Prayer Prompt before reading JN 6:60-69: Come, Holy Spirit, teach me how to pray, interpret the Scriptures for me so that I may know the Truth about who God the Father is and God the Son so that I may know who I am.
“DOES THIS SHOCK YOU?” JN 6:60-69
Humbly submit your will to God (Thy Will be done) and consecrate yourself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through Mary and Joseph.
Today’s gospel ends the Bread of Life Discourse. Previously, Jesus said that we must “eat his Flesh and drink his Blood to have eternal life”. Since Jesus’ teaching was hard “many of his disciples returned to their former way of life. “This saying is hard; who can accept it?”
This is one of the hardest teachings Jesus gave us. Jesus’s mission is to die and rise, but before He does He teaches us today that He will stay with us forever hidden behind bread and wine, common food. He then institutes it at the Last Supper. His love is amazing and He cannot be outdone in generosity! He is so humble, He makes Himself so small He can fit between 2 fingers of a priest. He says, “Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?”
When He turns to His own chosen disciples in which the whole future of the Church relies on He still does not back down. This teaching is so important that Jesus is willing to give up the whole mission of the Church. (Fr. Mike Schmitz) Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?” This is serious.
Jesus is seriously asking us to believe that we must “eat His Flesh and drink His Blood to have everlasting life”. Jesus would not risk the future of the Church on a symbol of His Body and Blood. This is the Real Presence of Christ. Thank God, Simon Peter and the apostles did not walk away, too! Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.” JN 6:60-69
Jesus says it is His flesh and blood and institutes it at the Last Supper, then when He returns the first thing He does is break the bread, we should believe and not ask “why”. St. Padre Pio said, “The worst thing that ever happened was when people started asking “why””, meaning if Jesus says it is Truth it is Truth. God is Truth.
In the early Church, all of the Church Fathers wrote about the Eucharist. The earliest Christians were breaking the bread in their homes. There are times when we have been the disciples that returned to their former way of life and left Jesus or did not really believe the Eucharist is Jesus.
When we are struggling with sin and the hardships of life, we may fall away from Jesus and the Church for a time. Remember, this is when we need Jesus and the Church the most. This is what He died for, to save us in the darkest times in our life! Come to Him and allow His grace to transform you!
St. Padre Pio said that if people really believed that Jesus is present in the Eucharist, we would need several police officers at Mass for crowd control. God knows what He is doing. For 1000 years, nobody questioned the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. If Catholics were worshiping a false idol, a piece of bread, wouldn’t the Father have stopped them.
He stopped the Jews every time they began to worship false idols in the Old Testament. Jesus is present in the Eucharist simply because He said so. Stop asking why. He is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”
The way to the Father is through Jesus. May we answer Jesus like Peter, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.” When Jesus’ teachings get hard, do we become a cafeteria Catholic or do we dig in and choose to trust and believe?
Jesus just wants to be our friend. Allow Him to come into your life and be your best friend. Sadly, many Catholics have fallen away from the Church and going to Mass to receive this food for the journey to eternal life. If you are one of them, I personally invite you to come back to Jesus through a good examination of conscience, confession, and receiving the Eucharist. God welcomes you back with open arms every day!
Today’s challenge: Do you believe that Jesus has the words of eternal life and that He is the Holy One of God? Believe, receive His joy, then go forth and share it with others. The Good News of Jesus is not to stay with us, but is to inspire us to go and do something with it. This is what we are made for and how we become saints!
Watch Fr. Mike Schmitz, “The Hour that Will Change Your Life” on Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwwiIkrLxTM
Read 32 Days: A Story of Faith and Courage by Ellen Lucey Prozeller
#Christian YODO (You Only Die Once; we will live again)
Be a servant, be a saint today!
No Bible no breakfast, No Bible no bed. -Fr. Larry Richards
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