Gospel:
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.”
+ + + + +
+ +
Reflection:
Why are
we afraid to die?
There are many reasons why we are afraid to
die; foremost amongst these reasons is we are not prepared yet. We still have
our own worldly preoccupation that we must take care of first. But we all know
that at a time that we don’t expect, the grim reaper will eventually stalk us
until it gets us.
In
today’s gospel Jesus gives us an iron clad protection against our fear of
death. He enjoins us to regularly partake of the living bread that is available
to us during Holy Communion no other than Himself. This is the same bread that
is given to those who are sick and not anymore able to go to church for Holy
Mass.
Why don’t
we try to regularly partake of His Body during Holy Communion? And see how it
will form, change and make us fearless of mortal death. We will not die anymore
if we are with Jesus and we will not fear death anymore if we reverently
partake of Him at Holy Mass during Holy Communion.
Let us
therefore bring others to Holy Mass and let us also be on the lookout for those
who are not anymore able to go to church for Holy Mass caused by their
sickness. So that they will also be blessed, nourished and enlightened by the
enormous blessing of the Body of Jesus Christ.
Have you
been able to bring someone to church for Holy Mass so that they too could
partake of the Body of Christ during Holy Communion? Have you been an
instrument for the sick who are not anymore capable to go to church, so that
they too could receive the Body of Christ in their house? – Marino J.
Dasmarinas