Daily Liturgy
Wednesday April 21
you are our faithful God,
even in days of trial for the Church
and for each of us personally;
you stay by our side,
even if we are not aware of your presence.
Give us an unlimited trust in you
and make us ever more aware
that your Son Jesus is the meaning of our lives
and that he nourishes us with himself,
today and every day, forever.
Reading 1: ACTS 8:1B-8
There broke out a severe persecution of the Church in Jerusalem,
and all were scattered
throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria,
except the Apostles.
Devout men buried Stephen and made a loud lament over him.
Saul, meanwhile, was trying to destroy the Church;
entering house after house and dragging out men and women,
he handed them over for imprisonment.
Now those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.
Thus Philip went down to the city of Samaria
and proclaimed the Christ to them.
With one accord, the crowds paid attention to what was said by Philip
when they heard it and saw the signs he was doing.
For unclean spirits, crying out in a loud voice,
came out of many possessed people,
and many paralyzed and crippled people were cured.
There was great joy in that city.
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 66:1-3A, 4-5, 6-7A
R. (1) Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Shout joyfully to God, all the earth,
sing praise to the glory of his name;
proclaim his glorious praise.
Say to God, “How tremendous are your deeds!”
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
or:
R. Alleluia.
“Let all on earth worship and sing praise to you,
sing praise to your name!”
Come and see the works of God,
his tremendous deeds among the children of Adam.
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
or:
R. Alleluia.
He has changed the sea into dry land;
through the river they passed on foot;
therefore let us rejoice in him.
He rules by his might forever.
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Alleluia: JN 6:40
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Everyone who believe in the Son has eternal life,
and I shall raise him on the last day, says the Lord.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel: JN 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.”
Intercessions
– That by the way they live their faith Christians, may show the beauty and joy of the message of Christ to those who seek, we pray:
– That the Church may accept people the way they are and not drive them away because of mistakes, we pray:
– That we may all be open-handed to many who are hungry today for food and love, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
Our faithful God,
you are our God of the covenant.
Make us understand the covenant more deeply
as your lasting commitment to us
at your own initiative.
In these signs of bread and wine,
allow us to express that we too,
want to be faithful to you not only
in moments of happiness and joy
but also when we are groping in the dark.
We ask you this through Christ, our Lord.
Prayer after Communion
Our faithful God,
we rejoice that in your Son, Jesus,
and his message of life,
you have given us something
and someone to live for.
Thank you very much for making him
our bread of life,
who will never drive us away
but will keep accepting us
and making us grow in his life
until it blossoms forth in eternal life.
All thanks through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Blessing
“I was hungry and you gave me to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me to drink,” says Jesus. May you always keep recognizing Jesus in the needy, with the blessing of Almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Commentary
The crowd who followed Jesus had experienced the miracle of the loaves in the desert. They hailed him as a prophet; they wanted to force him to be their king, but … they preferred to remain a crowd rather than believing in him and becoming his disciples. This was an actual problem the evangelist was facing when he was writing the gospel. He attempts to address the question of the continuing unbelief of numerous people despite the resurrection of Jesus and the obvious fruits of the power of the Spirit of Jesus at work within the Christian community.
John is telling his community the possible reason for the unbelief: If people would not come to Jesus and would not entrust themselves to him, the reason was their failure to be open to the inspirations of the Father who sent Jesus. Only those who are open to the inspirations of the Father receive the grace to come to Jesus and to believe in him.
Those who followed the “WAY” in the early community were no more accepted in the synagogues by the Jews. They were driven away. John wants to reassure them: “Jesus will not reject anyone who comes to him.” Jesus reflected in his human form the image of God. Through Jesus, we come to know what God is like. To believe in Jesus required that one should do away with one’s false images of God – and believe in a God who is revealed to us in the person of Jesus. –
We believe that Jesus is the most precious gift, God the Father has given to us. And then something bigger happens: We are gifts too! We are the gifts that God the Father has given to Jesus. For Jesus, each of us is a gift. It may be that the idea makes us feel special. We have been specially given into Jesus’s care. we are such a treasured gift from God that He will raise us as a new creation at God’s Kingdom.
What is exciting about being God’s gift to Jesus is, to discover that despite all our unworthiness and weaknesses, God still holds us precious.