Gospel Reading for May 08, 2025 – John 6: 44-51
ALL OF US
Jesus said to the crowds: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. It is written in the prophets: ‘They shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my Flesh for the life of the world.”
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For us Catholics, these lines pertain to the Eucharist, where the bread and wine, through the Holy Spirit at the Epiclesis, becomes the body and blood of Jesus. Come to think of it, Jesus gave himself as bread and wine at the Last Supper, and not at every supper of the three years he was with the apostles. It was the perfect time to introduce this to them so he may continue to be with us in a very special way even after he had gone back to the Father.
Those of us who regularly attend the Eucharistic Celebration or what is also called the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, would surely appreciate how very well our early Fathers structured the whole celebration. There are those who complain that it is repetitive and thus, has become boring. It truly will be boring for those who attend it not understanding the meaning of the entire celebration and may be there just to fulfill an obligation or keep a family tradition. But, those who willingly attend and understand it, will see how very beautiful the liturgy is.
It is very WHOLISTIC and ORGANIZED – starting with an acknowledgment of the community gathered; then the penitential rites to acknowledge and ask for forgiveness, before glorifying God; then, the Liturgy of the Word, where we listen to him speak through prophets and others, both from the Old and New Testament, and finally listening to him speak for himself at the Gospel; with the help of the presider’s homily, we are able to ponder on his Word; and during Solemnities and Sundays, we recite the Creed which sums up all we believe as Catholics; the Prayers of the Community follows, then we go to the Liturgy of the Eucharist, where preparation of bread and wine commences, where the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ; then several prayers to the Father are made through Jesus, with Jesus and in Jesus; incorporating the prayer Jesus himself taught us, up to the time we receive Jesus in the form of bread at Communion. At the Concluding Rites, we receive a blessing and are sent off to proclaim Jesus to others. It is THEMATIC – the prayers are well thought of to enhance the whole celebration. There are even special prayers and readings for celebration of Memorials, Feasts and Solemnities. If we listen well to the prayers we will realize how rich our Liturgy is and how much effort was put into it by our early liturgists.
The Eucharistic Celebration is COMPLETE. We already have an assurance of Jesus’ presence. It should not really be wanting of anything else. But what is really wanting is putting ourselves into the celebration, the Presider, those who serve, and those of us who attend. It is the duty of the Presider to make Jesus’ presence felt all throughout the celebration. He is not there just to pray for the bread and wine to become the body and blood of Christ. He is there to make Christ’s miracle happen. And, as it is in miracles, those of us who attend also have the duty to make ourselves receptive to make the miracle happen – to predispose ourselves to Jesus’ presence by being prompt, wearing clothes befitting of meeting God in his Sanctuary, and behaving accordingly. It is also the duty of those who serve to make the miracle happen – from the one preparing the altar, to the one in charge of the sound system, to the one preparing the slides to make sure that what will be projected is what will be used for the celebration, free from typos and grammatical errors, to the one projecting the slides to be attentive; to the altar servers really assisting the Presider and helping maintain the solemnity of the celebration; to readers making themselves be well understood; to the choir being able to lead the congregation to sing songs that edify the celebration; to the eucharistic ministers being able to solemnly give the body of Christ. ALL OF US have the duty to make the Eucharistic Celebration a truly meaningful celebration as Jesus surely meant it to be. We are so blessed!
Yes, Lord Jesus, you are the Living Bread that came down from heaven!
