Friday of the Third Week of Easter
Lectionary: 277
Lectionary: 277
Saul, still breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord,
went to the high priest and asked him
for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, that,
if he should find any men or women who belonged to the Way,
he might bring them back to Jerusalem in chains.
On his journey, as he was nearing Damascus,
a light from the sky suddenly flashed around him.
He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him,
"Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?"
He said, "Who are you, sir?"
The reply came, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
Now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do."
The men who were traveling with him stood speechless,
for they heard the voice but could see no one.
Saul got up from the ground,
but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing;
so they led him by the hand and brought him to Damascus.
For three days he was unable to see, and he neither ate nor drank.
There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias,
and the Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias."
He answered, "Here I am, Lord."
The Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called Straight
and ask at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul.
He is there praying,
and in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias
come in and lay his hands on him,
that he may regain his sight."
But Ananias replied,
"Lord, I have heard from many sources about this man,
what evil things he has done to your holy ones in Jerusalem.
And here he has authority from the chief priests
to imprison all who call upon your name."
But the Lord said to him,
"Go, for this man is a chosen instrument of mine
to carry my name before Gentiles, kings, and children of Israel,
and I will show him what he will have to suffer for my name."
So Ananias went and entered the house;
laying his hands on him, he said,
"Saul, my brother, the Lord has sent me,
Jesus who appeared to you on the way by which you came,
that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit."
Immediately things like scales fell from his eyes
and he regained his sight.
He got up and was baptized,
and when he had eaten, he recovered his strength.
He stayed some days with the disciples in Damascus,
and he began at once to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues,
that he is the Son of God.
went to the high priest and asked him
for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, that,
if he should find any men or women who belonged to the Way,
he might bring them back to Jerusalem in chains.
On his journey, as he was nearing Damascus,
a light from the sky suddenly flashed around him.
He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him,
"Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?"
He said, "Who are you, sir?"
The reply came, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
Now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do."
The men who were traveling with him stood speechless,
for they heard the voice but could see no one.
Saul got up from the ground,
but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing;
so they led him by the hand and brought him to Damascus.
For three days he was unable to see, and he neither ate nor drank.
There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias,
and the Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias."
He answered, "Here I am, Lord."
The Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called Straight
and ask at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul.
He is there praying,
and in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias
come in and lay his hands on him,
that he may regain his sight."
But Ananias replied,
"Lord, I have heard from many sources about this man,
what evil things he has done to your holy ones in Jerusalem.
And here he has authority from the chief priests
to imprison all who call upon your name."
But the Lord said to him,
"Go, for this man is a chosen instrument of mine
to carry my name before Gentiles, kings, and children of Israel,
and I will show him what he will have to suffer for my name."
So Ananias went and entered the house;
laying his hands on him, he said,
"Saul, my brother, the Lord has sent me,
Jesus who appeared to you on the way by which you came,
that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit."
Immediately things like scales fell from his eyes
and he regained his sight.
He got up and was baptized,
and when he had eaten, he recovered his strength.
He stayed some days with the disciples in Damascus,
and he began at once to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues,
that he is the Son of God.
Responsorial
PsalmPS 117:1BC, 2
R. (Mark 16:15) Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Praise the LORD, all you nations;
glorify him, all you peoples!
R. Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.
or:
R. Alleluia.
For steadfast is his kindness toward us,
and the fidelity of the LORD endures forever.
R. Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.
or:
R. Alleluia.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Praise the LORD, all you nations;
glorify him, all you peoples!
R. Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.
or:
R. Alleluia.
For steadfast is his kindness toward us,
and the fidelity of the LORD endures forever.
R. Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.
or:
R. Alleluia.
AlleluiaJN 6:56
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood,
remains in me and I in him, says the Lord.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood,
remains in me and I in him, says the Lord.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GospelJN 6:52-59
The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying,
“How can this man give us his Flesh to eat?”
Jesus said to them,
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood,
you do not have life within you.
Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood
has eternal life,
and I will raise him on the last day.
For my Flesh is true food,
and my Blood is true drink.
Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood
remains in me and I in him.
Just as the living Father sent me
and I have life because of the Father,
so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.
This is the bread that came down from heaven.
Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died,
whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
“How can this man give us his Flesh to eat?”
Jesus said to them,
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood,
you do not have life within you.
Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood
has eternal life,
and I will raise him on the last day.
For my Flesh is true food,
and my Blood is true drink.
Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood
remains in me and I in him.
Just as the living Father sent me
and I have life because of the Father,
so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.
This is the bread that came down from heaven.
Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died,
whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
For the readings of the Optional Memorial of Saint Damien de Veuster,
please go here.
Meditation:
"He who eats this bread will live forever"
Why
did Jesus offer himself as "food and drink"? The Jews were
scandalized and the disciples were divided when Jesus said "unless
you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you." What
a hard saying, unless you understand who Jesus is and why he calls himself
the bread of life. The miracle of the multiplication of the loaves
(John 6:3-13), when Jesus said the blessing, broke and distributed the loaves
through his disciples to feed the multitude, is a sign that prefigured the
superabundance of the unique bread of the Eucharist, or Lord's Supper. The
Gospel of John has no account of the Last Supper meal (just the foot washing
ceremony and Jesus' farewell discourse). Instead, John quotes extensively from
Jesus' teaching on the bread of life.
In
the Old Covenant bread and wine were offered in a thanksgiving sacrifice as a
sign of grateful acknowledgment to the Creator as the giver and sustainer of
life. Melchizedek, who was both a priest and king (Genesis 14:18; Hebrews
7:1-4), offered a sacrifice of bread and wine. His offering prefigured the
offering made by Jesus, our high priest and king (Hebrews 7:26; 9:11; 10:12). The
remembrance of the manna in the wilderness recalled to the people of Israel
that they live - not by earthly bread alone - but by the bread of the Word of
God (Deuteronomy 8:3).
Jesus
made himself a perfect offering and sacrifice to God on our behalf
At the last supper when Jesus blessed the cup of wine, he gave it to his disciples saying, "Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" (Matthew 26:28). Jesus was pointing to the sacrifice he was about to make on the cross, when he would shed his blood for us - thus pouring himself out and giving himself to us - as an atoning sacrifice for our sins and the sins of the world. His death on the cross fulfilled the sacrifice of the paschal (passover) lamb whose blood spared the Israelites from death in Egypt.
At the last supper when Jesus blessed the cup of wine, he gave it to his disciples saying, "Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" (Matthew 26:28). Jesus was pointing to the sacrifice he was about to make on the cross, when he would shed his blood for us - thus pouring himself out and giving himself to us - as an atoning sacrifice for our sins and the sins of the world. His death on the cross fulfilled the sacrifice of the paschal (passover) lamb whose blood spared the Israelites from death in Egypt.
Paul
the Apostle tells us that "Christ, our paschal lamb, has been
sacrificed" (1 Corinthians 5:7). Paul echoes the words of John the Baptist
who called Jesus the "Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the
world" (John 1:29). Jesus made himself an offering
and sacrifice, a gift that was truly pleasing to the Father. He "offered
himself without blemish to God" (Hebrews 9:14) and "gave
himself as a sacrifice to God" (Ephesians 5:2).
The
Lord Jesus sustains us with the life-giving bread of heaven
Jesus chose the time of the Jewish Feast of Passover to fulfill what he had announced at Capernaum - giving his disciples his body and his blood as the true bread of heaven. Jesus' passing over to his Father by his death and resurrection - the new passover - is anticipated in the Last Supper and celebrated in the Eucharist or Lord's Supper, which fulfills the Jewish Passover and anticipates the final Passover of the church in the glory of God's kingdom. When the Lord Jesus commands his disciples to eat his flesh and drink his blood, he invites us to take his life into the very center of our being. That life which he offers is the very life of God himself. Do you hunger for the bread of life?
Jesus chose the time of the Jewish Feast of Passover to fulfill what he had announced at Capernaum - giving his disciples his body and his blood as the true bread of heaven. Jesus' passing over to his Father by his death and resurrection - the new passover - is anticipated in the Last Supper and celebrated in the Eucharist or Lord's Supper, which fulfills the Jewish Passover and anticipates the final Passover of the church in the glory of God's kingdom. When the Lord Jesus commands his disciples to eat his flesh and drink his blood, he invites us to take his life into the very center of our being. That life which he offers is the very life of God himself. Do you hunger for the bread of life?
"Lord
Jesus, you nourish and sustain us with your very own presence and life-giving
word. You are the bread of life - the heavenly food that sustains us now and
that produces everlasting life within us. May I always hunger for you and be
satisfied in you alone."
Daily
Quote from the early church fathers: Abiding in Christ, by Augustine of
Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"
Jesus recommended to us His Body and Blood in bread and wine, elements that are
reduced into one out of many constituents. What is meant by eating that food
and taking that drink is this: to remain in Christ and have Him remaining in
us." (excerpt from Sermon on John 26,112)
FRIDAY, MAY 10, JOHN 6:52-59
Easter Weekday
(Acts 9:1-20; Psalm 117)
Easter Weekday
(Acts 9:1-20; Psalm 117)
KEY VERSE: "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day" (v.54).
TO KNOW: In the sixth chapter of John's Gospel, there are two important elements in Jesus' pronouncement that he was the "bread of life" (v.35). In John 6:35-50, the "bread of life" is a figure of God's revelation in Jesus: the "word made flesh" (Jn 1:14). Beginning in John 6:51, the vocabulary changes radically. The significant words are “flesh,” “blood,” “eat, ” “drink.” the sacramental theme comes to the fore. Jesus plainly says that his flesh is "true food" and his blood is "true drink" (v.55). The Greek word phago, means “to eat, devour, consume.” That word is used in John 6:49-53, and 58. The word trogo means “to gnaw, to chew,” and it stresses the slow process. It is used nowhere else in the New Testament, except in John 6:54, and 56-58. He speaks of the reality of Jesus' flesh and blood in his Eucharistic presence. Through Word and Sacrament, Jesus continues to feed us spiritually, transforming and uniting us to him so that we can worthily enter God's eternal reign.
TO LOVE: Am I aware of Christ's true presence when I participate in the Eucharist?
TO SERVE: Risen Lord, feed me at your table of eternal life.
Optional Memorial of Saint Damien Joseph de Veuster of Moloka'i,
priest
The "Leper Priest of Moloka'i," named Joseph at birth, received the name Damien in religious life when he joined the Sacred Hearts Fathers in 1860. In 1864, he was sent to Honolulu, Hawaii where he worked in missions. In 1873, he went to the leper colony on Moloka'i, after volunteering for the assignment. Damien cared for lepers of all ages, but was particularly concerned about the children segregated in the colony. Although he contracted leprosy in 1885 he continued to build hospitals, clinics, and churches, and some six hundred coffins. He died on April 15, on Moloka'i. Robert Louis Stevenson defended Damien against a slanderous attack in 1905. Damien was canonized on October 11, 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI. It was during Damien’s years at Moloka'i that a Norwegian doctor, Gerhard Hansen, first identified the bacillus of leprosy. Today, Hansen’s disease, as leprosy is now called, can be slowed and sometimes totally halted, but it still remains a serious illness. The World Health Organization estimates that there are currently 10-12 million cases of Hansen’s disease worldwide.
Friday 10 May 2019
DAY OF PENANCE.
Acts 9:1-20. Psalm 116(117). John 6:52-59.
Go out to all the world, and tell the Good News – Psalm 116(117).
‘And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes.’
For those of us who have grown into faith gradually and over
time, Saul’s story of conversion is very powerful. It is such a profound
turn-around. God moves in a very decisive way. Saul responds just as
decisively, following the instructions he was given without hesitation or
question.
Are we listening for God’s voice? If we heard God’s voice what
would our response be? We can take heart in the fact that what happened to Saul
was so extraordinary that it would appear there was no way he could even
question it was God.
The extraordinary can happen in the midst of the very ordinary
moments of life. When we pray – give me eyes to see, ears to hear and a heart
to respond – let us hope we’re ready for what God might do within us. Great is
the hope to which we are called
Saint Damien de Veuster of Moloka’i
Saint of the Day for May 10
(January 3, 1840 – April 15, 1889)
 |
| Father Damien on his deathbed, resting on his side | photo presumably by Dr. Sydney B. Swift |
Saint Damien de Veuster of Moloka’i’s Story
When Joseph de Veuster was born in Tremelo, Belgium, in 1840,
few people in Europe had any firsthand knowledge of leprosy, Hansen’s disease.
By the time he died at the age of 49, people all over the world knew about this
disease because of him. They knew that human compassion could soften the
ravages of this disease.
Forced to quit school at age 13 to work on the family farm,
Joseph entered the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary six
years later, taking the name of a fourth-century physician and martyr. When his
brother Pamphile, a priest in the same congregation, fell ill and was unable to
go to the Hawaiian Islands as assigned, Damien quickly volunteered in his
place. In May 1864, two months after arriving in his new mission, Damien was
ordained a priest in Honolulu and assigned to the island of Hawaii.
In 1873, he went to the Hawaiian government’s leper colony on
the island of Moloka’i, set up seven years earlier. Part of a team of four
chaplains taking that assignment for three months each year, Damien soon
volunteered to remain permanently, caring for the people’s physical, medical,
and spiritual needs. In time, he became their most effective advocate to obtain
promised government support.
Soon the settlement had new houses and a new church, school and
orphanage. Morale improved considerably. A few years later, he succeeded in
getting the Franciscan Sisters of Syracuse, led by Mother
Marianne Cope, to help staff this colony in Kalaupapa.
Damien contracted Hansen’s disease and died of its
complications. As requested, he was buried in Kalaupapa, but in 1936 the
Belgian government succeeded in having his body moved to Belgium. Part of
Damien’s body was returned to his beloved Hawaiian brothers and sisters after
his beatification in 1995.
When Hawaii became a state in 1959, it selected Damien as one of
its two representatives in the Statuary Hall at the US Capitol. Damien was
canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on October 11, 2009.
Reflection
Some people thought Damien was a hero for going to Moloka’i and
others thought he was crazy. When a Protestant clergyman wrote that Damien was
guilty of immoral behavior, Robert Louis Stevenson vigorously defended him in
an “Open Letter to Dr. Hyde.”
Lectio Divina: John 6:52-59
Lectio Divina
Friday, May 10, 2019
Easter Time
1) Opening prayer
Our living and loving God,
how could we know the depth of Your love
if Your Son had not become flesh of our flesh
and blood of our blood?
How could we ever have the courage
to live for one another and if necessary to die
if He had not given up His body
and shed His blood for us?
Thank you for letting Him stay in the eucharist with us
and making Himself our daily bread.
Let this bread be the food that empowers us
to live and die as He did,
for one another and for You,
our living God, for ever and ever.
how could we know the depth of Your love
if Your Son had not become flesh of our flesh
and blood of our blood?
How could we ever have the courage
to live for one another and if necessary to die
if He had not given up His body
and shed His blood for us?
Thank you for letting Him stay in the eucharist with us
and making Himself our daily bread.
Let this bread be the food that empowers us
to live and die as He did,
for one another and for You,
our living God, for ever and ever.
2) Gospel Reading - John 6:52-59
The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this
man give us his Flesh to eat?" Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say
to you, unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood, you do
not have life within you. Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood has eternal
life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my Flesh is true food, and my
Blood is true drink. Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood remains in me
and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the
Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is
the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still
died, whoever eats this bread will live forever." These things he said
while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
3) Reflection
• We are almost at the end of the discourse of the Bread of
Life. Here begins the part of the greatest polemic. The Jews close themselves
to, and begin to discuss, the affirmations of Jesus.
• John 6:52-55: Flesh and Blood: the expression of life and of
the total gift. The Jews react: “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?”
The feast of the Passover was close at hand. After a few days everybody would
have eaten the meat of the paschal lamb in the celebration of the night of the
Passover. They did not understand the words of Jesus, because they took them
literally. But Jesus does not diminish the exigencies, He does not withdraw or
take away anything of what He has said and He insists: “In all truth I tell
you, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you
have no life in you. Anyone who does eat My flesh and drink My blood has
eternal life, and I shall raise that person up on the last day. For My flesh is
real food and My blood is real drink. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood
lives in Me and I live in that person”. What gives life is not to celebrate the
manna of the past, but rather to eat this new bread which is Jesus, His flesh
and His blood. Participating in the Eucharistic Supper, we assimilate His life,
His surrender, His gift of self. “If you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man
and you do not drink His Blood you will not have life in you”. They should
accept Jesus as the Crucified Messiah, whose blood will be poured out.
• John 6:56-58: Whoever eats My flesh, will live in Me. The last
phrases of the discourse of the Bread of Life are of the greatest depth and try
to summarize everything which has been said. They recall the mystical dimension
which surrounds the participation in the Eucharist. They express what Paul says
in the letter to the Galatians: “It is no longer I, but Christ living in me (Ga
2:20). And what the Apocalypse of John says: “If one of you hears me calling
and opens the door, I will come in to share a meal at that person’s side” (Rev
3:20). And John himself in the Gospel: “Anyone who loves Me will keep my word,
and My Father will love him and We shall come to him and make a home in him”
(Jn 14:23). And it ends with the promise of life which marks the difference
with the ancient Exodus: “This is the bread which has come down from heaven. It
is not like the bread our ancestors ate, they are dead, but anyone who eats
this bread will live for ever.”
• John 6:59: The discourse in the Synagogue ends. The
conversation between Jesus and the people and the Jews in the Synagogue of
Capernaum ends here. As it has been said before, the discourse of the Bread of
Life offers us an image of how the catechesis of that time was, at the end of
the first century, in the Christian communities of Asia Minor. The questions of
the people and of the Jews show the difficulties of the members of the
communities. The answer of Jesus represents the clarification to help them to
overcome the difficulties, to deepen their faith, and to live more intensely
the Eucharist which was celebrated above all in the night between Saturday and
Sunday, the day of the Lord.
4) Personal questions
• Beginning with the discourse on the Bread of Life, the
celebration of the Eucharist receives a very strong light and an enormous
deepening. Does this clarify the role of the Eucharist in my life?
• To eat the flesh and blood of Jesus is the commandment that he leaves. How do I live the Eucharist in my life? Even if I cannot go to Mass every day or every Sunday, my life should be Eucharistic. How do I try to attain this objective?
• Eucharistic Adoration is available in many parishes and highly recommended by Popes St John Paul II, Benedict, and Francis, among others. “In many places, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is also an important daily practice and becomes an inexhaustible source of holiness” (Encyclical Letter: Ecclesia De Eucharistia). Do I take the time to sit and just “be” with Him when I can?
• To eat the flesh and blood of Jesus is the commandment that he leaves. How do I live the Eucharist in my life? Even if I cannot go to Mass every day or every Sunday, my life should be Eucharistic. How do I try to attain this objective?
• Eucharistic Adoration is available in many parishes and highly recommended by Popes St John Paul II, Benedict, and Francis, among others. “In many places, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is also an important daily practice and becomes an inexhaustible source of holiness” (Encyclical Letter: Ecclesia De Eucharistia). Do I take the time to sit and just “be” with Him when I can?
5) Concluding Prayer
Praise Yahweh, all nations,
extol Him, all peoples,
for His faithful love is strong
and His constancy never-ending. (Ps 117:1-2)
extol Him, all peoples,
for His faithful love is strong
and His constancy never-ending. (Ps 117:1-2)
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