to the
mountain of God, Horeb.
NOTES on First Reading:
* 4-8 Here Elijah is partly on a pilgrimage
and partly in flight from Queen Jezebel and King Ahab who seek revenge against
him for the deaths of the prophets of Baal. Elijah is on his way to Horeb
(Sinai according to other threads of the Exodus tradition), the site of the
theophanies which Moses experienced (Ex 3:1-4:31). He goes back to the place
where God began the covenant relationship with the law giver in order to lay
his complaint before God. In response God gives him a revelation and a
commission. Elijah sees himself as continuing the work of Moses. Moses and
Elijah share the experience of theophanies on Mt. Horeb (Sinai) and the
theophany on Mt. Tabor at the transfiguration of Jesus (Matt. 17:1-9; Mark
9:2-10; Luke 9:28-36).
The angel here is a tangible expression of the care that God has for His servants as they carry on their task of bringing the message of God to all who will listen.
The angel here is a tangible expression of the care that God has for His servants as they carry on their task of bringing the message of God to all who will listen.
* 4:8 In the scriptures, the number forty
appears often. Usually it occurs as a symbolic number which means as many as
were needed or as long as was required. Seldom does it mean the actual number
forty.
Second Reading: Ephesians 4:30-5:2
30 And do not grieve the holy Spirit of God, with which you
were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 All bitterness,
fury, anger, shouting, and reviling must be removed from you, along with all
malice. 32 (And) be kind to one another,
compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.
1 So be imitators of God, as beloved children, 2 and live in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself
over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma.
NOTES on Second Reading:
* 4:30 The community-centered nature of the
exhortations suggests that any offense against a fellow member is an offense
against the Holy Spirit, because all Christians together form a living temple
in which the Spirit dwells. See Eph 2:21-22. The One Holy Spirit unites the One
Body of Christ (4:4; 1 Co 12:13) and is grieved (Eph 4:30; Isa 63:10) by
anything that harms the unity of that body. The sealing with the Holy Spirit
makes salvation a present reality. See Eph 1:13.
* 4:31 Paul incorporated elements of a
traditional list of vices in the parenesis. Such lists are common in
Hellenistic moral tracts as well as elsewhere in the New Testament such as Rom
1:29-31, Gal 5:19-21.
The vices listed here are those that are disruptive of communal life and injure the unity of the body.
The vices listed here are those that are disruptive of communal life and injure the unity of the body.
* 4:32 The thought expressed here is
reminiscent of the petition in the Lord’s Prayer that God forgives those who
forgive others, but the imperative and the conditions are reversed.
* 5:1 See 1 Cor 11:1, 1 Thes 1:6 There is a
manner of life that characterizes membership in God’s household (Eph 2:19). One
of the characteristics defining Christians as members of God’s household is
love of neighbor modeled on the love that the Son of God manifested in His
sacrificial death (Eph 5:2).
Gospel Reading: John 6:41-51
41 The Jews murmured about him because he said, “I am the
bread that came down from heaven,” 42 and they said,
“Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother?
Then how can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43 Jesus answered and said to them, “Stop murmuring among
yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father
who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets:
‘They shall all be taught by God.’
Everyone who listens to my Father and learns
from him comes to me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father
except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal
life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they
died; 50 this is the bread that comes down from
heaven so that one may eat it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever
eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh
for the life of the world.”
NOTES on Gospel:
* 6:41 The crowd murmurs like the Israelites
in the desert whose complaints provoked the Mosaic gift of water and manna
(Exodus 15:24, Exodus 16:2,7,12). It was an example of unbelief just as in this
case (Isa 10:12, Psalm 106:24-25).
* 6:42 The rejection of Jesus because His
“origins” are “known” is a traditional episode in the Synoptic tradition ( Luke
4:22, Mark 6:3). John uses that objection as the basis for saying that because
of it Jesus cannot be “from heaven”. This is the same type of objection often
lodged against the Johannine Christians as presented in John 7:27-28
* The traditions of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem
are irrelevant here even if they were known by John since the point is that
Jesus has come from Heaven.
* 43-47 Jesus command to stop murmuring is
followed by a series of sayings which encapsulate the Johannine theology of
belief.
* Verses 44-45 reiterate the statement that
only those “drawn by God” believe in Jesus.
Verse 44c like v 40c contains an editorial
expansion that makes Jesus the agent of “resurrection on the last day.”
* 6:45 John may have conflated Isa 54:13, Jer
31:34 to demonstrate that God is responsible for the faith of those who believe
in Jesus
* 6:46 There is no knowledge of God apart from
Jesus (1:18, 3:33, 5:37). One cannot be taught by God apart from hearing and
believing the word of Jesus.
* 6:47 The series ends with another
affirmation that the believer has eternal life.
48-49 The reference to Israelites eating manna
in the wilderness completes exposition of the Scripture citation in verse 31.
* 6:50 The life that comes through eating the
bread of heaven is contrasted with the death of the wilderness generation. This
sequence repeats the pattern of verses 32-33:
negative statement in reference to the Exodus tradition, “not Moses…”, “your fathers died”;
followed by a definition, “bread of God is…”, “bread which comes from heaven is…”
negative statement in reference to the Exodus tradition, “not Moses…”, “your fathers died”;
followed by a definition, “bread of God is…”, “bread which comes from heaven is…”
* 6:51a This completes the passage by picking
up the sequence in v 35:
I Am saying;
Condition: “anyone comes…”; “anyone eats…”;
salvation: “not hunger…”, “live forever”.
Verse 51a makes it clear that what is implied by not hungering and not thirsting is eternal life.
I Am saying;
Condition: “anyone comes…”; “anyone eats…”;
salvation: “not hunger…”, “live forever”.
Verse 51a makes it clear that what is implied by not hungering and not thirsting is eternal life.
* From v51b on the discourse takes on a more
deliberately Eucharistic tone rather than referring simply to Jesus as the
revealer of the Father as it does up to 51b.
* The suggestion (Bultmann) that verses 51b-59
were added during the final editing of the Gospel of John does not need to
imply that they represent a “correction” to the Gospel to make it acceptable to
the emerging sacramental theology of the developing orthodoxy. The language, “I
will raise him up on the last day”, which appears to reflect later editing
appears again in v 54.
Verses 57b and 58b speak of having life in the future tense but 54a and 56b use the language of realized eschatology. Verse 56 uses the language of remaining that appears in the farewell discourses (15:4-5; 17:21,23)
It has been suggested that this material may have originated in a Johannine last supper tradition that was recast to fit into the preceding discourse.
Verses 57b and 58b speak of having life in the future tense but 54a and 56b use the language of realized eschatology. Verse 56 uses the language of remaining that appears in the farewell discourses (15:4-5; 17:21,23)
It has been suggested that this material may have originated in a Johannine last supper tradition that was recast to fit into the preceding discourse.
Meditation: "If anyone eats of this bread, he will live for
ever"
God offers his people abundant life, but we can miss it. What is
the bread of life which Jesus offers? It is first of all the
life of God himself - life which sustains us not only now in this age but also
in the age to come. The Rabbis said that the generation in the
wilderness have no part in the life to come. In the Book of Numbers it
is recorded that the people who refused to brave the dangers of the promised
land were condemned to wander in the wilderness until they died. The Rabbis
believed that the father who missed the promised land also missed the life to
come. God sustained the Israelites in the wilderness with manna from heaven.
This bread foreshadowed the true heavenly bread which Jesus would offer his
followers.
Jesus makes a claim only God can make: He is the true
bread of heaven that can satisfy the deepest hunger we experience. The
manna from heaven prefigured the superabundance of the unique bread of the
Eucharist or Lord's Supper which Jesus gave to his disciples on the eve of his
sacrifice. The manna in the wilderness sustained the Israelites on their
journey to the Promised Land. It could not produce eternal life for the
Israelites. The bread which Jesus offers his disciples sustains us not only on
our journey to the heavenly paradise, it gives us the abundant supernatural
life of God which sustains us for all eternity.
When we receive from the Lord's table we unite ourselves to
Jesus Christ, who makes us sharers in his body and blood and partakers of his
divine life. Ignatius of Antioch (35-107 A.D.) calls it the "one
bread that provides the medicine of immortality, the antidote for death, and
the food that makes us live for ever in Jesus Christ" (Ad Eph.
20,2). This supernatural food is healing for both body and soul and
strength for our journey heavenward.
Jesus offers us the abundant supernatural life of heaven itself
- but we can miss it or even refuse it. To refuse Jesus is to refuse eternal
life, unending life with the Heavenly Father. To accept Jesus as the bread
of heaven is not only life and spiritual nourishment for this world
but glory in the world to come. When you approach the Table of the Lord, what
do you expect to receive? Healing, pardon, comfort, and rest for your soul? The
Lord has much more for us, more than we can ask or imagine. The principal fruit
of receiving the Eucharist or Lord's Supper is an intimate union with Christ.
As bodily nourishment restores lost strength, so the Eucharist strengthens us
in charity and enables us to break with disordered attachments to creatures and
to be more firmly rooted in the love of Christ. Do you hunger for the
"bread of life"?
"Lord Jesus, you are the living bread which
sustains me in this life. May I always hunger for the bread which comes
from heaven and find in it the nourishment and strength I need to love
and serve you wholeheartedly. May I always live in the joy, peace, and unity of
the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, both now and in the age to come."
NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
SUNDAY, AUGUST 9, JOHN 6:41-51
(1 Kings 19:4-8; Psalm 34; Psalm 34; Ephesians 4:30 ̶ 5:2)
SUNDAY, AUGUST 9, JOHN 6:41-51
(1 Kings 19:4-8; Psalm 34; Psalm 34; Ephesians 4:30 ̶ 5:2)
KEY VERSE: "The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world" (v 51).
TO KNOW: The people claimed to know Jesus' human origin, but they did not understand his divine origin. Because Jesus declared: "I am the bread that came down from heaven" (John 6:41), they murmured against him. In a similar way, their ancestors grumbled against Moses when they were hungry on their exodus journey, and he fed them with "bread from heaven" ( Ex 16:2-8). The bread in the wilderness was only a foretaste of the true bread, Jesus, who came from God, his Heavenly Father. The Israelites had eaten the manna in the desert, but they all died. Jesus was the life-giving bread who eternally sustained those who believed in him. All who responded to God's grace and believed in Jesus had the fullness of divine revelation. By partaking of this "living bread" (v 51), God's people would be nourished by Jesus who would sustain them on life's journey for eternity.
TO LOVE: When have I experienced the life-giving power of the Sacrament of the Eucharist?
TO SERVE: Lord Jesus, your body and blood gives me strength on my journey through life.
Sunday 9 August 2015
SUN 9TH.
19th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
1 Kings
19:4-8. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord—Ps
33(34):2-9. Ephesians 4:30 – 5:2.
John 6:41-51 [St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross]
In
today’s first reading we hear of God’s gracious goodness to the weary,
dispirited Elijah.
Strengthened,
he was able to continue his journey.
The
responsorial psalm fittingly invites us to enjoy the good things we have
received and be happy in the Father’s constant
protection.
In the
second reading, Paul also calls us to be conscious of God’s goodness and his
understanding of our humanness. To love and to be loved is the basic wish of
every human heart. Paul gives us some practical ways to bring love consciously
into our own lives and those of others. Just as Elijah was nourished with
strengthening food for his journey and Paul gives his ideas for making real our
Christian living, the gospel recalls the words of Jesus telling us of the
wonder of his Father’s miraculous food. This is the sharing of the very body of
Jesus, the living bread given for the life of the world.
Eternal
Father, let me vividly recall your enduring goodness; move me to active love
when Jesus comes to me in the Eucharist and let my whole life reveal to others
that they too are in your mind and heart.
MINUTE MEDITATIONS
|
Living the Gospels
|
It’s not just the matter of reading the Scriptures and getting
beautiful thoughts. It’s also reading the Scriptures and being in touch with
the Spirit in ourselves and in the words and having them change our lives. And
no matter how bad we are, how far we have strayed from our true calling in
Christ, they can change us. No matter how good we are, they can make us better.
August
9
St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)
(1891-1942)
St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)
(1891-1942)
A brilliant philosopher who stopped believing in God when she was
14, Edith Stein was so captivated by reading the autobiography of Teresa of
Avila (October 15) that she began a spiritual journey that led to her Baptism
in 1922. Twelve years later she imitated Teresa by becoming a Carmelite, taking
the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.
Born into
a prominent Jewish family in Breslau (now Wroclaw, Poland), Edith abandoned
Judaism in her teens. As a student at the University of Göttingen, she became
fascinated by phenomenology, an approach to philosophy. Excelling as a protégé
of Edmund Husserl, one of the leading phenomenologists, Edith earned a
doctorate in philosophy in 1916. She continued as a university teacher until
1922 when she moved to a Dominican school in Speyer; her appointment as
lecturer at the Educational Institute of Munich ended under pressure from the
Nazis.
After
living in the Cologne Carmel (1934-38), she moved to the Carmelite monastery in
Echt, Netherlands. The Nazis occupied that country in 1940. In retaliation for
being denounced by the Dutch bishops, the Nazis arrested all Dutch Jews who had
become Christians. Teresa Benedicta and her sister Rosa, also a Catholic, died
in a gas chamber in Auschwitz on August 9, 1942.
Saint John
Paul II beatified Teresa Benedicta in 1987 and canonized her 12 years later.
Comment:
The writings of Edith Stein fill 17 volumes, many of which have been translated into English. A woman of integrity, she followed the truth wherever it led her. After becoming a Catholic, Edith continued to honor her mother’s Jewish faith. Sister Josephine Koeppel, O.C.D. , translator of several of Edith’s books, sums up this saint with the phrase, “Learn to live at God’s hands.”
The writings of Edith Stein fill 17 volumes, many of which have been translated into English. A woman of integrity, she followed the truth wherever it led her. After becoming a Catholic, Edith continued to honor her mother’s Jewish faith. Sister Josephine Koeppel, O.C.D. , translator of several of Edith’s books, sums up this saint with the phrase, “Learn to live at God’s hands.”
Quote:
In his homily at the canonization Mass, Pope John Paul II said: “Because she was Jewish, Edith Stein was taken with her sister Rosa and many other Catholics and Jews from the Netherlands to the concentration camp in Auschwitz, where she died with them in the gas chambers. Today we remember them all with deep respect. A few days before her deportation, the woman religious had dismissed the question about a possible rescue: ‘Do not do it! Why should I be spared? Is it not right that I should gain no advantage from my Baptism? If I cannot share the lot of my brothers and sisters, my life, in a certain sense, is destroyed.’”
In his homily at the canonization Mass, Pope John Paul II said: “Because she was Jewish, Edith Stein was taken with her sister Rosa and many other Catholics and Jews from the Netherlands to the concentration camp in Auschwitz, where she died with them in the gas chambers. Today we remember them all with deep respect. A few days before her deportation, the woman religious had dismissed the question about a possible rescue: ‘Do not do it! Why should I be spared? Is it not right that I should gain no advantage from my Baptism? If I cannot share the lot of my brothers and sisters, my life, in a certain sense, is destroyed.’”
Addressing himself to
the young people gathered for the canonization, the pope said: “Your life is not
an endless series of open doors! Listen to your heart! Do not stay on the
surface but go to the heart of things! And when the time is right, have the
courage to decide! The Lord is waiting for you to put your freedom in his good
hands.”
LECTIO: 19TH
SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME (B)
Lectio:
Sunday, August 9, 2015
The bread of life
John 6: 41-51
John 6: 41-51
Opening prayer
Shaddai, God of the mountain,
You who make of our fragile life
the rock of your dwelling place,
lead our mind
to strike the rock of the desert,
so that water may gush to quench our thirst.
May the poverty of our feelings
cover us as with a mantle in the darkness of the night
and may it open our heart to hear the echo of silence
until the dawn,
wrapping us with the light of the new morning,
may bring us,
with the spent embers of the fire of the shepherds of the Absolute
who have kept vigil for us close to the divine Master,
the flavour of the holy memory.
Shaddai, God of the mountain,
You who make of our fragile life
the rock of your dwelling place,
lead our mind
to strike the rock of the desert,
so that water may gush to quench our thirst.
May the poverty of our feelings
cover us as with a mantle in the darkness of the night
and may it open our heart to hear the echo of silence
until the dawn,
wrapping us with the light of the new morning,
may bring us,
with the spent embers of the fire of the shepherds of the Absolute
who have kept vigil for us close to the divine Master,
the flavour of the holy memory.
1. Lectio
a) The text:
41 The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven." 42 They said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?" 43 Jesus answered them, "Do not murmur among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Every one who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. 46 Not that any one has seen the Father except him who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh."
41 The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven." 42 They said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?" 43 Jesus answered them, "Do not murmur among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Every one who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. 46 Not that any one has seen the Father except him who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh."
b) A key to the reading:
The sixth chapter of John's Gospel presents a entire picture that develops around the Paschal theme and, analogously with what precedes it, unfolds through the telling of a miracle (5:1-9a 6:1-15) followed by a discourse (5:16-47; 6:22-59). The chapter relates that part of Jesus' activity in Galilee, precisely at its most sublime moment, when Jesus reveals himself as bread of life to be believed in and eaten in order to be saved. In vv. 1-15 we find the great sign of the multiplication of the loaves whose significance is revealed in the discourse of the following day in vv. 26-59: the gift of bread to satisfy the hunger of the people prepares the way for the words concerning the bread of eternal life. Inserted, vv. 16-21, we find the story of Jesus walking on the water. In vv. 60-71 Jesus, knowing their lack of faith (vv. 60-66) and trying to encourage their faith (vv. 66-71), invites the twelve disciples to make up their minds. The whole discourse on the bread of life (6: 25-71) presents parallels with some Hebrew texts, especially with Philon.
The sixth chapter of John's Gospel presents a entire picture that develops around the Paschal theme and, analogously with what precedes it, unfolds through the telling of a miracle (5:1-9a 6:1-15) followed by a discourse (5:16-47; 6:22-59). The chapter relates that part of Jesus' activity in Galilee, precisely at its most sublime moment, when Jesus reveals himself as bread of life to be believed in and eaten in order to be saved. In vv. 1-15 we find the great sign of the multiplication of the loaves whose significance is revealed in the discourse of the following day in vv. 26-59: the gift of bread to satisfy the hunger of the people prepares the way for the words concerning the bread of eternal life. Inserted, vv. 16-21, we find the story of Jesus walking on the water. In vv. 60-71 Jesus, knowing their lack of faith (vv. 60-66) and trying to encourage their faith (vv. 66-71), invites the twelve disciples to make up their minds. The whole discourse on the bread of life (6: 25-71) presents parallels with some Hebrew texts, especially with Philon.
c) A moment of silence:
Let the sound of the Word echo in us.
Let the sound of the Word echo in us.
2. Meditatio
a) A few questions:
- They murmured at him: how many are the voices that murmur against God?
- I am the bread which has come down from heaven: where do we acquire the bread that we eat every day?
- No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him: does the Father draw us or do we drag our feet behind him criticising that which he says to us in our daily life?
- If anyone eats of this bread, he will live for ever: we nourish ourselves with the Word of God and the broken Bread once a week or even every day… why is it that eternal life is not evident in our words and our human experience?
b) A key to the reading:
To murmur. What better way is there for us not to live in depth that which the Lord asks of us? There are thousands of plausible reasons… thousands of valid justifications… thousands of licit motives… for us not to swallow a Word that defies every reason, every justification, every motivation to allow new echoes to resonate from a not so distant heaven that dwells in our hearts
- They murmured at him: how many are the voices that murmur against God?
- I am the bread which has come down from heaven: where do we acquire the bread that we eat every day?
- No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him: does the Father draw us or do we drag our feet behind him criticising that which he says to us in our daily life?
- If anyone eats of this bread, he will live for ever: we nourish ourselves with the Word of God and the broken Bread once a week or even every day… why is it that eternal life is not evident in our words and our human experience?
b) A key to the reading:
To murmur. What better way is there for us not to live in depth that which the Lord asks of us? There are thousands of plausible reasons… thousands of valid justifications… thousands of licit motives… for us not to swallow a Word that defies every reason, every justification, every motivation to allow new echoes to resonate from a not so distant heaven that dwells in our hearts
v. 41. The Jews murmured at him because he had said: "I am
the bread which came down from heaven". Jesus had just said:I am the bread of
life (v. 35) and I have come down from heaven(v. 38) and
this provokes dissent among the crowd. The term Jews is a theological one in
John and may be thought of as synonymous with unbelievers. In truth these were
Galileans who were called Jews because they murmured at Christ whose words
disturbed their usual categories. The Jews were familiar with the term bread
come down from heaven. The children of Israel knew the bread of God, the manna,
which had satisfied their hunger in the desert and had given security to a
precarious journey whose horizons were uncertain. Christ, manna for humankind
who in the desert of an unsatisfied hunger invokes heaven to sustain it on its
journey. This is the only bread that satisfies hunger. The words of the Jews
are an objection to the person of Jesus and also an occasion to introduce the
theme of unbelief. In other passages the people "whisper" about Jesus
(7:12, 32), but in this chapter they "murmur" about what he says,
about his words. This murmuring puts an emphasis on their unbelief and
incomprehension.
v. 42. "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph whose father
and mother we know? How does he now say: I have come down from heaven?". This is subtle irony. The unbelievers
know the earthly origins of the Christ, they know for certain the son of
Joseph, but not the son of God. Only those who believe know his transcendental
origin by the direct intervention of God in the Virgin. The passage goes from
material language, bread made from water and flour, to a spiritual language,
bread for the human soul. As once the people in the desert did, the Jews
murmur: they do not understand the origin of Jesus' gift: and as once their
forbears refused the manna because it was too light, so now the descendants
refuse the Word made flesh, bread come down from heaven, because of its earthly
origin. The Jews, from all that Jesus said, only take note that he had
said: I have come down from heaven (v. 38). Yet this is that
which gives substance to all that was said before about being the bread
of life (v. 35). The question:Is not this… is asked in a
context of surprise in the Synoptic Gospels. In Matthew and Luke, through the
story of Jesus' childhood, the reader has already been told of the virginal
conception of Jesus. In John, the Galileans are confronted with someone who
claims to have come down from heaven without any previous discussion as to his
human condition. Son of Josephmeans that Jesus is a man like all
other men (cfr. 1,45).
v. 43-44. Jesus answered them: "Do not murmur among
yourselves. No one can come to me, unless the Father who sent me draws him; and
I will raise him up at the last day".Jesus does not seem to dwell on his divine
origin but stresses that only those drawn by the Father can come to him. Faith
then is a gift of God and depends on a person's openness and ability to listen…
but what does it mean to say the Father draws? Is not a person
free on this journey? The attraction is simply the desire written in the
tablets of flesh borne in the heart of every person. Thus complete freedom
exists in a spontaneous clinging to the source of one's being. Life can only
attract life, only death cannot attract.
v. 45. It is written in the prophets: "And they shall all
be taught by God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to
me". The rest of the
narrative follows a very precise order. These words are not an invitation, but
a command. The creative Word of God, who called into existence from nothing
light and all other creatures, now calls his own likeness to participate in the
new creation. The consequence does not flow from an autonomous and personal
decision, but from meeting with the person of Jesus and his call. It is a grace
event, not a human choice. Jesus does not wait for a free decision, but calls
with divine authority as God called the prophets in the Old Testament. It is
not the disciples who choose the Master as was the case with rabbis at the
time, but the Master who chooses the disciples as beneficiaries of God's
inheritance, which is much greater than any doctrine or teaching. The call
implies the giving up of family, profession, a complete change of one's way of
life in order to cling to a way of life that leaves no space for
self-centredness. The disciples are people of the kingdom. The call to become
disciples of Jesus is an "eschatological call". The words of the
Babylonian prophet of the exile says: "and all her children
(Jerusalem's) shall be" - referring to the Jews. The use
of: "all shall be" is an expression of the
universality of salvation whose fulfilment is Jesus.
v. 46. Not that any one has seen the Father, except him who
comes from God, he has seen the Father. Only Jesus, who is from God, has seen the
Father and can reveal him definitively. People are called to come from God.
Knowledge of the Father is not a conquest, it is an origin. The movement is not
external. If I look for an external origin I can say that I have a father and
mother, a creature of the created world. If I look for a deeper origin of my
essential being I can say that I come from the Father, Creator of all life.
v. 47. Truly, truly, I say to you: He who believes has eternal
life. To believe in
the words of Jesus, in his revelation, is a condition for obtaining eternal
life and to be able to be "taught by the Father". I believe, I lean
on a rock. The strength is not within my creature limitations, nor in the
realisation of my creature efforts to attain perfection. All is firm in Him who
has no temporal attachments. How can a creature lean on itself when it is not
master of one single instant of its life?
v. 48. I am the bread of life. Again the theme of the bread of life is
presented together with that of faith and of eternal life. Jesus is the true
bread of life. This verse is connected with verse 51 "I am the
living bread". Only he who eats this bread, he who assimilates
Jesus' revelation as vital bread, will be able to live.
vv. 49-50. Your Fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they
died: this is the bread which comes down from heaven that a man may eat of it
and not die. The
bread come down from heaven is contrasted with the manna that fed their fathers
but not preserved them from death. This bread that gives life without end and
comes from on high is the incarnate Word of God. The Eucharistic theme, already
implied in some expressions, now becomes central. Earthly death does not
contradict this experience of life if one walks along transcendental ways. The
limitation is no limitation for those who eat of Him.
vv. 51. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If
any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever and the bread which I shall
give for the life of the world is my flesh.". The "flesh" of Jesus is the
vital food for the believer. The word flesh (sàrx), which in the Bible
indicates the fragile reality of the human person before the mystery of God,
now refers to the body of Christ immolated on the cross and to the human
reality of the Word of God. It is no longer a metaphorical bread of
life, it is the revelation of Jesus because the bread is the very
flesh of the Son. For the life of the world means in
favour of and emphasises the sacrificial dimension of Christ because
for the world expresses the salvation which flows from that dimension.
c) Reflection:
Murmur. If our murmuring were like a soft breeze, it would act as a harmonious basis for the eternal words that become our flesh: I am the living Bread that has come down from heaven. What a surprise that would be, knowing that this eternal Bread is not a stranger, but Jesus, the son of Joseph, a man whose father and mother we know. We eat and we are assumed, because those who eat of this bread will live for ever. This is a bread that is born of the love of the Father. We are invited to listen and learn from Him on the trajectory of attraction, on that peak of faith that allows us to see. Bread with bread, Flesh with flesh. Only He who comes from God has seen the Father. And when we have made of our flesh the table of the living Bread, then we shall have seen the Father. Desert and death, heaven and life. A sweet marriage fulfilled in every Eucharist… on every altar, on the altar of the heart where the life of the divine Breath consumes the disfigured lineaments of a lost person.
3. Oratio
Murmur. If our murmuring were like a soft breeze, it would act as a harmonious basis for the eternal words that become our flesh: I am the living Bread that has come down from heaven. What a surprise that would be, knowing that this eternal Bread is not a stranger, but Jesus, the son of Joseph, a man whose father and mother we know. We eat and we are assumed, because those who eat of this bread will live for ever. This is a bread that is born of the love of the Father. We are invited to listen and learn from Him on the trajectory of attraction, on that peak of faith that allows us to see. Bread with bread, Flesh with flesh. Only He who comes from God has seen the Father. And when we have made of our flesh the table of the living Bread, then we shall have seen the Father. Desert and death, heaven and life. A sweet marriage fulfilled in every Eucharist… on every altar, on the altar of the heart where the life of the divine Breath consumes the disfigured lineaments of a lost person.
3. Oratio
Psalm 33 (32)
By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
and all their host by the breath of his mouth.
He gathered the waters of the sea as in a bottle;
he put the deeps in storehouses.
and all their host by the breath of his mouth.
He gathered the waters of the sea as in a bottle;
he put the deeps in storehouses.
The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nought;
he frustrates the plans of the peoples.
The counsel of the Lord stands for ever,
the thoughts of his heart to all generations.
he frustrates the plans of the peoples.
The counsel of the Lord stands for ever,
the thoughts of his heart to all generations.
Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him,
on those who hope in his steadfast love,
that he may deliver their soul from death,
and keep them alive in famine.
on those who hope in his steadfast love,
that he may deliver their soul from death,
and keep them alive in famine.
4. Contemplatio
The experience of the food that satisfies the hunger of the
heart reminds me, Lord, that I can pass from imperfection to the fulfilment of
being a reflection of yourself, not by doing away with the hunger, but by
finding in it no longer a homo dormiens, someone who does not ask questions of
himself, who lives without any interest, who does not wish to see or feel, who
will not allow himself to be touched, who lives in fear, superficially rather
than in depth, and who keeps a horizontal position when confronted by events,
sleeping or ignoring whatever he meets… but rather a homo vigilans, he who is
always present to himself and others, capable of satisfying himself by his work
and service, who responsibly does not stop at that which is immediate, but who
knows how to pace himself for the long and patient waiting, who expresses the
all that dwells in each fragment of his life, who no longer fears feeling
vulnerable, because he knows that the wounds of his humanity can be transformed
into scars through which Life joins in the passing of time, a Life that is
finally able to realise his End and that sings to Love with his "scarred
heart" wrapped in a "flame that consumes but does not hurt" and
in order to meet him definitively is prepared to "tear the veil".
Hunger is no longer hunger, because it now becomes the sweet burden of
limitation, protected by "the delicious wound" and always open to the
"sweet encounter" that will satisfy every desire: "The Beloved
is the mountain, the solitary valleys full of shade…He is like the calm night,
very close to dawn, a silent music, a resounding silence… Who will heal this my
scarred heart?… He is the consuming flame that does not hurt! O my Beloved,
tear the veil at the moment of our sweet encounter."
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