Gospel: 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.”
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Reflection:
How can Jesus be the
bread that gives life? This is very hard to believe for a non-believer. But for
those who believe they know that Jesus indeed is the Bread of Life.
The Jews were
protesting about Jesus’ pronouncement that He is the Bread of Life that came
down from heaven (John 6:41). They know Jesus pretty well as the son of Joseph
and Mary, some of them perhaps grew with Him. How could then He become the Bread of Life?
Faith and actual
experience is what moves us to believe this sacred declaration of Jesus that He
is the Bread that gives life. Why do we yearn to receive Jesus during Holy
Communion? Because our love and faith in Jesus pushes us to do so.
Everytime we submit
to the desire of our faith in Jesus to partake of Him during the Sacrament of
Holy Communion/Eucharist. We also obey Jesus’ desire to dwell in us and to be
with us. The Jews did not submit themselves to this desire of Jesus that’s why
they did not believe Him.
Each and every one
of us goes through an extra-ordinary experience whenever we partake of Jesus’
Body and blood. Many of us do not notice this extra-ordinary experience anymore
for the simple reason that we treat this experience as an ordinary experience.
Whenever we receive The
Body and Blood of Jesus it’s not us who desire to be one with our Lord and
Master. It is Jesus our Lord and Master who desires to be one with Him. It’s
Jesus who calls each and every one of us to receive Him so that He could dwell
in us and in the process He could transform and bless us.
What then is your
responsibility? You have to share the miracle of the Bread of Life; you have to
share what you know about Jesus no matter how limited and you have to allow
Jesus to transform you according to His will. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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