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Read the Gospel Passage slowly and prayerfully, perhaps several times over a few days.
Let the Story speak to you in your own life, and don’t try to force a meaning.
Be ready to be surprised.
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Gospel
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.”Padre,
Jesus is known by many! However, do we love him and “believe” him as we should. “Praying” that we continue to “grow” fonder of His “Mission” each waking minute.
Steve
In the Story the folks felt they knew Jesus and so there was nothing he could teach them. This sort of thing happens a number of times in the Gospels. What it says to me is that I have to be careful that I don’t let myself feel I have Jesus all figured out, because then I will not be able to learn anything from him that I don’t already know. My ideas of Jesus can’t get in the way of Jesus trying to teach me new things whatever they may be. The basic question is what does it mean for me to live as Jesus’ disciple in the setting of whatever is going on in my life right now. The answers to this question are always changing because our circumstances are always changing. Questioning is very important, and the old ideas or answers don’t always work.
Thanks Padre for sharing your thoughts. I like what you are saying. I’m going to need sometime to “look” at “Life” in this way. Different way of thinking. I like it, but difficult for me.
Steve, take a chance and wonder why it is difficult for you.
Some thoughts. The folks in the Story could not accept that Jesus, whom they thought they knew well, was trying to teach them something.
Jesus calls us, as he called folks in his time, to take the chance and let him move us beyond out comfort zones. Sometimes it’s easier just to keep beating ourselves up than to take a chance and start thinking differently about the same old tings.
As we listen to or read this Gospel Story in the setting of the so much that is going on locally, in our country, and our church, we might look into ourselves to see if Jesus is trying to teach us anything about what we can do to be his disciples in all this, to deal with the threats and violence on just about any issue. Threats of violence against all sorts of folks who disagree with other people’s opinions are happening all around us, even as they happened to Jesus and his followers. Jesus teaches us what we are to do, not what we are to demand that other people so so it is easier for us to live our understanding of the Gospel, which just might not be the way others see the Gospel. We do know that folks are suffering and hurting in any number of situations. It may be that through this Gospel Story Jesus is trying to show us what we can do in our own circle to help, and how we need to remain close in him, our Bread of Life. Then again, maybe not. Jesus is not about answers, security, or safety. He is more about openness, questioning, trusting, growing.
This is from the “God has a sense of humor and knows how to kick butt” department.
This weekend’s Gospel Story is where the folks felt they knew Jesus and so he couldn’t teach them anything. This was going to be the focus of my homily — are we really ready when Jesus is trying to teach us something. It was the wrong question.
The real question is whether I am ready when Jesus wants to teach me something.
All week and especially today I had been working hard on my homily for this weekend. Today was mostly a day of prayer and homily work. I put a lot of time on my homily today and even wrote a lot of it out. I was so impressed that I sent snippets of it to some folks. Around 3 pm I was still at the table working on it and didn’t know I had lost track of time. I was really proud of myself, and knew that the folks were going to get a great homily. As I drove to the church I was feeling no doubt smug, without my usual quiet thinking and prayerful prep. My attitude was “I got this!”.
As I turned into the parking lot I saw the lot was full. As I walked into the church the pastor was just starting the mass I was supposed to have — definitely a WTF moment.
I’m still very joyfully processing what Jesus is trying to teach me, and this may take a while. But it’s nice to know Jesus cares enough about me to really kick my butt.
Padre,
You are Loved! The Homily will be received by many…tomorrow!?! OR Here! Jesus is keeping us in check!?! Lol…Keep up the good work! Jesus is using you like we need him to use you…is that alright for me to say?
This gospel is compelling but confusing. The one thing I felt certain of that never hit me before, is it feels like Jesus in His own way is trying to let the people know of His and Gods oneness. The first part of the trinity. He quotes the prophets saying “they shall b taught by God”, and while they called Him teacher the never made the connection.
He then emphasizes that He is the bread of life. Again to this day I don’t feel like many people truly believe or understand that statement. This is the beginning of the explanation of the Eucharist as we know. Accepting of the “flesh” of Christ, His being, and understanding that fully accepting Jesus will continue to fill ones soul and nourish a person more than any “food” can. He again explains that our physical need will always need to be replenished- His will always be fulfilling- and accepting it is all we need to do. The “hunger” will go away when we accept.
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