Memory of the Church

Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

I am the good shepherd,
my sheep listen to my voice,
and they become
one flock and one fold.
.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

John 6,44-51

'No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me, and I will raise that person up on the last day. It is written in the prophets: They will all be taught by God; everyone who has listened to the Father, and learnt from him, comes to me. Not that anybody has seen the Father, except him who has his being from God: he has seen the Father. In all truth I tell you, everyone who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate manna in the desert and they are dead; but this is the bread which comes down from heaven, so that a person may eat it and not die. I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.'

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The Gospel continues to show us Jesus' speech in the synagogue in Capernaum. At the beginning of the passage, Jesus clarifies that no one can comprehend his mystery without having faith, which the Father himself gives. This "coming to" Jesus is not simply an intellectual question. We go to Jesus through the attraction of the mind and of the heart. Faith is a question of love and this happens in different ways and yet, they all require an encounter with Jesus that can be mediated by a brother, a sister, a poor person, by an experience of prayer and also by reading or listening to the Gospel. The free quotation that Jesus makes of the prophet Isaiah: "All your children shall be taught by the Lord," (Is 54:13) recalls the primacy of the Word in the realm of faith. Indeed, there is an attractive power of Scriptures: they broaden our mind and heart, insert us in the great design of God on the world, get us closer to Jesus, to his heart, and allow us to take part in the very action of Jesus among men and women. This is why Jesus says: "Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me," that is discovers the sense of life and receives the nourishment that supports us. There is no need for superhuman efforts to understand heavenly things. Whoever wants to know God should know the Son. Jesus clarifies that no one has seen the Father but him. And he will tell Philip: "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father" (Jn 14:9). Whoever wants to understand God's mystery must meet Jesus, must let his or her heart be touched by his Word, by the Gospel. Those who listen to these words will be drawn to God and receive the bread of eternity as Jesus says clearly: "I am the bread of life; who comes to me will not be hungry and who believes in me will never me thirsty; never!"