Posts Tagged ‘bread of life’

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: April 21, 2021 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
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Unless a grain of wheat falls on the ground and dies it remains a single seed. But if it dies in produces many seeds.

If we say we have died to ourselves and have taken up our cross to follow Jesus then where are the many seeds we have produced? How many have we led to RCIA? How many have we touched and ministered to? How many have we led out of bondage and have set free through Christ our Lord? How many no longer hunger and thirst for they have experienced the living bread, the Bread of Life?

It is not about being thick skinned enough but rather how filled are You with the love of God our Heavenly Father? Have you not partaken of the Bread of Life yourself? Are you not nourished daily through His living Word? For if you were truly living as a child of God so loved by Your Heavenly Father and are a disciple of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; then you will not allow criticism, persecution or anything for that matter, get in the way of sharing His truth, way and life!

It is my Father’s will, says the Lord, that whoever believes in the Son shall have eternal life, and that I shall raise him up on the last day. Amen

Alleluia!

First reading

Acts 8:1-8

They went from place to place, preaching the Good News

That day a bitter persecution started against the church in Jerusalem, and everyone except the apostles fled to the country districts of Judaea and Samaria.

    There were some devout people, however, who buried Stephen and made great mourning for him.

    Saul then worked for the total destruction of the Church; he went from house to house arresting both men and women and sending them to prison.

    Those who had escaped went from place to place preaching the Good News. One of them was Philip who went to a Samaritan town and proclaimed the Christ to them. The people united in welcoming the message Philip preached, either because they had heard of the miracles he worked or because they saw them for themselves. There were, for example, unclean spirits that came shrieking out of many who were possessed, and several paralytics and cripples were cured. As a result there was great rejoicing in that town.

 

Gospel

John 6:35-40

It is my Father’s will that whoever sees the Son should have eternal life

Jesus said to the crowd:

‘I am the bread of life.

He who comes to me will never be hungry;

he who believes in me will never thirst.

But, as I have told you,

you can see me and still you do not believe.

All that the Father gives me will come to me,

and whoever comes to me I shall not turn him away;

because I have come from heaven, not to do my own will,

but to do the will of the one who sent me.

Now the will of him who sent me

is that I should lose nothing of all that he has given to me,

and that I should raise it up on the last day.

Yes, it is my Father’s will

that whoever sees the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and that I shall raise him up on the last day.’

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: April 28, 2020 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
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Lord Jesus I have so missed receiving You fully present, body, blood, soul and divinity in Holy Eucharist. But I take comfort in Your promise when you said, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never be hungry; he who believes in me will never thirst.”So Lord Jesus I stand now before Your Holy presence and profess my belief in You. Fill me Lord with Your grace and Your love. Forgive me my wrongdoings as I forgive everyone their wrongdoings against me. Do not hold our sins against us Lord, heal and purify us; so that we may be found worthy and welcomed into our Heavenly inheritance that awaits us.All you Holy Angels and Saints pray for us. Amen

First reading

Acts 7:51-8:1 ·
‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit’Stephen said to the people, the elders and the scribes: ‘You stubborn people, with your pagan hearts and pagan ears. You are always resisting the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do. Can you name a single prophet your ancestors never persecuted? In the past they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, and now you have become his betrayers, his murderers. You who had the Law brought to you by angels are the very ones who have not kept it.’
They were infuriated when they heard this, and ground their teeth at him.
But Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at God’s right hand. ‘I can see heaven thrown open’ he said ‘and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’ At this all the members of the council shouted out and stopped their ears with their hands; then they all rushed at him, sent him out of the city and stoned him. The witnesses put down their clothes at the feet of a young man called Saul. As they were stoning him, Stephen said in invocation, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ Then he knelt down and said aloud, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them’; and with these words he fell asleep. Saul entirely approved of the killing.

Gospel

John 6:30-35
It is my Father who gives you the bread from heavenThe people said to Jesus, ‘What sign will you give to show us that we should believe in you? What work will you do? Our fathers had manna to eat in the desert; as scripture says: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’
Jesus answered:‘I tell you most solemnly, it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven, it is my Father who gives you the bread from heaven, the true bread; for the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’‘Sir,’ they said ‘give us that bread always.’ Jesus answered:‘I am the bread of life.
He who comes to me will never be hungry; he who believes in me will never thirst.’

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: July 24, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
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In this day and age when we read the Gospel we would probably say it is the story about an inefficient, wasteful and clueless sower. How can a sower not know the ground in which he plants his seed? How can precious seed be allowed to be wasted? Or to be left to chance that one in four will yield a crop?

Ah…now perhaps our eyes are opened a little to glimpse into the heart of the Lord our God Himself. To see just how precious we are to Him, that the seed (His Word) He scatters are seeds of hope and promise. How we receive this precious seed is what matters. Do we guard it? Do we fight to protect it? Do we nurture and care for it? How can we return to the Lord a hundredfold the seed He planted in our hearts? So what if we are successful in life? How many souls have we saved? How much have we contributed to building up His Kingdom? Jesus did not come for the successful, the well to do, he came for us, sinners, ‘failures’. So that He can raise us up to be counted amongst the Saints in Heaven.

So then do we go on complaining about how little we have or how hard we have it? Or instead with grateful hearts be thankful to the Lord our God for all that we have. To be ever so grateful and thankful for the most precious gift He has bestowed upon us, the bread of life come down from Heaven. Now and forevermore. Amen

First reading

Exodus 16:1-5,9-15 ·The Lord sends quails and manna from heavenFrom Elim they set out, and the whole community of the sons of Israel reached the wilderness of Sin – between Elim and Sinai – on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left Egypt. And the whole community of the sons of Israel began to complain against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness and said to them, ‘Why did we not die at the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we were able to sit down to pans of meat and could eat bread to our heart’s content! As it is, you have brought us to this wilderness to starve this whole company to death!’ Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Now I will rain down bread for you from the heavens. Each day the people are to go out and gather the day’s portion; I propose to test them in this way to see whether they will follow my law or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they have brought in, this will be twice as much as the daily gathering.’ Moses said to Aaron, ‘To the whole community of the sons of Israel say this, “Present yourselves before the Lord, for he has heard your complaints.”’ As Aaron was speaking to the whole community of the sons of Israel, they turned towards the wilderness, and there was the glory of the Lord appearing in the form of a cloud. Then the Lord spoke to Moses and said, ‘I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel. Say this to them, “Between the two evenings you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have bread to your heart’s content. Then you will learn that I, the Lord, am your God.”’ And so it came about: quails flew up in the evening, and they covered the camp; in the morning there was a coating of dew all round the camp. When the coating of dew lifted, there on the surface of the desert was a thing delicate, powdery, as fine as hoarfrost on the ground. When they saw this, the sons of Israel said to one another, ‘What is that?’ not knowing what it was. ‘That’ said Moses to them ‘is the bread the Lord gives you to eat.’

Gospel

Matthew 13:1-9A sower went out to sowJesus left the house and sat by the lakeside, but such large crowds gathered round him that he got into a boat and sat there. The people all stood on the beach, and he told them many things in parables. He said, ‘Imagine a sower going out to sow. As he sowed, some seeds fell on the edge of the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Others fell on patches of rock where they found little soil and sprang up straight away, because there was no depth of earth; but as soon as the sun came up they were scorched and, not having any roots, they withered away. Others fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Others fell on rich soil and produced their crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Listen, anyone who has ears!’