From: John 6:35-40

The Discourse on the Bread of Life (Continuation)

[35] Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not
hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. [36] But I said to you that
you have seen Me and yet do not believe. [37] All that the Father gives Me will
come to Me; and him who comes to Me I will not cast out. [38] For I have come
down from Heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me; [39]
and this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I should lose nothing of all that He
has given Me, but raise it up on the last day. [40] For this is the will of My Fa-
ther, that every one who sees the Son and believes in Him should have eternal
life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

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Commentary:

35. Going to Jesus means believing in Him, for it is through faith that we ap-
proach our Lord. Jesus uses the metaphor of food and drink to show that He is
the one who really meets all man’s noblest aspirations: “How beautiful is our
Catholic faith! It provides a solution for all our anxieties, calms our minds and
fills our hearts with hope” (St. J. Escriva, “The Way”, 582).

37-40. Jesus clearly reveals that He is the one sent by the Father. This is some-
thing St. John the Baptist proclaimed earlier on (Jn 3:33-36), and Jesus Himself
stated it in His dialogue with Nicodemus (Jn 3:17-21) and announced publicly to
the Jews in Jerusalem (Jn 5:20-30). Since Jesus is the one sent by the Father,
the bread of life come down from Heaven to give life to the world, everyone who
believes in Him has eternal life, for it is God’s will that everyone should be saved
through Jesus Christ. These words of Jesus contain three mysteries: 1) that of
faith in Jesus Christ, which means “going to Jesus”, accepting His miracles
(signs) and His words; 2) the mystery of the resurrection of believers, something
which begins in this life through faith and becomes fully true in Heaven; 3) the
mystery of predestination, the will of our Father in Heaven that all men be saved.
These solemn words of our Lord fill the believer with hope.

St. Augustine, commenting on vv. 37 and 38, praises the humility of Jesus, the
perfect model for the humility of the Christian: Jesus chose not to do His own will
but that of the Father who sent Him: “Humbly am I come, to teach humility am I
come, as the master of humility am I come; he who comes to Me is incorporated
in Me; he who comes to Me, becomes humble; he who cleaves to Me will be
humble, for he does not his will but God’s” (”In Ioann. Evang.”, 25, 15 and 16).

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

Readings at Mass

First reading	Acts 8:1-8 ©

That day a bitter persecution started against the church in Jerusalem, and everyone except the apostles fled to the country districts of Judaea and Samaria.

There were some devout people, however, who buried Stephen and made great mourning for him.

Saul then worked for the total destruction of the Church; he went from house to house arresting both men and women and sending them to prison.

Those who had escaped went from place to place preaching the Good News. One of them was Philip who went to a Samaritan town and proclaimed the Christ to them. The people united in welcoming the message Philip preached, either because they had heard of the miracles he worked or because they saw them for themselves. There were, for example, unclean spirits that came shrieking out of many who were possessed, and several paralytics and cripples were cured. As a result there was great rejoicing in that town.

Psalm	Psalm 65:1-7 ©