Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Third Week of Easter
Reading: Acts 8:1-8
Gospel: John 6:35-40
Jesus said to the crowds,“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.But I told you that although you have seen me, you do not believe.Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me,because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me.And this is the will of the one who sent me that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day.For this is the will of my Father: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
The Jews held something more than the secret to longevity. Jesus was in their midst -the Bread of Eternity. In Him they had access to perpetuity. But him they rejected, O what a waste of opportunity! In effect they rejected eternal life – what would have been the price for the scourge of earthly strife.
We have this similar opportunity through the sacred species that nourish. At Mass, the substance of ordinary bread turns into Christ’s flesh. This teaching is too heavy for human beings to embrace. Understanding is given only to those who abide by grace. God respects those he had gifted with freedom, as they take exception to the teachings of the kingdom. But they can always repent, and surely God will relent.
Others have the wager’s mentality. They attend Mass for they have nothing to lose anyway. Then they leave the altar without changing for the better a bit. They attend Mass just in case they get something out of it. Can they keep their cake and eat it too? For being neither hot nor cold God will vomit them without much ado (Rev. 3:15).
There are also those who are procrastinating. Their plan is to accept God when they are finally dying. Will their scheme succeed on a God who is wise indeed? No, they still have their own selves with which to contend. Having been lukewarm towards God while still healthy, how at deathbed could they be warm to God instantaneously?
Yes, it is true that anytime God accepts the repentant of heart. But procrastinating is too risky to be taken for an art. It is banking too much on one’s emergency use of will power at death. But what will power is there to talk about when one is losing his breath.
Unless we look at the Mass from this perspective, we’d be wasting precious opportunity as the Jews in Jesus’ time did. – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website: www.frdan.org.
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