Thursday April 22

Third Week OF Easter

 

ENCOUNTERING CHRIST IN WORD AND SACRAMENT

Introduction 

Luke presents the conversion of the treasurer of the queen of Ethiopia very much in parallel with that of the disciples of Emmaus. The latter had listened to Christ’s explanation of the Scriptures about himself, and then recognized and really encountered the living, Risen Lord in the breaking of bread, in the Eucharist. The Ethiopian had the Scriptures explained to him about the lamb that was slain and the good news of the resurrection. Then, he asked to be baptized so that he could encounter the Risen Lord.

In the Gospel, Christ speaks again of himself as the bread of life to be accepted in faith and promises to give the bread of his own flesh in the Eucharist for the life of the world, for eternal life.

 

Opening Prayer

Father,
you draw all people to you
who believe in your Son, Jesus Christ.
Faith Lord, faith it is that we need.
Give it to us, we pray you,
a living faith that we can encounter today
Jesus Christ, your Son,
in your Word that you speak to us,
in the bread that you offer us,
and in the food that we can give
and can be to one another,
in Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord,
who lives with you and the Holy Spirit,
now and for ever.

 

Reading 1: ACTS 8:26-40

The angel of the Lord spoke to Philip,
“Get up and head south on the road
that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza, the desert route.”
So he got up and set out.
Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch,
a court official of the Candace,
that is, the queen of the Ethiopians,
in charge of her entire treasury,
who had come to Jerusalem to worship, and was returning home.
Seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah.
The Spirit said to Philip,
“Go and join up with that chariot.”
Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and said,
“Do you understand what you are reading?”
He replied,
“How can I, unless someone instructs me?”
So he invited Philip to get in and sit with him.
This was the Scripture passage he was reading:

Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter,
and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
In his humiliation justice was denied him.
Who will tell of his posterity?
For his life is taken from the earth.

Then the eunuch said to Philip in reply,
“I beg you, about whom is the prophet saying this?
About himself, or about someone else?”
Then Philip opened his mouth and, beginning with this Scripture passage,
he proclaimed Jesus to him.
As they traveled along the road
they came to some water,
and the eunuch said, “Look, there is water.
What is to prevent my being baptized?”
Then he ordered the chariot to stop,
and Philip and the eunuch both went down into the water,
and he baptized him.
When they came out of the water,
the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away,
and the eunuch saw him no more,
but continued on his way rejoicing.
Philip came to Azotus, and went about proclaiming the good news
to all the towns until he reached Caesarea.

 

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 66:8-9, 16-17, 20

(1) Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Bless our God, you peoples,
loudly sound his praise;
He has given life to our souls,
and has not let our feet slip.
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Hear now, all you who fear God, while I declare
what he has done for me.
When I appealed to him in words,
praise was on the tip of my tongue.
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Blessed be God who refused me not
my prayer or his kindness!
R.Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
or:
R. Alleluia.

 

Alleluia: JN 6:51

Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven,
says the Lord;
whoever eats this bread will live forever.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

 

Gospel: JN 6:44-51

Jesus said to the crowds:
“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.”

 

Intercessions

–   Lord, let your Word and your person be so much alive in us that we want to let all those around us share in them, we pray:

–   Lord, let the Eucharist make our communities alive in the spirit of service and justice, we pray:

–   Lord, let us become enthusiastic in love and sharing, like the early Christians, we pray:

 

Prayer over the Gifts

Lord God, we want to live,
live to the full
and without limits or boundaries.
Give us the bread of life, we pray you,
that we may know and love and live,
that we may give ourselves
with him who gave himself
as flesh for the life of the world,
and be raised up with him on the last day
to live with you, forever and ever.

 

Prayer after Communion

God of the living,
you have given us the bread of life,
that we may eat it and not die.
All thanks be given to you, Father,
but make our faith strong and deep
that your Son is with us,
that in him, the world can live,
a life worth living, a life of hope,
of justice and dignity and love,
a life that lasts, forever and ever.

 

Blessing

To live, to be alive, to be vibrant with life, that is how we and our communities should be if the Lord is really alive among us. Some early Christian communities called themselves “Hoi zõntes,” “those who are alive.” Shouldn’t we all be? May Almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

 

Commentary

Through the first part of the Gospel today, the evangelist is synthesizing this important teaching of Jesus that we have been reflecting in the past couple of days. These are the important points of Jesus’ exhortation.
a. The Father in heaven is the initiator and source of all lives.
b. The Father wants to nourish the lives of his people with the bread from heaven.
c. The bread from heaven that gives life is Jesus – who is sent by the Father.
d. Jesus, coming from the Father, is focused on doing the will of the Father
e. And the will of the Father is that no one should be lost; all those who come to Jesus and believe in him enjoy life with Jesus and the Father for ever.

John was confronting the problem of unbelief among the people towards the end of the first century. Therefore, he wants to remind his people through the words of Jesus that no one comes to know Jesus unless the Father draws them to him. Those who refuse to accept and assimilate empathy, compassion, and love of God cannot accept Jesus either.
Jesus promises eternal life to those who believe in him. Eternal life is not something that we attain after our death rather we are already living that life with Jesus and the Father. Whoever believes, lives… lives in Jesus. Jesus is the bread came down from heaven and whoever eats this bread, which is his body, does not die… Therefore, as we believe in God, and assimilate the person of Jesus by eating his flesh, we are participating in eternal life.
To avoid misinterpreting the meaning of Jesus’ invitation to eat “his flesh” we must keep in mind what this term means, in the Gospel of John. The Semitic concept of “the flesh” is not identified with the muscles. Instead, it referred to the whole person but destined to die. In the prologue of his Gospel, John says: “The Word was made flesh” (Jn 1:14), he did not refer to the fact that the Son of God assumed the outward appearance of a man, but that he made himself similar to us, welcoming even the weakest nature of our human condition.

Therefore, the phrase, “Eat my flesh” means much more than eating the Eucharistic bread. It means to assimilate the person of Jesus – and thereby, live as another Christ with flesh and blood. This is the huge challenge that the Lord places before us: to become another Christ.