Author: admin

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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.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him,” the Lord says in today’s Gospel.

Whenever this verb draw is used in scripture, it implies a type of resistance, of pushing and pulling.

For example, John uses this verb to describe Saint Peter dragging a net full of fish ashore. The same verb is later used in the Acts of the Apostles to describe Paul and Silas being dragged before government authorities.

It’s also the verb Jesus uses to describe the spiritual dynamics between God and his creation in today’s Gospel. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him.”

If you imagine a game of tug-of-war, God pulls from one side, and we often pull from the other.

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Where do I find that type of resistance – or tension – in my relationship with God?

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Perhaps I’ve been lazy about praying more, or have procrastinated returning to church.

Maybe I’ve dragged my feet when needing to offer an apology as Christ commands us.

Or have been slow to let go of a particular habit.

Maybe I’ve let God fade from coming first in my life.

We can make a thousand excuses for why we resist those tugs at our conscience, but perhaps today we can try one simple exercise:

Let go and let God draw us ever closer to himself.

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Image credits: (1) Little Pink Houses of Hope (2) T Nation (3) Go Be Radiant

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Gospel: John 6:35-40

Jesus said to the crowds,
“I am the bread of life;
whoever comes to me will never hunger,
and whoever believes in me will never thirst.
But I told you that although you have seen me,
you do not believe.
Everything that the Father gives me will come to me,
and I will not reject anyone who comes to me,
because I came down from heaven not to do my own will
but the will of the one who sent me.
And this is the will of the one who sent me,
that I should not lose anything of what he gave me,
but that I should raise it on the last day.
For this is the will of my Father,
that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him
may have eternal life,
and I shall raise him on the last day.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Throughout the Gospels, Jesus makes several claims about himself starting with the words, “I AM,” including:

“I AM the Good Shepherd.”

“I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”

“I AM the gate, the door, the light of the world, the vine, the resurrection and the life.”

All of these statements have roots in the Old Testament, and each of them makes Jesus the hinge of salvation. 

He is the way to God.

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But the first “I AM” statement in John’s Gospel comes from the passage we heard today: “I am the bread of life.” 

This bold proclamation provides the foundation for understanding much of Johannine theology. Namely, Jesus is not only God, but is also God in the flesh – and God fully present in the Eucharist. 

As Saint Augustine once said, “We become what we consume.”

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How has receiving Christ in the Eucharist changed me?

In what ways am I becoming like Christ – bread broken and shared, nourishing, available to all?

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May we become what we consume.

The heart, the voice, the hands and feet of Christ in the world.

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Image credits: (1) Bibblia JFA Offline (2) Dad Speak, WordPress (3) Tim Staples, LifeTeen

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Gospel: John 6:30-35

The crowd said to Jesus:
“What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you?
What can you do?
Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written:

    He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”

So Jesus said to them,
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven;
my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 
For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven
and gives life to the world.”

So they said to Jesus,
“Sir, give us this bread always.” 
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life;
whoever comes to me will never hunger,
and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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In the office, I’m becoming known as the “Amazon pastor.” Do we need something? Amazon it! Pens, paper, big items, small items, whatever it may be.

The truth is you can Amazon almost anything.

Imagine if we could Amazon happiness. Buy now with one click! How many people would add that to their cart?

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Unfortunately, it’s just not that easy. Human happiness cannot be purchased because human beings were made for more. 

We need friends; love; support; purpose… God.

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In today’s Gospel, Jesus promises, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”

Unlike Amazon, which may satisfy transactional needs quickly, Christ promises to satisfy us forever.

That doesn’t mean that we pray once and are filled. The Lord gives us our “daily bread,” meaning he gives us enough grace to satisfy us for today… Then we must return to him tomorrow.

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Do I go to Jesus daily? Does he satisfy the deepest part of my heart?

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I may be the “Amazon pastor,” but one thing we all want, which Amazon can never sell, is a share of human happiness. For that, we must turn to the Lord.

As Saint Ignatius of Loyola once said, “Give me your love and your grace, O LORD. That is enough for me.”

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Image credits: (1) The FTC Takes on Amazon, The New Yorker (2) Adobe Stock (3) X