August 19, 2012

20th Sunday of Ordinary Time

First Reading: Proverbs 9:1-6

    Wisdom has built her house, she has set up her seven columns; She has dressed her meat, mixed her wine, yes, she has spread her table. She has sent out her maidens; she calls from the heights out over the city: "Let whoever is simple turn in here; to him who lacks understanding, I say, Come, eat of my food, and drink of the wine I have mixed! Forsake foolishness that you may live; advance in the way of understanding."

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Second Reading: Ephesians 4:15-20

   Brothers and sisters, watch carefully then how you live, not as foolish persons but as wise, making the most of the opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not continue in ignorance, but try to understand what is the will of the Lord. And do not get drunk on wine, in which lies debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and playing to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks always and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.

Gospel Reading: John 6:51-58

   Jesus said to the crowds: "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." The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever."

Reflection: Fr. James Theophilus 

   Jesus offers himself as the life-giving food for the people. His body and blood (the Jews believed that life was in the blood) and that is the whole person is offered as food for the people. It is not the dead body (useless, decaying flesh) rather it is the life-giving body and blood is given to the people. This food is that which has come down from heaven. This food is given by the Father and this is far superior (and beyond comparison) when compared with the manna.
   This food is life-giving; it gives eternal life; it gives resurrection; and it gives communion with Jesus and in turn with the Father. The present-people are far superior to the ancestors. The ancestors were also cared for by the Father and were fed in the wilderness by the Father. That was only the foretaste of what was to come in Jesus.  The present-people are given the opportunity to be in communion with Jesus and be united with him forever and this is through sharing of his life in his body and blood.