Join us as we reflect, ponder, and pray together inspired by today's Gospel.
Today's Gospel: John 6:60-69
I can still picture our friend Wilfred sitting at the dining room table. He was big man with a grey beard and strong hands, hands that milked goats and hayed out in the fields. Wil knew how to drive draft horses. He also knew how to quote the Bible, sometimes trying to draw us away from the Catholic Church.
On the day in question, Wil leaned on his elbows and held up his fingers, allowing several inches between his thumb and pointer finger. “How can God be in a little piece of bread?” he asked with skepticism.
Now, Wil was a fallen-away Catholic who was his own church with no other members, sad to say, Wil thought he had all the answers. I replied, “How can God, the creator of the universe, be confined in a human body?”
Wil appeared startled by my reply and promptly changed the subject.
When I read this Gospel passage from John, I think of Wil. For him, like millions of others over the centuries, the Eucharist is a “hard saying.” Jesus heard the crowd complain and knew they would turn away. As He watched many disciples turn their backs, never to return, I can imagine His face streaked with anguish. He turned to the twelve for hope and consolation.
Good old Peter, that impulsive disciple who doesn’t always think things through, jumped into the gap. “Lord, to whom could we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Peter could not have understood the profound mystery of the Eucharist. How could he have responded this way? His heart was burning with love for Our Lord.
So must our hearts burn with love, not relying on our feeble senses, instead trusting in our loving God.
Ponder:
Do you ever try too hard to understand the profound mystery of the Eucharist and thus fall into discouragement?
Pray:
Dear Lord, help me to be like St. Peter with a heart filled with love for our dear Lord Jesus Christ. Help me to have simple faith in the Real Presence and not rely on my feeble senses.
Copyright 2021 Kathryn Swegart
About the Author
.png?width=1806&height=731&name=CatholicMom_hcfm_logo1_pos_871c_2728c%20(002).png "CatholicMom_hcfm_logo1_pos_871c_2728c (002)"){kind=logo}
Comments