2nd Week of Easter 2023 - Friday - Invitation to the table of the Lord

 Having read through the entirety of Jesus' discourse with Nicodemus from chapter 3 of St. John's Gospel over the past four days, we now begin a week long reading of John Chapter 6.  St. John's sixth chapter is comprised of two miracle stories—the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and Jesus walking on the water—and the great Bread of Life discourse.  I encourage you to read and reflect upon the entire chapter to get a sense of what's coming over the next 8 days.

With Nicodemus, Jesus spoke of the waters of spiritual rebirth—unless you are born again by water and the spirit you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven, Jesus taught, providing us with the reason why we take baptism so seriously. Well, if the first set of Gospel readings after the Easter Octave point to the importance of the Sacrament of Baptism, this second set of readings, from John 6, is going to point to the Sacrament of Christ’s Body and Blood, the Eucharist. 

The Catechism explains: “The miracle of the multiplication of the loaves, when the Lord says the blessing, breaks and distributes the loaves through his disciples to feed the multitude, prefigures the superabundance of [the] unique bread of his Eucharist.” The connection between today’s gospel passage of the multiplication of the loaves and the sacrament of the Eucharist was clear even to the early Church. In second-century catacombs, we find artistic representations of the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves to symbolize the Eucharist.

Easter sends us out into the world to proclaim the good news, to call the multitudes of the peoples of the world to the waters of baptism, and also to the table of the Lord’s Body and Blood in the Eucharist. 

Just as the Lord fed the hungry crowd, the Lord feeds man’s deepest hunger with the Eucharist. All of us hunger for truth, justice, love, peace, and beauty. In a word, we are hungry for God. And that hunger is satisfied, here at the table of the altar. 

Sadly many Christians, like ill-natured children, refuse to eat what they are served; many refuse to sit at the table and sup. But here at the altar, we are sent out to them, to draw them back here, to Christ.

Unless you are born again of water and the spirit, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven, he told in Nicodemus. And unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you do not have life within you.

May the Eucharist, our food, our life, our joy, continue to sustain us for the work of the Church, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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Filled with Paschal joy, let us turn earnestly to God, to graciously hear our prayers and supplications.

For the shepherds of our souls, that they may have the strength to govern wisely the flock entrusted to them by the Good Shepherd.

For the whole world, that it may truly know the peace of the Risen Christ. 

For our own community, that it may bear witness with great confidence to the Resurrection of Christ, and that the newly initiated hold fast to the faith they have received. 

For our brothers and sisters who suffer, that their sorrow may be turned to gladness through the Christian faith.

That all of our beloved dead and all the souls in purgatory may come to the glory of the Resurrection.

O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the desires of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our lord.