April 20 Monday: Jn 6:22-29:
The context: Today’s Gospel introduces Jesus’
famous discourse on the Holy Eucharist, which emerged within a dialogue between
Jesus and the Jews who had gone around the Lake and come to Capernaum searching
for him. In answer to their question about his arrival, Jesus challenged them,
saying that they were looking for him so they could get another free meal and
that such meals would not satisfy them. He also instructed them to labor for
food that would give them Eternal Life.
Naturally, the Jews asked Jesus what they should do to get
such a food. Since the Jews believed that the Torah was the “bread of life,”
many may have thought that Jesus was instructing them to keep the Torah to
attain Eternal Life. So, Jesus clarified that they had to do the work of God to
attain eternal life; he told them that the “work of God” was not to work
miracles for their own sake but to believe in Him as the Son of God, sent to
give Eternal Life to those who believed in him. While regular food helps us to
stay alive in this world, spiritual food sustains and develops our supernatural
life, which will last forever in Heaven. This food, which only God can give us,
consists mainly in the gift of Faith in Jesus and in the grace God gives us to
live according to Jesus’ teaching. Through God’s infinite love, we are given in
the Blessed Eucharist the very Author of these gifts, Jesus Christ, as
nourishment for our souls.
Life message:
1) Most of the time, we work for food which only nourishes the body. Jesus
teaches that he is the Heavenly food, who nourishes the soul and gives us
eternal life in union with God in Heaven. Hence, let us receive this
Life-giving food both in the Holy Eucharist and in the Holy Scripture with
proper preparation and reverence while repenting of our sins.
Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
April 21 Tuesday: St. Anselem, Bishop, Doctor of the
Church:Jn 6:30-35:
The context: In reply to Jesus’ implied claim
that he was the Messiah and his declaration that He had been sent from Heaven
to give Eternal Life to those who believed in him, the Jews demanded a sign
from Heaven. Moses, they said, gave a Heavenly sign to their ancestors in the
form of manna, rained down on them from Heaven. The Jewish rabbis taught that
the promised Messiah would repeat the miracle of the manna as a Messianic sign,
and that the prophet Jeremiah would reappear and show the Jews the Ark of the Covenant
where the original manna had been kept. Jesus explained to the Jews that it was
not Moses but God, his Heavenly Father, Who had given them manna from Heaven.
He then claimed that he was more than a provider of bread like Moses because he was
himself the bread that the Father was providing. In other words, Jesus
is the Heavenly manna whom the Father has sent to the world as the Bread of
Life. Thus, Jesus clarifies that the manna given to Moses and the people was
not the real bread from Heaven, but only a foreshadowing of the Bread to come.
Jesus also demands from them an absolute Faith in himself as the Son of God and
the Bread of Life if they do not want to hunger and thirst again. Jesus uses
the metaphor of food and drink to show that He is the One Who really meets all
man’s essential needs and noblest aspirations.
Life message: 1) Jesus kept his promise, and he
continues to feed us with his Body and Blood in the Holy Eucharist. So, let us
nourish our souls with this Heavenly manna. Let us also remember that our duty
is to carry this Jesus to our homes and workplaces, radiating his love, mercy
and compassion all around us.
Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
April 22 Wednesday: Jn 6:35-40:
The context: In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus
repeats his claim that he is “the Bread of Life.” He means that, just as God
sent manna from heaven to sustain the physical life of his people in the
desert, so He has sent His Son Jesus to sustain the spiritual lives of His
people. Spiritual life is actually Sanctifying Grace, our living relationship
with God the Father, through His Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
Jesus makes three claims: 1) He claims to be our spiritual
Food and offers himself in order to produce God’s life within us. 2) He
promises to those who believe in him unbroken friendship with God. 3) Jesus
also promises to those who believe in him a share in his own Resurrection at
the end of this world and share of Eternal Life with him in Heaven.
Life messages: 1) We need to live dynamic
spiritual lives, sharing in God’s Life, Sanctifying Grace, through the Holy
Eucharist. 2) We can keep the friendship of Jesus only by leading holy lives
free from sin. 3) We can enjoy and share the joy of Jesus’ Resurrection only by
realizing and appreciating his presence within us and all around us. 4) Only
God can satisfy our deepest needs. Fr. Tony:
April 23 Thursday: St. George, Martyr; St Adalbert,
Bishop & Martyr: Jn 6:44-51:
The context: Today’s Gospel passage is the
continuation of Jesus’ teaching on the Bread of Life. Jesus declares that he
has seen God his Father because he has come from Heaven. Jesus also states that
we hear God the Father’s Voice through him and through the Holy Spirit because
the Father draws us to Jesus through the Holy Spirit.
Jesus reminds the Jews that they cannot be his disciples
unless God his Father draws them to him and teaches them. The Magisterium of
the Church has repeated this teaching in Vatican II: “Before this Faith can
be exercised, man must have the grace of God to move and assist him; he must
have the interior help of the Holy Spirit, Who moves the heart and converts it
to God, Who opens the eyes of the mind and makes it easy for all to accept and
believe the truth” (Vatican II, Dei Verbum, 5). Once they become his
disciples, Jesus will feed their souls with the Bread from Heaven, and this
Heavenly Bread is his own Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. Eternal Life is
reserved for such disciples. This Eternal Life is a Life of love, fellowship,
communion, and union with God.
Life message: 1) Holy Communion is the wonderful
banquet at which Christ gives himself to us: “The Bread which I shall give
for the life of the world is My Flesh.)” Hence, let us receive the
glorified Body and Blood of the Risen Lord Jesus in the Holy Eucharist with a
repentant heart, proper preparation, reverential fear, and grateful joy. Fr.
Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
April 24 Friday: St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen, Priest,
Martyr: Jn 6:52-59:
The context: The Jewish audience for Jesus’
teaching on the Bread of Life were scandalized at his statement that he was
going to give them his Flesh to eat, for it suggested to them cannibalism,
forbidden in the Jewish Scriptures. Hence, they wanted to know how Jesus could
give his Flesh to eat as a means to gain Eternal Life. Jesus asserted that it
was a must for them to eat his Body and drink his Blood if they were to receive
Divine Life, Eternal Life, and resurrection from the dead. There is no way to
interpret Jesus’ words as “simply symbolic,” which would mean that receiving
Communion is only a metaphor, and not really eating and drinking the Body and
Blood of Christ. Jesus stresses very forcefully that it is necessary for us to
receive him in the Blessed Eucharist in order to share in Divine Life and to
develop the life of grace we have received in Baptism. “We receive
Jesus Christ in Holy Communion to nourish our souls and to give us an increase
of grace and the gift of eternal life” (St. Pius X Catechism, # 289). “Really
sharing in the body of the Lord in the breaking of the Eucharistic bread, we
are taken up into communion with him and with one another.” (Vatican II, Lumen
Gentium, 7). Jesus adds that eating his Body and drinking his Blood
are essential for abiding in him, which is, on this earth, the beginning of the
Eternal Life of Heaven. Communion with Jesus enables us to start enjoying
Eternal Life with God here on earth, while resurrection gives us eternal life
with God forever. St. Thomas Aquinas gives this explanation: “The Word
gives life to our souls, but the Word made Flesh nourishes our souls.”
(“Commentary on St. John, in loc.”).
Life message: 1) We need to receive Holy
Communion with the full awareness that we are abiding in Jesus, carrying him
wherever we go. Hence, we are expected to radiate to all around us the love,
the mercy, the spirit of service, and the forgiveness of Jesus. Fr. Tony;
April 25 Saturday: St. Mark, Evangelist: Mk 16:15-20: Biography of St. Mark: Most of what we know about Mark comes directly from the New Testament. He is usually identified with the Mark of Acts 12:12. (When Peter escaped from prison, he went to the home of Mark’s mother). Paul and Barnabas took him along on the first missionary journey, but for some reason Mark returned alone to Jerusalem. It is evident from Paul’s refusal to let Mark accompany him on the second journey, despite Barnabas’s insistence, that Mark had displeased Paul. Later, Paul asks Mark to visit him in prison, so we may assume the trouble did not last long.
The oldest and the shortest of the four Gospels, the Gospel of Mark emphasizes Jesus’ rejection by humanity though he is God’s Son and triumphant envoy. Probably written for Gentile converts in Rome—after the deaths of Peter and Paul sometime between A.D. 60 and 70—Mark’s Gospel is the gradual manifestation of a “scandal”: a crucified Messiah. Evidently a friend of Mark (Peter called him “my son”), Peter is only one of the Gospel sources, others being the Church in Jerusalem (Jewish roots) and the Church at Antioch (largely Gentile).
Life messages: 1) We need to be proclaimers and
evangelizers: In today’s Gospel Jesus gives his mission to all believers: “Go
out to the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.” This
mission is not given to a select few but to all believers. To be a Christian is
to be a proclaimer and an evangelizer. There is a difference between preaching
and proclaiming. “We preach with words, but we proclaim with our lives.” No one
is excluded, and all are welcome. 2) We are also reminded that while the Lord
gives the mission to all, Jesus does not expect us to rely only on our own
resources to fulfill that mission. The mission is accompanied by the Divine
power that is given to all those called upon to fulfill that mission, whatever
form it may take in our lives. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/ )
