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“I am the living bread that came down from heaven.” –John 6:51
For Children: Share this short video lesson by Mrs. Mary Jo Cole with your young children.
For Adults: Reflect on Sunday’s Gospel with Alice Camille:
Jesus is our food. Whatever emptiness may be felt in our lives, he alone can fill it. If a vacuum exists anywhere in need of justice, peace, charity, compassion, understanding, forgiveness, or simple respect, Jesus is the missing element. The living bread from Heaven is what sustains hope on this planet. God is with us. God’s life is offered to us. The unity of humanity and divinity expressed in Jesus is the model of the oneness we seek as Church. It’s a high standard, but only high standards are worth pursuing.
When we speak of Jesus as food, we naturally tend to focus on the elements of our Eucharist. The unity of God-with-us begins there, but it can’t end at the Lord’s Table. If God-life is in us, then it must be knit to our blood and bone, to our actions and decisions, to our yearnings and relationships. Unity means unity. There can be no corner of our lives we reserve for selfish motives and bitter resentments. If we come to this Table, we’re asking for unqualified unity with the life of God. Is this really what we want?
How much of your life belongs to God, and how much do you reserve for other, perhaps conflicting or contradictory, objectives?
LET US PRAY… Thank you, Holy Spirit, for the fruits you bear in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Help us to encourage others by the exercise of these fruits, so that this world might see your kingdom coming, moment by moment. Amen.
While The Gospel at Home takes a break in the summer months, we’ll be drawing our weekly reflections from Exploring the Sunday Readings.
Image credit: Stéphane OUZOUNOFF/CIRIC
