LECTIONARY READINGS
First reading: Joshua 24:1-2, 15-18
Responsorial psalm: Ps 33(34):2-3, 16-23
Second reading: Ephesians 5:21-32
Gospel: John 6:60-69
Link to readings
This Sunday, the readings invite us to consider honestly the depth of our love for the Lord. The same challenging questions once put to the Israelites by Joshua, and later to the disciples by Jesus, are being asked of us today. Today’s Gospel depicts a moment of crisis for Jesus’s followers. Some, who have already said yes to him, are now finding it difficult to accept what he is claiming. Jesus wonders aloud how they will respond to what is to come.
In the First Reading the people of Israel, too, are offered a clear choice: do they want to serve God, or desert God? They respond by declaring: ‘we have no intention of deserting the Lord our God.’ In the mystery of spousal choice, submission and loving service, the Second Reading offers us an allegory for the Church’s relationship to Christ. The Psalm shows what this service looks, feels, and tastes like. It is in the form of the goodness of the Lord, who chooses to be close to us, especially in our distress.
This week, let’s trust in the closeness of the Lord, who offers us freedom whilst freely choosing us; the Lord who is good, and who always works for our goodness.
PSALM 33 (34) [PART]
R./ Taste and see that the Lord is good.
I will bless the Lord at all times
his praise on my lips;
In the Lord my soul shall make its boast.
The humble shall hear and be glad.
The Lord turns his face against the wicked
to destroy their remembrance from the earth.
The Lord turns his eyes to the just
and his ears to their appeal.
They call and the Lord hears
and rescues them in all their distress.
The Lord is close to the broken-hearted;
those whose spirit is crushed he will save.
REFLECTION
I give some time to ready myself for prayer. I pay attention to my breathing, letting it gradually fall into a steady rhythm. I wait for my mind to settle and my body to relax. I try not to force anything. Then I become aware of how I am feeling just now.
After a while I read this psalm very slowly. Do I feel like someone who is full of energetic praise, or does life feel a bit crushing at the moment? Perhaps there is something causing me great distress. Maybe all I can offer at this time is a broken heart.
Do the words of the psalmist offer me any comfort? Do I feel seen? Heard? Where is the Lord for me just now? Close or far away? Can I recall a time when the Lord felt good and so close to me I could almost taste and see him? How does the Lord feel now?
Is there something I would like to ask now from my present circumstances? Like the psalmist, I can be completely honest. I talk to the Lord freely. I wait quietly, humbly, for a reply. I continue to bless the Lord at all times. Glory be . . .
GOSPEL
John 6: 60–69
After hearing his doctrine many of the followers of Jesus said, ‘This is intolerable language. How could anyone accept it?’ Jesus was aware that his followers were complaining about it and said, ‘Does this upset you? What if you should see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before? ‘It is the Spirit that gives life, the flesh has nothing to offer. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. But there are some of you who do not believe.’ For Jesus knew from the outset those who did not believe, and who it was that would betray him. He went on, ‘This is why I told you that no one could come to me unless the Father allows them.’ After this, many of his disciples left him and stopped going with him. Then Jesus said to the Twelve, ‘What about you, do you want to go away too?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘Lord, who shall we go to? You have the message of eternal life, and we believe; we know that you are the Holy One of God.’
REFLECTION
I come to quiet in the way that is most helpful. I take my time. When I feel a sense of stillness settling over me, I slowly read the Gospel. I allow it to speak to me, to touch me. What am I noticing? What do I want to stay with?
Perhaps I am drawn to the complete freedom of Jesus. Does it strike me that Jesus never holds on to any disciple against their will? He always offers a choice, even to those most dear to him.
There will always be people, often very good people, who will choose to leave for some reason. Perhaps I know someone from among my own friends and family. Do I perceive any disappointment in Jesus as people walk away? Do I, at times, feel a sense of regret, sadness, frustration, impoverishment?
At this very crisis moment, Jesus takes a further risk. He turns to those left behind to ask: ‘What about you. Are you going too?’ He takes the same risk with us today as he asks us, asks me, directly – ‘Do you want to go?’ ‘Or will you stay?’ Today, he is giving me the same choice ...
What will I say to him? How free do I feel and how would I like to respond? What is my deepest desire at this very moment? I stay with that deepest desire and also with Jesus’s freedom. Then I speak to him from the heart. I end, when ready, with a sign of the cross.
Courtesy of St Beuno’s Outreach in the Diocese of Wrexham, UK