Thursday of the Third Week of Easter
Lectionary: 276
Lectionary: 276
The angel of the Lord spoke to Philip,
“Get up and head south on the road
that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza, the desert route.”
So he got up and set out.
Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch,
a court official of the Candace,
that is, the queen of the Ethiopians,
in charge of her entire treasury,
who had come to Jerusalem to worship, and was returning home.
Seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah.
The Spirit said to Philip,
“Go and join up with that chariot.”
Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and said,
“Do you understand what you are reading?”
He replied,
“How can I, unless someone instructs me?”
So he invited Philip to get in and sit with him.
This was the Scripture passage he was reading:
“Get up and head south on the road
that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza, the desert route.”
So he got up and set out.
Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch,
a court official of the Candace,
that is, the queen of the Ethiopians,
in charge of her entire treasury,
who had come to Jerusalem to worship, and was returning home.
Seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah.
The Spirit said to Philip,
“Go and join up with that chariot.”
Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and said,
“Do you understand what you are reading?”
He replied,
“How can I, unless someone instructs me?”
So he invited Philip to get in and sit with him.
This was the Scripture passage he was reading:
Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter,
and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
In his humiliation justice was denied him.
Who will tell of his posterity?
For his life is taken from the earth.
and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
In his humiliation justice was denied him.
Who will tell of his posterity?
For his life is taken from the earth.
Then the eunuch said to Philip in reply,
“I beg you, about whom is the prophet saying this?
About himself, or about someone else?”
Then Philip opened his mouth and, beginning with this Scripture passage,
he proclaimed Jesus to him.
As they traveled along the road
they came to some water,
and the eunuch said, “Look, there is water.
What is to prevent my being baptized?”
Then he ordered the chariot to stop,
and Philip and the eunuch both went down into the water,
and he baptized him.
When they came out of the water,
the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away,
and the eunuch saw him no more,
but continued on his way rejoicing.
Philip came to Azotus, and went about proclaiming the good news
to all the towns until he reached Caesarea.
“I beg you, about whom is the prophet saying this?
About himself, or about someone else?”
Then Philip opened his mouth and, beginning with this Scripture passage,
he proclaimed Jesus to him.
As they traveled along the road
they came to some water,
and the eunuch said, “Look, there is water.
What is to prevent my being baptized?”
Then he ordered the chariot to stop,
and Philip and the eunuch both went down into the water,
and he baptized him.
When they came out of the water,
the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away,
and the eunuch saw him no more,
but continued on his way rejoicing.
Philip came to Azotus, and went about proclaiming the good news
to all the towns until he reached Caesarea.
Responsorial Psalm66:8-9, 16-17, 20
R. (1) Let all the earth cry out
to God with joy.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Bless our God, you peoples,
loudly sound his praise;
He has given life to our souls,
and has not let our feet slip.
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Hear now, all you who fear God, while I declare
what he has done for me.
When I appealed to him in words,
praise was on the tip of my tongue.
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Blessed be God who refused me not
my prayer or his kindness!
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
or:
R. Alleluia.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Bless our God, you peoples,
loudly sound his praise;
He has given life to our souls,
and has not let our feet slip.
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Hear now, all you who fear God, while I declare
what he has done for me.
When I appealed to him in words,
praise was on the tip of my tongue.
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Blessed be God who refused me not
my prayer or his kindness!
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
or:
R. Alleluia.
AlleluiaJN 6:51
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.
GospelJN 6:44-51
Jesus said to the crowds:
“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:
“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.”
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.”
For the readings of the Optional Memorial of Saint Pius V, please
go here.
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
is the "bread of life"
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.
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.
The
food that makes us live forever
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.), an early church father and martyr, 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.
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.), an early church father and martyr, 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.
Do
you hunger for the "bread of life"?
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"?
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."
Daily
Quote from the early church fathers: Studying the Scriptures with humility,
by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"My
ambition as a youth was to apply to the study of the Holy Scriptures all the
refinement of dialectics. I did so, but without the humility of the true
searcher. I was supposed to knock at the door so that it would open for me.
Instead I was pushing it closed, trying to understand in pride what is only
learned in humility. However, the all-merciful Lord lifted me up and kept me
safe." (excerpt from Sermon 51,6)
HURSDAY, APRIL 30, JOHN 6:44-51
EASTER WEEKDAY
(Acts 8:26-40; Psalm 66)
EASTER WEEKDAY
(Acts 8:26-40; Psalm 66)
KEY VERSE: "This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die" (v.50).
TO KNOW: On the Exodus journey through the wilderness, the people grumbled against God and Moses for having brought them into the desert only to die of starvation. Nevertheless, Moses fed them with the "manna" that God provided (Ex 16:2, 15). Jesus also fed the hungry people in the wilderness with miraculous loaves, and just like the people of the Exodus, they murmured against him when he told them that he was the "bread that came down from heaven" (v.41). The bread in the wilderness was only a foretaste of the true bread, Jesus, who came from God. The Israelites ate the manna in the desert, but they all died. Jesus is the life-giving bread who eternally sustains those who believe in him. Whoever listens to God's truth are drawn to Jesus who is Divine Wisdom incarnate.
TO LOVE: Do I help those who are physically and spiritually hungry?
TO SERVE: Risen Lord, feed me with your life-giving Sacrament so that I can live eternally with you.
Optional Memorial of Saint Pius V, pope
Upon his ascension to the papacy, Pius V, a Dominican, was one of the foremost leaders of the Council of Trent (held between 1545 and 1563 in Trent, northern Italy). Prompted by the Protestant Reformation, it has been described as the embodiment of the Counter-Reformation. Pope Pius V was the one responsible for the implementation of the results of the Council. Foundations were established to spread the faith and preserve the doctrine of the Church. New seminaries were opened, a new breviary, a new missal, and a new catechism were published. Pius spent much time personally working with the needy. He built hospitals and used the papal treasury to care for the poor. Pope Clement XI canonized him on May 22, 1712.
Thursday 30 April 2020
St Pius V
Acts 8:26-40. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy –
Psalm 65(66):8-9, 16-17, 20. John 6:44-51.
‘I am the living bread.’
What does it mean to say that Jesus is ‘the living bread’?
First, it means that Jesus isn’t stale. The world hasn’t moved on from needing
to hear the Gospel. The Good News is not old news – as stale as yesterday’s
bread.
Jesus is the Living Bread because what it means to be truly
human is the same now as it has always been. Human beings still yearn for love,
acceptance, healing, compassion, forgiveness, community and justice. Every generation
seeks out these same basic desires and needs, and every generation still gets
it wrong one way or another.
The Living Bread of Christ is the faithful and sure way to be
truly human. Every other way is a dead end. His presence leads us to life; his
Word invites us to follow him; his call enables us to be authentically human
and genuinely ourselves.
Saint Pius V
Saint of the Day for April 30
(January 17, 1504 – May 1, 1572)
 |
| Portrait of Pope Saint Pius V | Bartolomeo Passarotti |
Saint Pius V’s Story
This is the pope whose job it was to implement the historic
Council of Trent. If we think popes had difficulties in implementing Vatican
Council II, Pius V had even greater problems after Trent four centuries
earlier.
During his papacy (1566-1572), Pius V was faced with the almost
overwhelming responsibility of getting a shattered and scattered Church back on
its feet. The family of God had been shaken by corruption, by the Reformation,
by the constant threat of Turkish invasion, and by the bloody bickering of the
young nation-states. In 1545, a previous pope convened the Council of Trent in
an attempt to deal with all these pressing problems. Off and on over 18 years,
the Fathers of the Church discussed, condemned, affirmed, and decided upon a
course of action. The Council closed in 1563.
Pius V was elected in 1566 and charged with the task of
implementing the sweeping reforms called for by the Council. He ordered the
founding of seminaries for the proper training of priests. He published a new
missal, a new breviary, a new catechism, and established the Confraternity of
Christian Doctrine classes for the young. Pius zealously enforced legislation
against abuses in the Church. He patiently served the sick and the poor by
building hospitals, providing food for the hungry, and giving money customarily
used for the papal banquets to poor Roman converts. His decision to keep
wearing his Dominican habit led to the custom–to this day–of the pope wearing a
white cassock.
In striving to reform both Church and state, Pius encountered
vehement opposition from England’s Queen Elizabeth and the Roman Emperor
Maximilian II. Problems in France and in the Netherlands also hindered Pius’s
hopes for a Europe united against the Turks. Only at the last minute was he
able to organize a fleet which won a decisive victory in the Gulf of Lepanto,
off Greece, on October 7, 1571.
Pius’s ceaseless papal quest for a renewal of the Church was
grounded in his personal life as a Dominican friar. He spent long hours with
his God in prayer, fasted rigorously, deprived himself of many customary papal
luxuries, and faithfully observed the spirit of the Dominican Rule that he had
professed.
Reflection
In their personal lives and in their actions as popes, Saint
Pius V and Saint Paul VI both led the family of God in the process of
interiorizing and implementing the new birth called for by the Spirit in major
Councils. With zeal and patience, Pius and Paul pursued the changes urged by
the Council Fathers. Like Pius and Paul, we too are called to constant change
of heart and life.
Lectio Divina: John 6:44-51
Lectio Divina
Thursday, April 30, 2020
Easter Time
1) Opening prayer
Father,
You draw all people to You
who believe in Your Son Jesus Christ.
Faith, Lord, faith it is that we need.
Give it to us, we pray You,
a living faith that we can encounter today
Jesus Christ, Your Son,
in Your word that You speak to us
in the bread that You offer us,
and in the food that we can give
and can be to one another,
in Jesus Christ, Your Son and our Lord,
who lives with You and the Holy Spirit
now and for ever.
You draw all people to You
who believe in Your Son Jesus Christ.
Faith, Lord, faith it is that we need.
Give it to us, we pray You,
a living faith that we can encounter today
Jesus Christ, Your Son,
in Your word that You speak to us
in the bread that You offer us,
and in the food that we can give
and can be to one another,
in Jesus Christ, Your Son and our Lord,
who lives with You and the Holy Spirit
now and for ever.
2) Gospel Reading - John 6:44-51
Jesus said to the crowds: "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."
3) Reflection
• Up until now the dialogue had been between Jesus and the
people. From now on, the Jewish leaders begin to enter into conversation and
the discussion becomes more tense.
• John 6:44-46: Anyone who opens himself to God accepts Jesus
and His proposal. The conversation becomes more demanding. Now, it is the Jews,
the leaders of the people who complain: “Surely, this is Jesus, son of Joseph,
whose father and mother we know. How can He say: I have come down from heaven?”
(Jn 6:42). They thought they knew the things of God. But, in reality, they did
not know them. If we were truly open and faithful to God, we would feel within
us the impulse of God which attracts us toward Jesus and we would recognize
that Jesus comes from God, because it is written in the Prophets: “They will
all be taught by God; everyone who has listened to the Father and has learned
from Him, comes to me.”
• John 6:47-50: Your fathers ate manna in the desert and they
are dead. In the celebration of the Passover, the Jews recalled the bread of
the desert. Jesus helps them to take a step ahead. Anyone who celebrates the
Passover, recalling only the bread that the fathers ate in the past, will die
as all of them did! The true sense of the Passover is not to recall the manna
which falls from heaven, but to accept Jesus, the new Bread of Life and to
follow the way which He has indicated. It is no longer a question of eating the
meat of the paschal lamb, but rather of eating the flesh of Jesus, so that the
one who eats it will not die, but will have eternal life!
• John 6:51: Anyone who eats of this bread will live for ever.
And Jesus ends saying: “I am the living bread which has come down from heaven.
If anyone eats of this bread he will live for ever and the bread that I shall
give is My flesh for the life of the world.” Instead of the manna and the
paschal lamb of the first exodus, we are invited to eat the new manna and the
new paschal lamb that was sacrificed on the cross for the life of all.
• The new Exodus. The multiplication of the loaves takes place
close to the Passover (Jn 6:4). The feast of the Passover was the prodigious
remembrance of the Exodus, the liberation of the people from the clutches of
Pharaoh. The whole episode which is narrated in chapter 6 of the Gospel of John
has a parallel in the episodes related to the feast of the Passover, whether as
liberation from Egypt or with the journey of the people in the desert in search
of the promised land. The discourse of the Bread of Life, in the Synagogue of
Capernaum, is related to chapter 16 of the Book of Exodus which speaks about
the Manna. It is worth while to read all of chapter 16 of Exodus. In perceiving
the difficulties of the people in the desert we can better understand the teaching
of Jesus here in chapter 6 of the Gospel of John. For example, when Jesus
speaks of a “food which does not perish, which endures for eternal life” (Jn
6:27) He is recalling the manna which produced worms and became rotten (Ex
16:20). As when the Jews “complained” (Jn 6:41), they do the same thing as the
Israelites in the desert, when they doubted of the presence of God in their
midst during their journey across the desert (Ex 16:2; 17:3; Nb 11:1). The lack
of food made the people doubt about God and they began to complain against
Moses and against God. Here too, the Jews doubt God’s presence in Jesus of
Nazareth and begin to complain (Jn 6:41-42).
4) Personal questions
• Does the Eucharist help me to live in a permanent state of
Exodus? Am I succeeding?
• Anyone who is open to truth finds the response in Jesus. Today, many people withdraw and do not find any response. Whose fault is it? Is it of the persons who know how to listen? Or is it the fault of us, Christians, who do not know how to present the Gospel as a message of life?
• How is one “drawn by the Father”? In what way is this part of evangelization?
• The Pharisees were acting out the norms of their times, as well as being keepers of tradition. Not all were eye-witnesses of Jesus' miracles. What was their culpability? What is the balance between discerning God in our presence and avoiding being swayed by every new belief to come along? This is even more important in the age of “Internet information”.
• Anyone who is open to truth finds the response in Jesus. Today, many people withdraw and do not find any response. Whose fault is it? Is it of the persons who know how to listen? Or is it the fault of us, Christians, who do not know how to present the Gospel as a message of life?
• How is one “drawn by the Father”? In what way is this part of evangelization?
• The Pharisees were acting out the norms of their times, as well as being keepers of tradition. Not all were eye-witnesses of Jesus' miracles. What was their culpability? What is the balance between discerning God in our presence and avoiding being swayed by every new belief to come along? This is even more important in the age of “Internet information”.
5) Concluding Prayer
Come and listen, all who fear God,
while I tell what He has done for me.
To Him I cried aloud,
high praise was on my tongue. (Ps 66:16-17)
while I tell what He has done for me.
To Him I cried aloud,
high praise was on my tongue. (Ps 66:16-17)
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