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19th Sunday of Ordinary Time

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During last week’s readings we were introduced to Jesus as the bread of life.  Just as God provided manna in the desert for the Israelites, God gave us his son so that we may live.  This week we continue with this theme of bread as we dive deeper into our understanding of bread bringing life.

The Word for the 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time
1 Kings 19:4-8
Psalm 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
Ephesians 4:30-5:2
John 6:41-51

We open with a reading from the 1st Book of Kings.  As we enter the narrative the great prophet Elijah is on the run (as Jezebel has falsely accused him of killing all the other prophets).  He’s traveling South, out of Israel, through Judah, on his way to Mt. Horab, the mountain of the Lord.  Halfway through his journey he’s ready to give up.  As he sleeps, however, an angel of the Lord brings him a hearth cake and a jug of water.  Strengthened by this food, he is able to continue his journey of forty days and forty nights (yes, that well known biblical number indicating a moment of transition).  Our Psalm, “Taste and see the goodness of the Lord” gives us a sense of both the physical, like the bread and water God provided Elijah, as well as a sense of the glorious, the understanding that God will hear our call and answer our needs.

Our Gospel from John continues with the “bread of life” discourse we started last week.  Jesus has just explained to the crowd that he is the bread of life and as we enter this week’s passage, the Jews in the crowd are murmuring and questioning his credentials.  Jesus tells them to stop murmuring among themselves and reminds them that no one comes to him except those called by God, and that he will raise them on the last day.  Jesus gets his authority from God, and that just as God provided their ancestors manna in the desert, God is now providing them with the bread of life through Jesus… that his flesh will bring life to the world.

For our second reading we continue our study of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.  Here we step into the middle of a discourse where Paul is explaining the rules for this new life in Christ.  All these rules might seem an arduous task for some, so in this short passage Paul tells them that they should not grieve having received the Holy Spirit.  Instead, they need to put all their bitterness behind and forgive, just as God has forgiven them through Christ.  Paul instructs them, “So be imitators of God” and to “live in love.”

Final Thoughts:
Bread is an essential part of life.  The ancients understood this significance, which is why bread often played an important element in their religious ceremonies.  For Jewish people this is seen at the Passover cedar with the blessing and breaking of the bread.  Jesus, with his sacrifice on the cross becomes the bread of life, broken and shared among us all who believe in him.  He establishes this here in our Gospel today in the bread of life discourse and again at the Last Supper when he held the bread in his hands and said “this is my body.”  The same words we repeat at every Mass, the bread, his body, given up for us, that we might have life everlasting.

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