Tag: bread of life

“You are the Holy One of God.” | Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

From the responsorial psalm: “When the just cry out, the LORD hears them, and from all their distress he rescues them. The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; and those who are crushed in spirit he saves. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 6:60-69)

Many of Jesus’ disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, “Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.”

“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life,” Jesus has just finished saying, “and I will raise him on the last day.” After saying this to a skeptical crowd in the synagogue in Capernaum, many of the followers of Jesus left him. Finishing what is known as the Bread of Life Discourse, and knowing there are some who do not believe him, Jesus says, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father.” He asks the Twelve if there are any among them who want to leave. And Simon Peter answers: “You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.” These are the words of one who would later deny Jesus but also the one to whom Jesus said: “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church.” Peter exemplifies for us the journey from wavering, weakness, and division to faith, authority, and unity.

God, help me understand today’s Gospel. In it, Jesus says that no one can come to him unless it is granted by you, his Father. Strengthen my faith so that I come to the conviction, like Peter, that Jesus is the Holy One of God. “As for me and my household,” Joshua said, ” we will serve the LORD.” Just as Paul speaks of Christ and the Church through the example of man and wife becoming one flesh, help me participate fully in the life-giving mystery of union with you through the Bread of Life, through love made manifest in the Eucharist. In the truth of humility, help me see my dependence on you for everything. Guide me to your Son as I come to believe in him more fully. “Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life; you have the words of everlasting life.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

“Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph?” | Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Teach me, Lord, to have complete trust in Jesus Christ your Son whom you sent from heaven as true food and true drink so that we look to you radiant with joy—now and forever.

From the responsorial psalm: “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. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 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.”

Jesus goes on to reveal his relationship to the Father even further. He has seen the Father, he tells the Jews, because he is sent by him. As the bread of life sent down from heaven, Jesus gives eternal life to anyone who believes in him. Jesus recalls for the Jews how their ancestors ate manna in the desert but died. This is the bread that gives eternal life, Jesus says, “so that one may eat it and not die.” The Gospel passage closes with this teaching from the mouth of the one sent by the Father: “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 power of God the Father to speak reality into existence is also in the power of the Son sent by the Father. At every Mass, we hear the priest, in the person of Christ, say the very same thing: “Take this, all of you, and eat it; this is my body which will be given up for you.” Done out of love and in obedience to the Father, Jesus accomplishes perfectly what Saint Paul describes in the second reading. He “loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma.”

God, I can’t imagine how Jesus could have been more explicit than this in identifying himself as present in the Eucharist—body and blood, soul and divinity. “I am the bread of life.” How clearly Jesus teaches all of us who he is and what he instituted through his life and during the Last Supper. “I am the living bread that came down from heaven.” Whoever believes has eternal life, Jesus says, and whoever eats this bread will live forever. Teach me, Lord, to have complete trust in Jesus Christ your Son whom you sent from heaven as true food and true drink so that we look to you radiant with joy—now and forever. Strengthen my faith in the Eucharist and with it; let my soul glory in you, Lord, in your goodness!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Saturday of the Third Week of Easter

From the responsorial psalm: “My vows to the LORD I will pay in the presence of all his people. Precious in the eyes of the LORD is the death of his faithful ones. How shall I make a return to the Lord for all the good he has done for me?”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 6:60-69)

As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer walked with him. Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?” Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”

Many of the disciples who had been following Jesus leave him when he teaches them about the reality of his body and blood as true food and drink sent from heaven. “This saying is hard,” many of the disciples say to him, “who can accept it?” Yet, John tells us “Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him.” The disciples return to a former way of life. Even today, returning to a former way or living in doubt is not an uncommon response to the reality of Christ’s true presence in the Blessed Sacrament. But faith in the risen Christ readies us for eternal life and restores life here and now—literally. After Pentecost, Peter is a new man in Christ, so much so that through the Holy Spirit he raises the disciple Tabitha from the dead. Because many witnessed this, we hear in Acts, “many came to believe in the Lord.”

God, strengthen my faith in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. As much as your grace allows, help me recognize the risen Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. Keep me attentive, Lord, to the bread and wine as it becomes the body and blood of Jesus. And give me the wisdom to choose you throughout the day, as Peter did when he said: “To whom shall we go, Lord? You have the words of eternal life.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Friday of the Third Week of Easter

From the Gospel acclamation: “Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood, remains in me and I in him, says the Lord.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 6:52-59)

“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.”

In speaking to the Jews who question how Jesus can give them his Flesh for eternal life, he repeats in four successive statements that his Flesh and Blood is the way he remains in us and is life itself within us. Jesus emphasizes further that “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.” The words of Jesus leave no room for doubt. In instituting the Eucharist at the Last Supper, Jesus is present body and blood, soul and divinity, whenever the priest raises the bread and wine and says in the person of Christ, “This is my body. . . . This is the chalice of my blood.”

God, strengthen my faith and trust in you. The words of Jesus that I hear during each Mass call out for me to behold what I am about to consume. Help me be more attentive at Mass, fully realizing that what I receive is the Flesh and Blood of the Son of Man—that it is true life-giving food and drink. It is what Jesus says it is; since it is just that, now and forever, stir in me the desire, Lord, to say what the crowd who followed Jesus said to him: “Sir, give us this bread always.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Thursday of the Third Week of Easter

From the responsorial psalm: “Blessed be God who refused me not my prayer or his kindness! Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 6:44-51)

“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.”

Jesus further explains how we are drawn to him and the necessity of receiving his body and blood for eternal life. Jesus says 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.” He explains how the Father draws us to Jesus. Everyone who listens to his Father—our Father—comes to Jesus. When we come to Jesus in the Eucharist, we receive the body and blood of Christ—the bread that came down from heaven that will give us eternal life.

Father in heaven, you sent Jesus your Son to draw us to you. In his teachings and in the sacraments of the Church, born out of your love, Jesus remains ever present so that I can come to him at all times. “Whoever believes has eternal life,” Jesus says. Give me the grace today to believe in the hope and reality of eternal life through the death and resurrection of Jesus. The Gospel acclamation is an aid to help me remember this throughout the day: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven, says the Lord; whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Wednesday of the Third Week of Easter

From the responsorial psalm: “Shout joyfully to God, all the earth, sing praise to the glory of his name; proclaim his glorious praise. Say to God, “How tremendous are your deeds!” Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 6:35-40)

“But I told you that although you have seen me, you do not believe. Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.”

In the Bread of Life Discourse, Jesus continues speaking to the crowd that he fed with the distribution of the loaves and the fishes. What he says to them is hard to take in. Jesus tells them that he is sent to do not his own will but the will of the Father. And the will of the Father, he tells them, is that he will not reject anyone who comes to him and that all who believe in him will have eternal life. Although the crowd doesn’t know it and can’t yet understand, Jesus invites them to the heavenly banquet, where their sustenance for all eternity will be the bread of life—Jesus Christ—in the unity of God the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Father in heaven, let me say in my heart with the grace of understanding what the crowd says to Jesus, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Help me recognize the hope that I am called to in receiving the Eucharist and in internalizing the Word made flesh. It is nourishment in this life and the hope of eternal life, the “medicine of immortality.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Tuesday of the Third Week of Easter

From the responsorial psalm: “Into your hands I commend my spirit; you will redeem me, O LORD, O faithful God. My trust is in the LORD; I will rejoice and be glad of your mercy. Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 6:30-35)

So they said to Jesus, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”

John continues relating the story of Jesus’ encounter with the crowds that followed him after he performed the miracle of the loaves and the fishes. After Jesus tells them that to do the work of God is to believe in the one he sent, they ask for a sign from him so that they may believe. The same crowd Jesus had just fed ask him, recalling how Moses fed them manna in the desert, ask “What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do?” How can they ask this after witnessing a miracle? Yet, Jesus tells them it was not Moses but his Father who gave them true bread from heaven. And Jesus says, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”

Father in heaven, help me trust in you today through Jesus Christ your Son. Trust that you will provide me with everything I need. Trust that you know what I need even before I ask. Grant me the wisdom to know what it is I seek and what to ask you for. I stand as one among the crowds that followed Jesus, sometimes asking “What can you do?” Give me the grace, Lord, to breathe freely in the gift of peace that only you can give. Help me be aware of this gift when I have the opportunity to become a means of your peace for others. Stay with me, Lord!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Monday of the Third Week of Easter


From the responsorial psalm: “I declared my ways, and you answered me; teach me your statutes. Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous deeds. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 6:22-29)

When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus. And when they found him across the sea they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” Jesus answered them and said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.”

Some of the multitude that Jesus fed come looking for him. Jesus knows their needs and realizes they wish to satisfy a physical hunger for food. He responds by acknowledging that the bread they seek would provide temporary sustenance but that he is the one who offers the true bread from heaven. Encouraging them to work for the food that doesn’t perish, Jesus teaches them to hunger for the very word of God—”the food that endures for eternal life.” They ask him: “What can we do to accomplish the works of God?” Jesus tells them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.”

God, help me focus today on working for true food, the bread of life. And make known to me throughout the day exactly what that means. The Gospel acclamation, the words of Jesus, make clear how I choose to make that happen: “One does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.” Jesus tells the crowd that to accomplish your works, Lord, we are to believe in the one you sent. To live on your every word, Lord, is to live for love because you yourself are love. In seeking the true bread from heaven, give me the grace to live in your love and be loving to others.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Thursday of the Third Week of Easter

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

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.”

As Jesus speaks to the crowds, he makes clear that no one can come to him unless God draws the soul to him. Modeling his relationship with the Father, Jesus expresses that being taught by God means listening to the Father and learning from him. Since no one has seen the Father but Jesus, belief is the means to eternal life through eating the living bread that Jesus gives through his sacrifice in the Eucharist. “And the bread that I will give,” Jesus tells the crowds, “is my Flesh for the life of the world.” In today’s Gospel, Jesus powerfully declares his unity with the Father and that belief in him as the Son of God is the source of eternal life.

God, knowing that Jesus your Son speaks to me through today’s Gospel reading, how do I respond to the words “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him”? In the darkness of sin, there is a clear powerlessness in seeking you that must first be accepted before being drawn by the light of your love. Give me the grace to recognize the action of the Holy Spirit in accomplishing this, that the love between you and your Son draws me to you. In the first reading, just as Philip instructed the eunuch who was reading Isaiah, teach me to see Jesus through the scriptures and in the living bread of the Eucharist, the body and blood of Christ.

Lord, be with me today; help me desire to be drawn to you. With the words from an ancient Eucharistic liturgy, I pray: “We give you thanks, O Christ, our God, because you have deigned to share with us your Body and your Blood, O Savior; you have drawn to yourself our hearts.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Wednesday of the Third Week of Easter

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

Jesus said to the crowds: “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus declares himself to be the bread of life. He says that whoever comes to him will never go hungry and whoever believes in him will never be thirsty. By doing his Father’s will, Jesus rejects no one who comes to him. In that is the promise of eternal life to those who see the Son and believe in him. What is the food I go for time after time that leaves me hungry?

God, help me come to you confident that you will supply me with daily bread in this world and the bread of life for the world to come. Jesus models the holiness of a will obedient to yours as he says, “because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me.” Give me the grace, then, to follow Jesus by knowing and doing your will. Help me be receptive to your grace just as Jesus was so that I do not lose anything of what you give me.

Jesus Christ, Bread of Life, let me come to you. You said to the crowds: “But I told you that although you have seen me, you do not believe.” Help me believe you without seeing you, Lord, the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.