From: John 6:44-51
The Discourse on the Bread of Life (Continuation)
*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:
44-45. Seeking Jesus until one finds Him is a free gift which no one can obtain
through his own efforts, although everyone should try to be well disposed to re-
ceiving it. The Magisterium of the Church has recalled this teaching in Vatican II:
“Before this faith can be exercised, man must have the grace of God to move
and assist him; he must have the interior help of the Holy Spirit, who moves the
heart and converts it to God, who opens the eyes of the mind and makes it easy
for all to accept and believe the truth” (”Dei Verbum”, 5).
When Jesus says, “They shall all be taught by God”, He is invoking Isaiah 54:13
and Jeremiah 31:33ff, where the prophets refer to the future Covenant which God
will establish with His people when the Messiah comes, the Covenant which will
be sealed forever with the blood of the Messiah and which God will write on their
hearts (cf. Isaiah 53:10-12; Jeremiah 31:31-34).
The last sentence of verse 45 refers to God’s Revelation through the prophets
and especially through Jesus Christ.
46. Men can know God the Father only through Jesus Christ, because only He
has seen the Father, whom He has come to reveal to us. In his prologue St. John
already said: “No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of
the Father, He has made Him known” (John 1:18). Later on Jesus will say to Phi-
lip at the Last Supper: “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9),
for Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and no one goes to the Father ex-
cept through Him (cf. John 14:6).
In other words, in Christ God’s revelation to men reaches its climax: “For He
sent His Son, the eternal Word who enlightens all men, to dwell among men
and to tell them about the inner life of God (cf. John 1:1-18). Hence, Jesus Christ,
sent as ‘a man among men’, ‘utters the words of God’ (John 3:34), and accompli-
shes the saving work which the Father gave Him to do (cf. John 5:36; 17:4). To
see Jesus is to see His Father (cf. John 14:9)” (Vatican II, “Dei Verbum”, 4).
48. With this solemn declaration, which He repeats because of His audience’s
doubts, (cf. John 6:35, 41, 48), Jesus begins the second part of His discourse,
in which He explicitly reveals the great mystery of the Blessed Eucharist.
Christ’s words have such a tremendous realism about them that they cannot be
interpreted in a figurative way: if Christ were not really present under the species
of bread and wine, this discourse would make absolutely no sense. But if His
real presence in the Eucharist is accepted on faith, then His meaning is quite
clear and we can see how infinite and tender His love for us is.
This is so great a mystery that it has always acted as a touchstone for Christian
faith: it is proclaimed as “the mystery of our faith” immediately after the Conse-
cration of the Mass. Some of our Lord’s hearers were scandalized by what He
said on this occasion (cf. verses 60-66). Down through history people have tried
to dilute the obvious meaning of our Lord’s words. In our own day the Magiste-
rium of the Church has explained this teaching in these words” “When Transub-
stantiation has taken place, there is no doubt that the appearance of the bread
and the appearance of the wine take on a new expressiveness and a new pur-
pose since they are no longer common bread and common drink, but rather the
sign of something sacred and the sign of spiritual food. But they take on a new
expressiveness and a new purpose for the very reason that they contain a new
‘reality’ which we are right to call “ontological”. For beneath these appearances
there is no longer what was there before but something quite different [...] since
on the conversion of the bread and wine’s substance, or nature, into the body
and blood of Christ, nothing is left of the bread and the wine but the appearances
alone. Beneath these appearances Christ is present whole and entire, bodily pre-
sent too, in His physical ‘reality’, although not in the manner in which bodies are
present in place.
For this reason the Fathers have had to issue frequent warnings to the faithful,
when they consider this august Sacrament, not to be satisfied with the senses
which announce the properties of bread and wine. They should rather assent to
the words of Christ: these are of such power that they change, transform, ‘trans-
element’ the bread and the wine into His body and blood. The reason for this, as
the same Fathers say more than once, is that the power which performs this ac-
tion is the same power of Almighty God that created the whole universe out of
nothing at the beginning of time” (Paul VI, “Mysterium Fidei”).
49-51. The manna during the Exodus was a figure of this bread — Christ Himself
— which nourishes Christians on their pilgrimage through this world. Communion
is the wonderful banquet at which Christ gives Himself to us: “the bread which I
shall give for the life of the world is My flesh”. These words promise the manifes-
tation of the Eucharist at the Last Supper: “This is My body which is for you” (1
Corinthians 11:24). The words “for the life of the world” and “for you” refer to the
redemptive value of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. In some sacrifices of the
Old Testament, which were a figure of the sacrifice of Christ, part of the animal
offered up was later used for food, signifying participation in the sacred rite (cf.
Exodus 11:3-4). So, by receiving Holy Communion, we are sharing in the sacri-
fice of Christ: which is why the Church sings in the Liturgy of the Hours on the
Feast of Corpus Christi: “O sacred feast in which we partake of Christ: His suf-
ferings are remembered, our minds are filled with His grace and we receive a
pledge of the glory that is to be ours” (”Magnificat Antiphon”, Evening Prayer II).
********************************************************************************************
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. We encourage readers to purchase
The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.
Please pray for this ministry and support it through PayPal here. For other
options (check, money order, etc.) please contact the Listowner directly.
“Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” — St Jerome
*********************************************************************************************
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)
For: Thursday, April 23, 2015
3rd Week of Easter
Optional Memorial: St George, Martyr
Optional Memorial: St Adalbert, Bishop and Martyr
From: John 6:44-51
The Discourse on the Bread of Life (Continuation)
*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:
44-45. Seeking Jesus until one finds Him is a free gift which no one can obtain
through his own efforts, although everyone should try to be well disposed to re-
ceiving it. The Magisterium of the Church has recalled this teaching in Vatican II:
“Before this faith can be exercised, man must have the grace of God to move
and assist him; he must have the interior help of the Holy Spirit, who moves the
heart and converts it to God, who opens the eyes of the mind and makes it easy
for all to accept and believe the truth” (”Dei Verbum”, 5).
When Jesus says, “They shall all be taught by God”, He is invoking Isaiah 54:13
and Jeremiah 31:33ff, where the prophets refer to the future Covenant which God
will establish with His people when the Messiah comes, the Covenant which will
be sealed forever with the blood of the Messiah and which God will write on their
hearts (cf. Isaiah 53:10-12; Jeremiah 31:31-34).
The last sentence of verse 45 refers to God’s Revelation through the prophets
and especially through Jesus Christ.
46. Men can know God the Father only through Jesus Christ, because only He
has seen the Father, whom He has come to reveal to us. In his prologue St. John
already said: “No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of
the Father, He has made Him known” (John 1:18). Later on Jesus will say to Phi-
lip at the Last Supper: “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9),
for Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and no one goes to the Father ex-
cept through Him (cf. John 14:6).
In other words, in Christ God’s revelation to men reaches its climax: “For He
sent His Son, the eternal Word who enlightens all men, to dwell among men
and to tell them about the inner life of God (cf. John 1:1-18). Hence, Jesus Christ,
sent as ‘a man among men’, ‘utters the words of God’ (John 3:34), and accompli-
shes the saving work which the Father gave Him to do (cf. John 5:36; 17:4). To
see Jesus is to see His Father (cf. John 14:9)” (Vatican II, “Dei Verbum”, 4).
48. With this solemn declaration, which He repeats because of His audience’s
doubts, (cf. John 6:35, 41, 48), Jesus begins the second part of His discourse,
in which He explicitly reveals the great mystery of the Blessed Eucharist.
Christ’s words have such a tremendous realism about them that they cannot be
interpreted in a figurative way: if Christ were not really present under the species
of bread and wine, this discourse would make absolutely no sense. But if His
real presence in the Eucharist is accepted on faith, then His meaning is quite
clear and we can see how infinite and tender His love for us is.
This is so great a mystery that it has always acted as a touchstone for Christian
faith: it is proclaimed as “the mystery of our faith” immediately after the Conse-
cration of the Mass. Some of our Lord’s hearers were scandalized by what He
said on this occasion (cf. verses 60-66). Down through history people have tried
to dilute the obvious meaning of our Lord’s words. In our own day the Magiste-
rium of the Church has explained this teaching in these words” “When Transub-
stantiation has taken place, there is no doubt that the appearance of the bread
and the appearance of the wine take on a new expressiveness and a new pur-
pose since they are no longer common bread and common drink, but rather the
sign of something sacred and the sign of spiritual food. But they take on a new
expressiveness and a new purpose for the very reason that they contain a new
‘reality’ which we are right to call “ontological”. For beneath these appearances
there is no longer what was there before but something quite different [...] since
on the conversion of the bread and wine’s substance, or nature, into the body
and blood of Christ, nothing is left of the bread and the wine but the appearances
alone. Beneath these appearances Christ is present whole and entire, bodily pre-
sent too, in His physical ‘reality’, although not in the manner in which bodies are
present in place.
For this reason the Fathers have had to issue frequent warnings to the faithful,
when they consider this august Sacrament, not to be satisfied with the senses
which announce the properties of bread and wine. They should rather assent to
the words of Christ: these are of such power that they change, transform, ‘trans-
element’ the bread and the wine into His body and blood. The reason for this, as
the same Fathers say more than once, is that the power which performs this ac-
tion is the same power of Almighty God that created the whole universe out of
nothing at the beginning of time” (Paul VI, “Mysterium Fidei”).
49-51. The manna during the Exodus was a figure of this bread — Christ Himself
— which nourishes Christians on their pilgrimage through this world. Communion
is the wonderful banquet at which Christ gives Himself to us: “the bread which I
shall give for the life of the world is My flesh”. These words promise the manifes-
tation of the Eucharist at the Last Supper: “This is My body which is for you” (1
Corinthians 11:24). The words “for the life of the world” and “for you” refer to the
redemptive value of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. In some sacrifices of the
Old Testament, which were a figure of the sacrifice of Christ, part of the animal
offered up was later used for food, signifying participation in the sacred rite (cf.
Exodus 11:3-4). So, by receiving Holy Communion, we are sharing in the sacri-
fice of Christ: which is why the Church sings in the Liturgy of the Hours on the
Feast of Corpus Christi: “O sacred feast in which we partake of Christ: His suf-
ferings are remembered, our minds are filled with His grace and we receive a
pledge of the glory that is to be ours” (”Magnificat Antiphon”, Evening Prayer II).
********************************************************************************************
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.
Liturgical Colour: White.
First reading | Acts 8:26-40 © |
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Philip baptizes a eunuch |
---|
Responsorial Psalm |
---|
Psalm 65(66):8-9,16-17,20 © |
Gospel Acclamation |
---|
Or: | Jn6:51 |
---|
Gospel | John 6:44-51 © |
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I am the living bread which has come down from heaven |
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