August 12, 2018 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time 1st Reading: 1 Kg 19:4–82nd Reading: Eph 4:30–5:2 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 which comes from heaven so that you may eat of it and not die.“I am the living bread which has come 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.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the
Assimilated Life
Experience)
A bakeshop came up with a unique idea of baking bread in the form of “lechon baboy”. It appears like real pig but the taste is real bread. When I saw and tasted one, I asked if the bakery was also baking fish-looking bread for health-conscious people, snake-looking bread for exotic food patrons, or Jesus-looking bread for lovers of the Holy Eucharist. Of the forms I mentioned, the last one struck the owner of the bakery most, presumably because of the morbidity of the idea of eating bread that looks like a roasted person.
This takes us to the heart of today’s Gospel where Jesus presented himself to the people as bread to eat. They murmured because they found it insane to have to eat the body of Jesus. Even as people began leaving in disgust, Jesus insisted: “The bread I shall give is my flesh and I will give it for the life of the world” (Jn. 6:51).
Today, the same offer is available at the Eucharist. When consecrated, the bread used at Mass becomes real body of Christ and the wine becomes his real blood. This time the repugnance is lessened because the bread and the wine retain their external appearances even after consecration by operation of the mystery of trans-substantiation. With the repugnance issue properly addressed, the question now is how much of ourselves is transformed by our frequent partaking of the body of Christ at the Eucharist. – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M.
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