Fr Kevin Kilgore

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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” Jesus says.

This verb, “draw,” in Greek helkuein, always implies a type of resistance.

It’s the same word John used to describe the effort it took for Peter to draw in a net full of fish. First, Peter met the resistance of the fish and the water, then the resistance of the sand as he dragged his catch ashore.

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So, what does Jesus mean when he says, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him”?

That, literally, we must be dragged into belief.

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In today’s Gospel, for example, Jesus reveals one of his most important teachings, certainly for Catholics: “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.”

Jesus lays it out there plain and simple – he wants us to eat his “Flesh,” the living bread come down from heaven.

To us it sounds strange. To Jesus’ first listeners, very strange. So much so that the crowd of five-thousand that followed him dwindled down to twelve.

Then he turns to his disciples and says, “Do you also want to leave?”

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In what ways do I resist the Lord? 

Maybe I’m adverse to one of his teachings. Maybe I resist giving up a particular habit, a favorite temptation. Perhaps I fail to trust.

“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him.”

May the Spirit weaken our resistance so that we can go deeper with God today.

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Image credits: (1) NeverThirsty (2) Steve Dusek, Podcast (3) St. Francis of Assisi Church

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Acts: 8: 1-8

There broke out a severe persecution of the Church in Jerusalem,
and all were scattered
throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria,
except the Apostles.
Devout men buried Stephen and made a loud lament over him.
Saul, meanwhile, was trying to destroy the Church;
entering house after house and dragging out men and women,
he handed them over for imprisonment.

Now those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.
Thus Philip went down to the city of Samaria
and proclaimed the Christ to them.
With one accord, the crowds paid attention to what was said by Philip
when they heard it and saw the signs he was doing.
For unclean spirits, crying out in a loud voice,
came out of many possessed people,
and many paralyzed and crippled people were cured.
There was great joy in that city.

The Word of the Lord.

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The Acts of the Apostles, which we’re reading from throughout the Easter Season, describes the life and liturgy of the early Church, answering questions like: 

“What did the first Christians do after the resurrection? How did they worship Christ? What were their lives like?”

Often, it wasn’t pleasant. 

As we just heard, “There broke out a severe persecution of the Church in Jerusalem, and all were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria…Devout men buried Stephen [the first martyr] and made a loud lament over him.”

Life for these first Christians was hard and often dangerous.

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But we also see the responsiveness of the Holy Spirit.

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Because the first Christians were persecuted for their faith, they were forced to flee Jerusalem. As a result, the Gospel message begins to spread to new lands.

Soon enough, God will also transform the hardened heart of Saul, who becomes the Apostle Paul. After having his own experience of the resurrected Christ, Paul becomes the most traveled missionary of his era.

He walked more than 10,000 miles on foot, sailed the open seas, preached the Gospel in synagogues, in public, even in prison. God took Paul’s past and passion, which was once used to persecute Christians, and transformed into an unstoppable zeal for the Gospel.

Towards the end of his life, Paul writes about his belief in a profound and mysterious truth: “All things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose.”

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While God allows evil to unfold in our world – take these first Christian persecutions as an example, which Paul once participated in – somehow God can bring good out of it.

“All things work together for the good of those who love God,” because nothing and no one can separate us from the love of Christ.

What might that mean for me today?

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Image credits: (1) Fine Art America (2) Judeo-Christian Clarion (3) Pin on Faith Quotes, Pinterest

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Gospel: Mark 16: 15-20

Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them:
“Go into the whole world
and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved;
whoever does not believe will be condemned.
These signs will accompany those who believe:
in my name they will drive out demons,
they will speak new languages.
They will pick up serpents with their hands,
and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them.
They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them,
was taken up into heaven
and took his seat at the right hand of God.
But they went forth and preached everywhere,
while the Lord worked with them
and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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In the Gospel, Jesus promises to give us the power to speak new languages. But out of the 6,500 languages spoken on this planet, there is one we all must speak:

Love.

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Love is what drives out the demon of hatred; the demons of pride and prejudice; the demons of jealousy, envy and greed. 

As it’s written elsewhere, “Love covers a multitude of sins.”

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Some say there are five primary ways we speak the language of love:

Words of affirmation; acts of service; offering gifts; spending quality time with others; and through physical touch.

How do I show my love for others?

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Maybe I prepare a home cooked meal for my family each night; an act of service. 

Maybe I insist on telling my family I love them before ending a phone call; words of affirmation.

Maybe I show my love by offering a hug. Or I find delight in finding the perfect gift.

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In whatever way you show love for other people, find a way to do so today.

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Image credits: (1) gurmentor.com, Encore!!! (2) ThoughtCo (3) iStock