God speaks to us each day through the readings from the Holy Bible.
These are chosen under the inspiration of God’s Spirit and provided for us by
the Church founded and lead by the Spirit of Jesus.
You will find them here. If we take time daily to read, understand and
in silence to pray from our heart, Jesus, through his Spirit, will nourish us
and our life will be transformed.
Let us ask ourselves: what is God saying to me today through these
readings?
May the Spirit of God be with you.
Sunday 14 June 2020
The Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ Jesus
The Food for Life
Cf. Ps 80: 17
He fed them with the finest wheat
and satisfied them with honey from the rock.
Prayer
O Lord, who in the wonderful Sacrament
of the Holy Eucharist,
have left us a memorial of your Passion,
grant us, we pray,
so to revere the sacred mysteries of your Body and Blood
that we may always experience in ourselves
the fruits of your redemption.
Who live and reign with God the Father
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
____________________
First reading
Deuteronomy 8:2–3,
14b–16a
He gave you a food unknown to you and
your fathers.
Moses said to the people: “Remember how for forty years now the Lord, your God, has directed all your
journeying in the desert, so as to test you by affliction and find out whether
or not it was your intention to keep his commandments. He therefore let you be
afflicted with hunger, and then fed you with manna, a food unknown to you and
your fathers, in order to show you that not by bread alone does one live, but
by every word that comes forth from the mouth of the Lord.
“Do not forget the
Lord, your God, who brought you
out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery; who guided you through the
vast and terrible desert with its saraph serpents and scorpions, its parched
and waterless ground; who brought forth water for you from the flinty rock and
fed you in the desert with manna, a food unknown to your fathers.” THE WORD OF
THE LORD.
Prayerful
reflection
Did God not know whether the Israelites would keep his commandments
or not, before the forty years in the desert? Of course, he did. Then why did
he want to test them to see if they would keep them or not, as Moses says? It
was because, without the journeying in the desert with all its hardships, the
Israelites would not have been able to prove their fidelity and love for God.
They often failed to keep God’s commandments
and proved their infidelity. God was patient with them. He would forgive them.
He fed them in a wonderful way with manna. This was an unexpected food. They
called it manna. He cared for them throughout their wanderings.
Their journeys were symbolic of our
life’s journey. We too find it hard and often unrewarding, though we do enjoy
happy days too. This life ‘in the desert’ is a very necessary prelude to our
rest in the Promised Land of God’s Kingdom.
Without it and without its trials and difficulties, how could we show
God, our Father, that we are true children who love and honour our divine
Parent under any circumstances. In fact, the harder life is, the more trust we
can show. This life is given us as an opportunity to prove who we are before
God, our loving Father and Creator. He does not send hardships. They are part
and parcel of life in a fallen world.
God cares for us, too, at all times. He
never leaves us and is present, not in some symbolic way like manna, but really
and truly in the ‘bread’ of the Holy Eucharist. Through the Holy Eucharist we
feed on the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, true God and true man. Through the
Holy Eucharist we are able to become the friend of God. Through the Holy
Eucharist we can become the living images of God, like him in every way.
Through the Holy Eucharist we can become one body with him.
Do you believe in the Holy Eucharist to
the extent of being an intimate friend of Jesus, Son of God?
Psalm
Psalm 147:12–13,
14–15, 19–20
Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
Glorify the Lord,
O Jerusalem;
praise your God, O Zion.
For he has strengthened the bars of your gates;
he has blessed your children within you.
Praise the Lord,
Jerusalem.
He has granted peace in your borders;
with the best of wheat he fills you.
He sends forth his command to the earth;
swiftly runs his word!
Praise the Lord,
Jerusalem.
He has proclaimed his word to Jacob,
his statutes and his ordinances to Israel.
He has not done thus for any other nation;
his ordinances he has not made known to them.
Praise the Lord,
Jerusalem.
____________________
Second reading
1 Corinthians
10:16–17 ·
The bread is one, and we, though many,
are one body.
Brothers and sisters: The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not
a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a
participation in the body of Christ? Because the loaf of bread is one, we,
though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf. THE WORD OF THE
LORD.
Prayerful
reflection
In the celebration of the Holy Eucharist we all, rich and poor,
high and low, eat the Body and drink the Blood of Christ.
This was the universal belief of the Fathers of the Church and all
Christians from the first century until the sixteenth century, when those who
left the Church called it a sign of Christ, but not really Christ. It was still
bread, but Jesus was spiritually present. Paul is clear that it is the Blood we
drink and the flesh we eat, as is John in his Gospel today.
Since we all eat Christ and are made into him, then we are all the
Body of Christ and each of us is a part of Christ. Christ Jesus lives and works
through us, as we live and work through our bodies. Each part has a different
function, but it is I who live and work. So it is with Christ Jesus and us. He
lives through you, through me and through each of us.
We must realise that we are not just ordinary folk. We are the
living Body of Christ. The Catholic Christian community is his Body. Unity and
coordination are essential qualities of the Church. Let us strive to make our
parishes the living Christ in the general community.
Do you realise that you are a living organ in the Body of Christ?
Are you a thriving member or paralysed member in his Body? Do you
allow him to work through you?
John 6:51
Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven, says the Lord;
whoever eats this bread will live forever.
Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
John 6:51–58
My flesh is true food, and my blood is
true drink.
Jesus said to the Jewish crowds: “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.”
The Jews quarrelled
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.” THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD.
Prayerful refection
“I am the living bread”. In our natural
life, we cannot live without food. We need to eat daily and several times daily
in order to live and be healthy. No food, no life. No nourishment, no health. That
is for my body. But what food do I need so that not only my body, but that
I be alive and healthy. I must live to the full – peace, joy,
contentment, love. Without these my body may live, but I will not. Where
can I find these? Life beyond my body’s comes from my relationships. The love
of another gives meaning to our life. Their appreciation, their longing for us,
their desire to do anything for our good and true happiness, that we give them
joy – when we know this our life blossoms. It is love that makes
our world come to life. When love dies, how can we live?
“Upon my bed at night I sought him whom my soul loves;
I sought him, but found him not; I called him, but he gave no answer…I will
seek him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but found him not…when I found him
whom my soul loves I held him, and would not let him go.” (Song of Songs 3:1ff).
Jesus, Son of God and our Creator, has come in search
of you “whom my soul loves”. You are precious to him. He longs for you “so that
where I am you will be also.” (John 14:3). When we know this, our life
blossoms and we come to life.
“Where I am, you will also be”. Where are you? You may
be in any place, but you live in your heart. So does he. Therefore, he
comes to you in the form of bread, so that you can eat him and you can enter
into his heart and he into yours. You both become, truly, one body.
Pray to the holy Spirit, the burning love of God, that
you may have wisdom to understand this and so come to life, for ever.
Is the Holy Eucharist your life?
Jn 6: 57
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
remains in me and I in him, says the Lord.
____________________
Prayer
Grant, O Lord, we pray,
that we may delight eternally in your embrace of love,
which is now foreshadowed
in our reception of your precious Body and Blood.
We make this prayer to you
who live and reign,
with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God for ever and ever.
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