Acts 9:1-20
Psalm 117
John 6:52-59
Worship Song
Entrance
Antiphon
The lamb who was slain is worthy to
receive strength and divinity, wisdom and power and honor, alleluia.
(Revelation 5:12)
Opening
Prayer
Father, by the love of your Spirit,
may we who have experienced the grace of the Lord’s resurrection rise to
newness of life in joy. Grant this…
Alleluia
Alleluia, alleluia. Whoever eats my
Flesh and drinks my Blood, remains in me and I in him, says the Lord. Alleluia,
alleluia. (John 6:56)
Jesus speaks
about his body and blood
52The Jews
quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us [his] flesh to eat?” 53Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you
eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life
within you. 54Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on
the last day. 55For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my
blood remains in me and I in him. 57Just as the living Father sent me and I
have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life
because of me. 58This is the bread that came down from heaven.
Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live
forever.” 59These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in
Capernaum.
Reflection
[Paul] “began
at once to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.” ~ V. 20,
Acts of the Apostles, 1st Reading
Paul learned
that Jesus and his Church are one.
We sometimes
hear people say, “I believe in God, and I believe in Jesus, but I don’t believe
in the Church.” Whenever we hear this, we want to cry out, “But there is no
Jesus apart from the Church. The Jesus you’re talking about no longer exists.
He died on Golgotha.”
The only Jesus
there is today is the Jesus who rose from the dead on Easter Sunday. He is the
Jesus who lives in the body of his followers. He is the Jesus who lives on in
the Church. Trying to separate Jesus from the Church is like trying to separate
a person’s head from a person’s body.
How firmly do
we believe Paul’s words in his Letter to the Colossians? “[Jesus] is the head
of his body, the church, he is the source of the body’s life.” (Colossians
1:18)
Reflection
Credits: Mark Link, SJ; Daily Homilies
Prayer Response
Loving Father,
help us present the Church and Jesus as one to the world. We ask this in the
name of your Son.
Suggested Action
Ananias helped
Paul get into the Church. Seek out someone who has left the Church. Try to bring
him back to the fellowship of your community.
Silencing
We
cannot know God unless we have listened to him in the silence of our hearts.
Rest in the loving arms of the Lord with an open mind and an open heart.
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