Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 6, 41-51
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.”
God is Life
1. Murmuring. This is one of our weakest points. We can destroy others with our sharp tongue. This bad habit is formed in our childhood; at school we gossip about who has what and what other classmates are like. Later on, we gossip about our neighbors and our co-workers, trying to find out even the smallest detail about their lives. Even the church community, on many occasions, seems to be a nest of vipers, with so many poisonous tongues, and obviously not even the priest is spared. Many people have left the church because instead of being witnesses of the values of faith, we’ve fallen into forms of counter-witness and scandal. Please, let’s fight against gossip within the Church. And if we have to say things, let’s say them up front and with prudence.
2. Unless the Father draws them. Christian life is more than a mere label, it’s a vocation that implies an encounter with Jesus. That’s why those who meet God and experience faith live their religion in a different, lively, joyful and captivating way. This encounter with Jesus leads to an experience that makes their heart burst with joy and leads them to never tire of proclaiming him. It may even take you to do crazy things for love, such as, for example, a young man in his adolescence getting up at 7:00 a.m. to go on mission to a village. What was that crazy thing you did for your faith?
3. The living bread. The Eucharist is what nourishes and fulfills us. It’s the axis of our life. Don’t give up this precious gift that God has given you. The Eucharist lives in the Church and the Church lives in the Eucharist, they are two sides of the same coin. Today when you go to Mass, look at this living bread that gives life. Take care of your spiritual nourishment so as not to fall into spiritual malnutrition. Jesus strengthens the heart.
Remember that something good is on the way!
God bless you, be with you and guard you in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
