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Monday, August 06, 2018

Reflection for Sunday August 12, Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: John 6:41-51


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:   
A young couple was often seen by a church worker at church attending Sunday Mass with their little child in tow. The church worker befriended the young couple, therefore, every now and then they would converse after mass.

As weeks passed by the friendship deepened and until the church worker visited the dilapidated house of the young couple.  While conversing the church worker asked the couple: “How long have you been married?” The wife said, we are not yet married because life is hard.

The church worker told the couple: “Do you want to join a Mass wedding at church scheduled next month?” In unison and with conviction the couple said, “Yes we will join!” To make a long story short the newly wed couple became volunteer church workers themselves.    

What should we do when we are faced with this kind of situation? Of course, we should help as well, there’s no other option but to help. We should help them because this is our duty as followers of Jesus: To help those who are in need.

In our first reading for this Sunday, the prophet Elijah encountered so much hardship during his journey in the desert that he was almost on the verge of giving up. But the Lord helped him, the Lord sent Elijah an angel to give him hope, food and water so that he could continue his journey going to mount Horeb.

In every occasion that we present ourselves at Holy Mass the Lord through the Sacrament of Holy Communion offers Himself to us. He invites us to partake of His Body, Blood and Divinity. For what reason?  He wants to help us, He wants to strengthen us and He wants to give us hope as we face the many challenges of life.

However, it must not end with our partaking of the Bread of Life. Our partaking of the bread of Life must propel us to be Christ like in every way. We must allow Jesus to change and transform us the way He wants us to become not how we want ourselves to become. We must be like Him in humility, in kindness and in compassion.

Our partaking of the Bread of Life should also move us to courageously share Jesus. Let us not be daunted by the obstacles before us for Jesus is always there for us. Why share Jesus? This is for the reason that  many are still not aware of the enormous spiritual blessing of the Bread of Life.

Let us share Jesus with them so that they too will be blessed by the Bread of Life which is no other than Jesus Himself. Have you already shared Jesus your Eternal Bread of Life? – Marino J. Dasmarinas

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