19TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Psalter: Week 3 / (Green)
Ps 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
1st Reading: 1 K 19:4-8
He himself disappeared into the desert going on a day’s journey. Then he sat down under a broom tree and prayed to die, “That is enough, Yahweh, take away my life for I am dying.”
He lay down and went to sleep under the broom tree. Then an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” Elijah looked and saw, at his head, a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and went back to sleep. The angel of Yahweh came a second time to him, saying, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too long for you.” He got up, ate and drank, and on the strength of that food, he traveled for forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God.
2nd Reading: Eph 4:30—5:2
Do not sadden the Holy Spirit of God, who you were marked with. He will be your distinctive mark on the day of salvation. Do away with all quarreling, rage, anger, insults and every kind of malice: be good and understanding, forgiving one another, as God forgave you, in Christ.
As most beloved children of God, strive to imitate him. Follow the way of love, the example of Christ, who loved you. He gave himself up for us, and became the offering and sacrificial victim, whose fragrance rises to God.
Gospel: Jn 6:41-51
The Jews murmured because Jesus had said, “I am the bread which comes from heaven.” And they said, “This man is the son of Joseph, isn’t he? We know his father and mother. How can he say that he has come from heaven?”
Jesus answered them, “Do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to me unless he is drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise him up on the last day. It has been written in the Prophets: They shall all be taught by God. So whoever listens and learns from the Father comes to me.
For no one has seen the Father except the One who comes from God; he has seen the Father. Truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.
I am the bread of life. Though your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, they died. But here you have the bread from heaven, so that you may eat of it, and not die.
I am the living bread from heaven; whoever eats of this bread will live forever. The bread I shall give is my flesh, and I will give it for the life of the world.”
Lectio Divina
Read: Elijah, who is depressed and suicidal, feeds on the food of the angels and recovers. Anything that separates us from God saddens the Holy Spirit and we must avoid them. His listeners have a hard time taking in his “strange” teachings, but Christ insists that they take him seriously, for their own good.
Reflect: “They shall all be taught by God.” It looks like a great honor to be taught by God Himself, but when God does so, people tend to shy away in disbelief. This is what we find in the reactions of the people to Jesus’ teachings. Such reluctance to be taught by God is presumably because what God teaches goes against our sinful inclinations and inconveniences us. But such reluctance is to our own peril and saddens the Holy Spirit whose passion it is to help us understand Jesus’ teachings. What we need is an openness to the Spirit so that he can drive home what God wants us to learn, do and be.
Pray: Say a little prayer to the Holy Spirit.
Act: Do the Eucharist today.
Daily Reflection 2018
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Biblical Texts are taken from Christian Community Bible, Catholic Pastoral Edition (57th Edition) The New English Translation for the ROMAN MISSAL
With permission from the EPISCOPAL COMMISION ON LITURGY of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines
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