IMÁDSÁG NAPRÓL NAPRA

Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

First Reading

1 Kings 19,4-8

He himself went on into the desert, a day's journey, and sitting under a furze bush wished he were dead. 'Yahweh,' he said, 'I have had enough. Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.' Then he lay down and went to sleep. Then all of a sudden an angel touched him and said, 'Get up and eat.' He looked round, and there at his head was a scone baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. But the angel of Yahweh came back a second time and touched him and said, 'Get up and eat, or the journey will be too long for you.' So he got up and ate and drank, and strengthened by that food he walked for forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, God's mountain.

Psalmody

Psalm 33

Antiphon

Let us bless the Lord at all times.

I will bless the Lord at all times,
his praise always on my lips;

in the Lord my soul shall make its boast.
The humble shall hear and be glad.

Glorify the Lord with me,
together let us praise his name.

I sought the Lord and he answered me;
from all my terrors he set me free.

Look towards him and be radiant;
let your faces not be abashed.

This poor man called; the Lord heard him
and rescued him from all his distress.

The angel of the Lord is encamped
around those who revere him, to rescue them.

Taste and see that the Lord is good.
He is happy who seeks refuge in him,

Revere the Lord, you his saints.
They lack nothing, those who revere him.

Strong lions suffer want and go hungry
but those who seek the Lord lack no blessing.

Come, children, and hear me
that I may teach you the fear of the Lord.

Who is he who long for life
and many days to enjoy his prosperity?

Then keep your tongue from evil
and you lips from speaking deceit.

Turn aside the evil and do good;
seek and strive after peace.

The Lord turns his face against the wicked
to destroy their remembrance from the earth.

The Lord turns his eyes to the just
and his ears to their appeal.

They call and the Lord hears
and rescues them all in their distress.

The Lord is close to the broken-hearted;
those whose spirit is crushed he will save.

Many are the trials of the just man
but from them all the Lord will rescue him.

He will keep guard over all his bones,
not one of his bones shall be broken.

Evil brings death to the wicked;
those who hate the good and doomed.

The Lord ransoms the souls of his servants.
Those who hide in him shall not be condemned.

Second Reading

Ephesians 4,30-5,2

do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God who has marked you with his seal, ready for the day when we shall be set free. Any bitterness or bad temper or anger or shouting or abuse must be far removed from you -- as must every kind of malice. Be generous to one another, sympathetic, forgiving each other as readily as God forgave you in Christ. As God's dear children, then, take him as your pattern, and follow Christ by loving as he loved you, giving himself up for us as an offering and a sweet-smelling sacrifice to God.

Reading of the Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Yesterday I was buried with Christ,
today I rise with you who are risen.
With you I was crucified;
remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

John 6,41-51

Meanwhile the Jews were complaining to each other about him, because he had said, 'I am the bread that has come down from heaven.' They were saying, 'Surely this is Jesus son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know. How can he now say, "I have come down from heaven?" ' Jesus said in reply to them, 'Stop complaining to each other. '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

Yesterday I was buried with Christ,
today I rise with you who are risen.
With you I was crucified;
remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Homily

Referring to the bible passage on the manna sent from heaven to the people of Israel in the desert, Jesus applies to himself the content of the Bible message by saying: "I am the bread come down from heaven." Hearing these words, those who are present start murmuring. It is difficult, if not impossible for human logic, to think that heaven may show itself on the earth. And what is said of Jesus should be applied also to his visible body that is the Church. How is it possible that a poor Christian community equipped only of fragile sacramental signs and of a little book like the scriptures, may be an instrument of salvation? And yet, the heart of Christian faith is hidden in this mystery: the infinite chooses the finite in order to show himself; the Word that created the world chooses human words to manifest itself; the One who created everything becomes "real" presence in some bread and some wine; the Lord of heaven and earth makes himself present there where two or three people gather in his name.
"I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die." The problem of these words for us, differently from the people from Capernaum, maybe starts from our complacent way of listening to them, in which we risk not recognizing immediately their blasting strength. Jesus is the salvation of the people of Israel as well as the manna was in the desert. "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh." Those who link themselves with Jesus (those who eat his flesh) have eternal life. The Gospel does not say they "will have" but rather "have" eternal life from now, that is, they receive the gift of a life that does not end; in the fourth Gospel "eternal life" is a synonym of "divine life."
Truly the "bread that came down from heaven" sustains the life of the church as well as the life of each single believer. Saint John Paul II, in his last encyclical about the Eucharist states: "The Eucharist, as Christ's saving presence in the community of the faithful and its spiritual food, is the most precious possession which the Church can have in her journey through history" (n.9). Elijah's story already prefigured this mystery. The prophet, persecuted by the queen Jezebel, was forced to flee. After an exhausting escape, he slumped to the ground, tired and sad and only desired death. While his reserves of strength, mostly the spiritual ones, were failing, an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, wakened him from his torpor and said to him: "Get up and eat!" Elijah saw nearby his head a cake and ate it. But then he laid down again. The angel had to come back to arouse him again, as if to signify the need of always being called by the angel and of continuing to receive nourishment from the "bread of life." In short, no one can feel self-sufficient and everyone is always in need of nourishment. "Then he went in the strength of that food for forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God" (1 K 19:8). The prophet walked the way of the people of Israel, crossing the entire desert until the mount where Moses met God. It is the image of the pilgrimage of each Christian community and of each believer. The Lord Jesus, living bread come down from heaven, becomes our food to sustain us on our path towards the mount of the encounter with God.