Catechism Links
CCC 1341-1344: “Do this in memory of me”
CCC 1384-1390: Take and eat: Communion
CCC Cross Reference:
1 Kg 19:1-14 2583; 1 Kg 19:5 332
Ps 34:3 716; Ps 34:8 336
Eph 4:30 698, 1274, 1296; Eph 4:32 2842; Eph 5:1 1694; Eph 5:2 616
Jn 6 1338; Jn 6 1338; Jn 6:44 259, 591, 1001, 1428; Jn 6:46 151; Jn 6:51 728, 1355, 1406, 2837
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Reading 1
1 Kgs 19:4-8
Elijah went a day’s journey into the desert,
until he came to a broom tree and sat beneath it.
He prayed for death saying:
“This is enough, O LORD!
Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”
He lay down and fell asleep under the broom tree,
but then an angel touched him and ordered him to get up and eat.
Elijah looked and there at his head was a hearth cake
and a jug of water.
After he ate and drank, he lay down again,
but the angel of the LORD came back a second time,
touched him, and ordered,
“Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!”
He got up, ate, and drank;
then strengthened by that food,
he walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
R. (9a) Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall be ever in my mouth.
Let my soul glory in the LORD;
the lowly will hear me and be glad.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Glorify the LORD with me,
Let us together extol his name.
I sought the LORD, and he answered me
And delivered me from all my fears.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Look to him that you may be radiant with joy.
And your faces may not blush with shame.
When the afflicted man called out, the LORD heard,
And from all his distress he saved him.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
The angel of the LORD encamps
around those who fear him and delivers them.
Taste and see how good the LORD is;
blessed the man who takes refuge in him.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Reading II
Eph 4:30—5:2
Brothers and sisters:
Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,
with which you were sealed for the day of redemption.
All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling
must be removed from you, along with all malice.
And be kind to one another, compassionate,
forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.
So be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love,
as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us
as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma
Gospel
Jn 6:41-51
The Jews murmured about Jesus because he said,
“I am the bread that came down from heaven, ”
and they said,
“Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph?
Do we not know his father and mother?
Then how can he say,
‘I have come down from heaven’?”
Jesus answered and said to them,
“Stop murmuring among yourselves.
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.”
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
First reading 1 Kings 19:4-8
Elijah went into the wilderness, a day’s journey, and sitting under a furze bush wished he were dead. ‘O Lord,’ he said ‘I have had enough. Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.’ Then he lay down and went to sleep. But 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 the Lord 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, the mountain of God.
Responsorial Psalm:
Psalm 33:2-9
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
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.
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
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.
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
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.
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
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.
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
Second reading Ephesians 4:30-5:2
Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God who has marked you with his seal for you to be set free when the day comes. Never have grudges against others, or lose your temper, or raise your voice to anybody, or call each other names, or allow any sort of spitefulness. Be friends with one another, and kind, forgiving each other as readily as God forgave you in Christ.
Try, then, to imitate God as children of his that he loves and follow Christ loving as he loved you, giving himself up in our place as a fragrant offering and a sacrifice to God.
Gospel John 6:41-51
The Jews were complaining to each other about Jesus, because he had said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’ ‘Surely this is Jesus son of Joseph’ they said. ‘We know his father and mother. How can he now say, “I have come down from heaven”?’ Jesus said in reply, ‘Stop complaining to each other.
‘No one can come to me
unless he is drawn by the Father who sent me,
and I will raise him up at the last day.
It is written in the prophets:
They will all be taught by God,
and to hear the teaching of the Father,
and learn from it,
is to come to me.
Not that anybody has seen the Father,
except the one who comes from God:
he has seen the Father.
I tell you most solemnly,
everybody who believes has eternal life.
‘I am the bread of life.
Your fathers ate the manna in the desert
and they are dead;
but this is the bread that comes down from heaven,
so that a man 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.’
Readings and Commentary from the Navarre Bible
19th Sunday in Ordinary Time
From: 1 Kings 19:4-8
Elijah flees to Horeb
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[4] But he himself [Elijah] went a days journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree; and he asked that he might die, saying. "It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am no better than my fathers." [5] And he lay down and slept under a broom tree; and behold, an angel touched him, and said to him, "Arise and eat." [6] And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank, and lay down again. [7] And the angel of the Lord came again a second time, and touched him, and said, "Arise and eat, else the journey will be too great for you." [8] And he arose, and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God.
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Commentary:
19:1-8. Elijah in some way repeats the experience of the chosen people as they fled from Egypt pursued by the pharaoh. The food that the angel gives him has been seen in Christian tradition as a figure of the Eucharist, given that ''by the grace of this Sacrament men enjoy the greatest peace and tranquility of conscience during the present life; and, when the hour of departing from this world shall have arrived, like Elijah, who in the strength of the bread baked on the hearth, walked to Horeb, the mount of God, they, too, invigorated by the strengthening influence of this (heavenly food), will ascend to unfading glory and bliss ("Roman Catechism", 2, 4, 54).
19:5. Angels appear often in the course of biblical history to protect individuals (Lot, in Gen 19; Hagar and Ishmael in Gen 21:17-19; etc.); to guide the people in the desert (cf. Ex 23:20-23); or to inform people of God's plans (cf. Judg 6:11-24; 13:1-25). Now, an angel comes to the prophet's help.
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From: Ephesians 4:30-5:2
Christian Virtues (Continuation)
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[30] And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the days of redemption. [31] Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, with all malice, [32] and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Purity of Life
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[1] Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. [2] And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
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Commentary:
30. The Holy Spirit, who is the bond of unity in Christ's mystical body (cf. Eph 4:3-4), is "grieved" by anything which might cause disunity among the faithful.
The Holy Spirit dwells in the souls of believers from Baptism onwards, and his presence is reinforced when they receive Confirmation and the other sacraments. As the Council of Florence teaches, in Confirmation "we are given the Holy Spirit to strengthen us, as happened to the Apostles on the day of Pentecost, enabling the Christian boldly to confess the name of Christ" ("Pro Armeniis, Dz-Sch", 1319). St Ambrose, commenting on the effects of Confirmation, says that the soul receives from the Holy Spirit "the spiritual seal, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and fortitude, the Spirit of knowledge and piety, the Spirit of holy fear. God the Father has sealed you, Christ the Lord has strengthened you, the mark of the Spirit has been impressed on your heart" ("De Mysteries", 7, 42). Since Confirmation is one of the three sacraments which imprints a character on the soul, this seal remains forever.
When the time came for Israel's redemption from slavery in Egypt, the blood of the passover lamb, which had been smeared on the doors of the Israelites' houses, acted as the mark which identified those to be saved. In a parallel way, the seal of the Holy Spirit which is given at Baptism is the permanent sign engraved on the souls of those who are called to salvation by dirge of the Redemption worked by Christ.
"The Apostle is speaking here of the configuration in virtue of which an individual is deputed to future glory, and this takes place through grace. Now grace is attributed to the Holy Spirit inasmuch as it is from love that God freely imparts something to us, and this belongs to the meaning of grace. And it is the Holy Spirit that is love" ("Summa Theologiae", III, q. 63, a 3, ad 1).
32. Forgiveness is one of the virtues which characterize the "new nature", for it leads a person to treat his neighbor as Jesus taught: "If you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother" (Mt 5:23-24). Our Lord has shown by his own example what really forgiving one's neighbor involves. Even in the midst of his suffering on the cross he asked his father to forgive those who condemned him and those who nailed him to the wood so violently and sadistically.
"Force yourself, if necessary, always to forgive those who offend you, from the very first moment. For the greatest injury or offense that you can suffer from them is as nothing compared with what God has pardoned you" (St. J. Escriva, "The Way", 452).
1. A good child tries to please his parents and to follow their good example. Christians are adopted children of God and therefore should be guided in their behavior by the way God treats people (cf. Mt 6:12; etc.); we have in fact a very accessible way to follow--that given us by Jesus.
If we wish our actions to be very pleasing to God our Father, we should learn from his Son made man. However, it "is not enough to have a general idea of Jesus; we have to learn the details of his life and, through them, his attitudes. And, especially, we must contemplate his life, to derive from it strength, light, serenity, peace.
"When you love someone, you want to know all about his life and character, so as to become like him. That is why we have to meditate on the life of Jesus, from his birth in a stable right up to his death and resurrection" (St. J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 107).
2. Christ gave himself up to death of his own free will, out of love for man. The words "a fragrant offering and sacrifice", recalling the sacrifices of the Old Law, underline the sacrificial character of Christ's death and emphasize that his obedience was pleasing to God the Father.
Jesus Christ "came to show us the immense love of his heart, and he gave himself to us entirely," St Alphonsus teaches, "submitting himself first to all the hardships of this life, then to the scourging, the crowning with towns and all the pain and ignominy of his passion; finally he ended his life forsaken by all on the infamous wood of the cross" ("Shorter Sermons", 37, 1, 1).
The founder of Opus Dei says in this connection: "Reflect on the example that Christ gave us, from the crib in Bethlehem to his throne on Calvary. Think of his self-denial and of all he went through -- hunger, thirst, weariness; heat, tiredness, ill-treatment, misunderstandings, tears [...]. But at the same time think of his joy at being able to save all mankind. And now I would like you to engrave deeply on your mind and on your heart--so that you can meditate on it often and draw your own practical conclusions--the summary St Paul made for the Ephesians when he invited them to follow resolutely in our Lord's footsteps: [Eph 5:1-2 follows]" ("Friends of God", 128).
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From: John 6:44-51
The Discourse on the Bread of Life (Continuation)
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(Jesus said to the Jews,) [44] "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. [45] It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Every one who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. [46] Not that any one has seen the Father except Him who is from God; He has seen the Father. [47] Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. [48] I am the bread of life. [49] Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. [50] This is the bread which comes down from Heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. [51] I am the living bread which came down from Heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is My flesh."
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Commentary:
44-45. Seeking Jesus until one finds Him is a free gift which no one can obtain
through his own efforts, although everyone should try to be well disposed to receiving it. The Magisterium of the Church has recalled 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" ("Dei Verbum", 5).
When Jesus says, "They shall all be taught by God", He is invoking Isaiah 54: 13 and Jeremiah 31:33ff, where the prophets refer to the future Covenant which God will establish with His people when the Messiah comes, the Covenant which will be sealed forever with the blood of the Messiah and which God will write on their hearts (cf. Isaiah 53:10-12; Jeremiah 31:31-34).
The last sentence of verse 45 refers to God's Revelation through the prophets and especially through Jesus Christ.
46. Men can know God the Father only through Jesus Christ, because only He has seen the Father, whom He has come to reveal to us. In his prologue St. John already said: "No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known" (John 1:18). Later on Jesus will say to Philip at the Last Supper: "He who has seen Me has seen the Father" (John 14:9), for Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and no one goes to the Father except through Him (cf. John 14:6).
In other words, in Christ God's revelation to men reaches its climax: "For He sent His Son, the eternal Word who enlightens all men, to dwell among men and to tell them about the inner life of God (cf. John 1:1-18). Hence, Jesus Christ, sent as 'a man among men', 'utters the words of God' (John 3:34), and accomplishes the saving work which the Father gave Him to do (cf. John 5:36; 17:4). To see Jesus is to see His Father (cf. John 14:9)" (Vatican II, "Dei Verbum", 4).
48. With this solemn declaration, which He repeats because of His audience's doubts, (cf. John 6:35, 41, 48), Jesus begins the second part of His discourse, in which He explicitly reveals the great mystery of the Blessed Eucharist. Christ's words have such a tremendous realism about them that they cannot be interpreted in a figurative way: if Christ were not really present under the species of bread and wine, this discourse would make absolutely no sense. But if His real presence in the Eucharist is accepted on faith, then His meaning is quite clear and we can see how infinite and tender His love for us is.
This is so great a mystery that it has always acted as a touchstone for Christian faith: it is proclaimed as "the mystery of our faith" immediately after the Consecration of the Mass. Some of our Lord's hearers were scandalized by what He said on this occasion (cf. verses 60-66). Down through history people have tried to dilute the obvious meaning of our Lord's words. In our own day the Magisterium of the Church has explained this teaching in these words" "When Transubstantiation has taken place, there is no doubt that the appearance of the bread and the appearance of the wine take on a new expressiveness and a new purpose since they are no longer common bread and common drink, but rather the sign of something sacred and the sign of spiritual food. But they take on a new expressiveness and a new purpose for the very reason that they contain a new 'reality' which we are right to call "ontological". For beneath these appearances there is no longer what was there before but something quite different [...] since on the conversion of the bread and wine's substance, or nature, into the body and blood of Christ, nothing is left of the bread and the wine but the appearances alone. Beneath these appearances Christ is present whole and entire, bodily present too, in His physical 'reality', although not in the manner in which bodies are present in place.
For this reason the Fathers have had to issue frequent warnings to the faithful, when they consider this august Sacrament, not to be satisfied with the senses which announce the properties of bread and wine. They should rather assent to the words of Christ: these are of such power that they change, transform, 'transelement' the bread and the wine into His body and blood. The reason for this, as the same Fathers say more than once, is that the power which performs this action is the same power of Almighty God that created the whole universe out of nothing at the beginning of time" (Paul VI, "Mysterium Fidei").
49-51. The manna during the Exodus was a figure of this bread -- Christ Himself -- which nourishes Christians on their pilgrimage through this world. 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". These words promise the manifestation of the Eucharist at the Last Supper: "This is My body which is for you" (1 Corinthians 11:24). The words "for the life of the world" and "for you" refer to the redemptive value of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. In some sacrifices of the Old Testament, which were a figure of the sacrifice of Christ, part of the animal offered up was later used for food, signifying participation in the sacred rite (cf. Exodus 11:3-4). So, by receiving Holy Communion, we are sharing in the sacrifice of Christ: which is why the Church sings in the Liturgy of the Hours on the Feast of Corpus Christi: "O sacred feast in which we partake of Christ: His sufferings are remembered, our minds are filled with His grace and we receive a pledge of the glory that is to be ours" ("Magnificat Antiphon", Evening Prayer II).
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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.
