Wednesday, April 13, 2005

4:43 pm

DAILY GOSPEL
«Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.» John 6,68
    
 
Thursday, 14 April 2005
Thursday of the 3rd week of Easter
Today the Church celebrates : Sts. Tiburtius, Valerian & Maximus  
 

Saint Peter Damian : “This bread that came down from heaven, whoever eats it will live forever”



Acts of the Apostles 8,26-40.

Then the angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, "Get up and head south on the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza, the desert route." So he got up and set out. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, that is, the queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury, who had come to Jerusalem to worship, and was returning home. Seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. The Spirit said to Philip, "Go and join up with that chariot." Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?" He replied, "How can I, unless someone instructs me?" So he invited Philip to get in and sit with him. This was the scripture passage he was reading: "Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opened not his mouth. In (his) humiliation justice was denied him. Who will tell of his posterity? For his life is taken from the earth." Then the eunuch said to Philip in reply, "I beg you, about whom is the prophet saying this? About himself, or about someone else?" Then Philip opened his mouth and, beginning with this scripture passage, he proclaimed Jesus to him. As they traveled along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, "Look, there is water. What is to prevent my being baptized?" Then he ordered the chariot to stop, and Philip and the eunuch both went down into the water, and he baptized him. When they came out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, but continued on his way rejoicing. Philip came to Azotus, and went about proclaiming the good news to all the towns until he reached Caesarea.

Psalms 66,8-9.16-17.20.

Bless our God, you peoples; loudly sound his praise,
Who has kept us alive and not allowed our feet to slip.
Come and hear, all you who fear God, while I recount what has been done for me.
I called to the Lord with my mouth; praise was upon my tongue.
Blessed be God, who did not refuse me the kindness I sought in prayer.


Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 6,44-51.

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."

Copyright © Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, USCCB



Commentary of the day :

Saint Peter Damian (1007-1072), hermit then bishop, doctor of the Church
Sermon 45

“This bread that came down from heaven, whoever eats it will live forever”


The Virgin Mary gave birth to Jesus Christ, she warmed him up in her arms, she wrapped him in swaddling clothes and surrounded him with motherly care. It is the same Jesus of which we now receive the body and drink the redeeming blood in the sacrament of the altar. This is what the Catholic Faith professes, this is what the Church teaches faithfully.

No human language could glorify well enough the one in who took flesh, as we know, “the mediator between God and human race” (1Tm 2,5). No human praise is fit for the one whose pure womb produced the fruit that is food for our souls, that is the one who testifies by his own words: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever”. And, in fact, we who have been chased away from Paradise because of a fruit, it is also by another type of food that we find the joys of Paradise again. Eve took and ate a food and we were condemned to an eternal fast; Mary gave out another food, and the doors of the heavenly feast were opened to us.



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