LECTIONARY READINGS
First reading: 1 Kings 19:4-8
Responsorial psalm: Ps 33(34):2-9
Second reading: Ephesians 4:30 – 5:2
Gospel: John 6:41-51
Link to readings
This Sunday’s readings show God’s loving kindness and care for us, calling us to live with love. The Psalmist invites us to ’Taste and see that the Lord is good’. We, too, can sing our praises to the Lord, who always hears when we call out to him and frees us from our fears. In the First Reading, God hears Elijah as he cries out, despondent and wanting to give up. God reaches out to him through an angel, who offers food and water and encourages him to eat. This sustains Elijah, giving him the strength to continue his journey.
Similarly, Jesus desires to sustain us in our journey. In the Gospel, he reveals himself to the complaining Jews – and to us – as the ‘bread of life’. To those who are willing to be drawn to him, Jesus desires to be our comfort, our nourishment, our joy and our strength. He feeds us through our faith and our trust in him. The bread that he offers, his own body and way of life, gives life forever. St Paul (Second Reading) reminds us that we are beloved children of God, and urges us to follow Christ’s example of being kind and compassionate, readily showing forgiveness to one another.
Let’s pray always to be open to God’s tender care, and to savour the goodness he gives in our lives.
SECOND READING
Ephesians 4: 30– 5: 2
Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God who has marked you with his seal for you to be set free when the day comes. Never have grudges against others, or lose your temper, or raise your voice to anyone, or call each other names, or allow any sort of spitefulness. Be friends with one another, and kind, forgiving each other readily as God forgave you in Christ.
Try, then, to imitate God, as children of his that he loves, and follow Christ by loving as he loved you, giving himself up in our place as a fragrant offering and a sacrifice to God.
REFLECTION
As I begin my time of prayer, I try to clear my mind of thoughts and distractions. I may find it helpful to take some slow, deep breaths, noticing the rise and fall of my chest as the air passes in and out. I notice how I am feeling. What is my mood today?
I focus all my attention on my Lord God, and gently place myself before him. I allow his tender gaze to rest upon me, his beloved child. I welcome and invite God’s Spirit to guide my prayer. When I am ready, I turn to the passage and read it slowly, several times. I notice anything that particularly catches my attention.
Perhaps I am struck by the words ‘grieve the Holy Spirit’ . . . ‘imitate God’ . . . ‘fragrant offering’ . . . or something else? I pause. I ponder the reason. How is this speaking to me?
Perhaps Paul’s message about treating others with love and respect leads me to reflect over my own life recently: my mood, my actions. With gratitude, I notice where God has been close, in the joys and the challenges . . . in both the little and the bigger things in my life.
I notice too any times when God may have seemed further away. Maybe I’ve resisted or failed to hear his call? Perhaps there are also times where I may not have been as kind, compassionate, or forgiving as Christ? I speak to the Lord freely from my heart, and seek his forgiveness. I ask him for the grace to enable me to ‘try to imitate God’, loving and readily forgiving others, as Jesus himself does. When ready, I close my prayer: ‘Glory be . . . ’
GOSPEL
John 6: 41–51
The Jews were complaining to each other about Jesus, because he had said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’ ‘Surely this is Jesus son of Joseph,’ they said. ‘We know his father and mother. How can he now say, “I have come down from heaven”?’ Jesus said in reply, ‘Stop complaining to each other. ‘No one can come to me unless they are drawn by the Father who sent me, and I will raise them up on the last day. It is written in the prophets: They will all be taught by God, and to hear the teaching of the Father, and learn from it, is to come to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the one who comes from God: He has seen the Father.
I tell you most solemnly, everybody who believes has eternal life.
I am the bread of life. Your forebears ate the manna in the desert and they are dead; but this is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that someone may eat it and not die. I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.’
REFLECTION
I spend some minutes settling into stillness. I ask the Holy Spirit living within me to lead my prayer. When ready, I read and re-read the Gospel slowly, carefully and prayerfully. I allow the words to soak in.
If it seems helpful, I enter the scene in my imagination. What am I seeing and hearing? Perhaps it is the expressions on the faces of the complaining Jews? Or am I being drawn to Jesus and what he is saying? I ponder his words now. What are they saying to me? How does it feel to be one of those ‘drawn by the Father’?
Jesus is the bread of life, who desires to nourish and sustain me. What is it like to desire that living bread, especially at times when I may be feeling disappointed, exhausted, despondent, or struggling to continue . . . ? Jesus promises eternal life to those who come to him and believe in him. How am I responding to that invitation now?
I share whatever arises with the Lord, just as I would with a close friend. Giving thanks, I close my prayer slowly. ‘Our Father . . . give us this day our daily bread . . .’
LECTIONARY READINGS
First reading: Proverbs 9:1-6
Responsorial psalm: Ps 33(34):2-3, 10-15
Second reading: Ephesians 5:15-20
Gospel: John 6:51-58
Link to readings
The readings for this Sunday tell us of the nourishment that comes from heaven and of our need to draw everlasting life from our relationship with Jesus – as well as pursuing wise and Spirit-filled paths in life.
The First Reading makes explicit the value of Wisdom, depicted as a woman seeking and inviting everyone to come and be nourished at her table of learning.
The Psalm is a continuation of last week’s psalm of thanksgiving. The psalmist tells us that those who seek the Lord lack no blessing.
St Paul (Second Reading) encourages the early Christians to live with awareness and intelligence, and not to be thoughtless. He advises them to discern and recognise the will of the Lord in their own times, and to live lives filled with the Holy Spirit. This message continues to be very relevant to us in the present.
In the Gospel, Jesus invites those around him to believe in him; to be in communion with him; to live in him and draw life from him, just as he himself draws life from the living Father.
Let us pray for each other throughout this week, that we may seek the nourishment of a life-giving relationship with God, with one another, and with the planet we share.
SECOND READING
Ephesians 5: 15–20
Be very careful about the sort of lives you lead, like intelligent and not like senseless people. This may be a wicked age, but your lives should redeem it. And do not be thoughtless, but recognise what is the will of the Lord. Do not drug yourself with wine, this is simply dissipation; be filled with the Spirit. Sing the words and tunes of the psalms and hymns when you are together, and go on singing and chanting to the Lord in your hearts, so that always and everywhere you are giving thanks to God who is our Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
REFLECTION
Slowly and consciously, I prepare to enter my time of prayer. I desire to become more aware of God’s loving presence in my life. With love and care, I read Paul’s letter to the early Christians, pausing on any word or phrase that strikes me. What draws me in this passage?
I try not to make judgments about myself or others, but have an open, curious mind as to what the Lord wants me to hear. I might reflect on my own life of faith, asking the Holy Spirit to help me discern where I have acted with ‘intelligence’ and where I have been ‘thoughtless’ . . .
Perhaps I ask for help to recognise the will of the Lord in the little things as well as the big things of life. How have I responded to God’s presence in daily events?
I speak to Jesus in my own words about the moods and feelings that stir up within me, whether they be gratitude or sorrow. I ask the Lord to be with me in every detail of my day.
I pray for any particular help or grace I need to recognise deeply the will of God in my life.
I may also ask God’s Holy Spirit to show me where and how my actions might be able to redeem the world around me. I slowly end my prayer, giving thanks to Our Father.
GOSPEL
John 6: 51–58
Jesus said to the crowd: ‘I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.’
Then the Jews started arguing with one another: ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ they said. Jesus replied: ‘I tell you most solemnly, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in you. Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood has eternal life, and I shall raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in him. As I, who am sent by the living Father, myself draw life from the Father, so whoever eats me will draw life from me. This is the bread come down from heaven: not like the bread our ancestors ate: they are dead, but anyone who eats this bread will live for ever.’
REFLECTION
What are my hopes and desires as I come to pray today? What sort of day have I had so far?
Perhaps I need some moments of quiet to experience the comfort of bringing myself consciously into the Lord’s presence. I take a deep breath and then breathe normally.
After a few moments, I read the Gospel passage. What is my immediate reaction? Familiar words, yet so very challenging. Perhaps, like the crowd, I find them difficult to take in.
I pause . . . and simply ask the Lord to help me understand and be touched by what he is saying. It may be that I cannot go any further at the moment.
Perhaps I tell the Lord how difficult it is for me just now to go beyond my first bewildered feelings.
In time I go back to the text. What are you offering me Lord? Help me to go beyond the words and see the intimacy, the closest possible bond of love and trust that exists between you and me.
And what am I offering you? I spend some time pondering.
I speak to the Lord about my needs today, and give grateful thanks for the gift of himself and of his love. I determine to live my life evermore In the name of the Father . . .
Courtesy of St Beuno’s Outreach in the Diocese of Wrexham, UK