20260607 DRAWING LIFE FROM THE WORD, THE EUCHARIST AND THE CHURCH
7 June 2026, Sunday, The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ
First reading |
Deuteronomy 8:2-3,14-16 |
He fed you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known
Moses said to the people: ‘Remember how the Lord your God led you for forty years in the wilderness, to humble you, to test you and know your inmost heart – whether you would keep his commandments or not. He humbled you, he made you feel hunger, he fed you with manna which neither you nor your fathers had known, to make you understand that man does not live on bread alone but that man lives on everything that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
‘Do not become proud of heart. Do not forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery: who guided you through this vast and dreadful wilderness, a land of fiery serpents, scorpions, thirst; who in this waterless place brought you water from the hardest rock; who in this wilderness fed you with manna that your fathers had not known.’
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 147:12-15,19-20 |
O praise the Lord, Jerusalem!
or
Alleluia!
O praise the Lord, Jerusalem!
Zion, praise your God!
He has strengthened the bars of your gates
he has blessed the children within you.
O praise the Lord, Jerusalem!
or
Alleluia!
He established peace on your borders,
he feeds you with finest wheat.
He sends out his word to the earth
and swiftly runs his command.
O praise the Lord, Jerusalem!
or
Alleluia!
He makes his word known to Jacob,
to Israel his laws and decrees.
He has not dealt thus with other nations;
he has not taught them his decrees.
O praise the Lord, Jerusalem!
or
Alleluia!
Second reading |
1 Corinthians 10:16-17 |
That there is only one loaf means that, though we are many, we form one body
The blessing-cup that we bless is a communion with the blood of Christ, and the bread that we break is a communion with the body of Christ. The fact that there is only one loaf means that, though there are many of us, we form a single body because we all have a share in this one loaf.
Sequence |
Lauda, Sion
The Sequence may be said or sung in full, or using the shorter form indicated by the asterisked verses.
Sing forth, O Zion, sweetly sing
The praises of thy Shepherd-King,
In hymns and canticles divine;
Dare all thou canst, thou hast no song
Worthy his praises to prolong,
So far surpassing powers like thine.
Today no theme of common praise
Forms the sweet burden of thy lays –
The living, life-dispensing food –
That food which at the sacred board
Unto the brethren twelve our Lord
His parting legacy bestowed.
Then be the anthem clear and strong,
Thy fullest note, thy sweetest song,
The very music of the breast:
For now shines forth the day sublime
That brings remembrance of the time
When Jesus first his table blessed.
Within our new King’s banquet-hall
They meet to keep the festival
That closed the ancient paschal rite:
The old is by the new replaced;
The substance hath the shadow chased;
And rising day dispels the night.
Christ willed what he himself had done
Should be renewed while time should run,
In memory of his parting hour:
Thus, tutored in his school divine,
We consecrate the bread and wine;
And lo – a Host of saving power.
This faith to Christian men is given –
Bread is made flesh by words from heaven:
Into his blood the wine is turned:
What though it baffles nature’s powers
Of sense and sight? This faith of ours
Proves more than nature e’er discerned.
Concealed beneath the two-fold sign,
Meet symbols of the gifts divine,
There lie the mysteries adored:
The living body is our food;
Our drink the ever-precious blood;
In each, one undivided Lord.
Not he that eateth it divides
The sacred food, which whole abides
Unbroken still, nor knows decay;
Be one, or be a thousand fed,
They eat alike that living bread
Which, still received, ne’er wastes away.
The good, the guilty share therein,
With sure increase of grace or sin,
The ghostly life, or ghostly death:
Death to the guilty; to the good
Immortal life. See how one food
Man’s joy or woe accomplisheth.
We break the Sacrament, but bold
And firm thy faith shall keep its hold,
Deem not the whole doth more enfold
Than in the fractured part resides
Deem not that Christ doth broken lie,
’Tis but the sign that meets the eye,
The hidden deep reality
In all its fullness still abides.
– – – – – –
*Behold the bread of angels, sent
For pilgrims in their banishment,
The bread for God’s true children meant,
That may not unto dogs be given:
Oft in the olden types foreshowed;
In Isaac on the altar bowed,
And in the ancient paschal food,
And in the manna sent from heaven.
*Come then, good shepherd, bread divine,
Still show to us thy mercy sign;
Oh, feed us still, still keep us thine;
So may we see thy glories shine
In fields of immortality;
*O thou, the wisest, mightiest, best,
Our present food, our future rest,
Come, make us each thy chosen guest,
Co-heirs of thine, and comrades blest
With saints whose dwelling is with thee.
Amen. Alleluia.
Gospel Acclamation | Jn6:51 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the living bread which has come down from heaven,
says the Lord.
Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever.
Alleluia!
Gospel | John 6:51-58 |
My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink
Jesus said to the crowd:
‘I am the living bread which has come down from heaven.
Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever;
and the bread that I shall give is my flesh,
for the life of the world.’
Then the Jews started arguing with one another: ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ they said. Jesus replied:
‘I tell you most solemnly,
if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,
you will not have life in you.
Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood
has eternal life,
and I shall raise him up on the last day.
For my flesh is real food
and my blood is real drink.
He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood
lives in me
and I live in him.
As I, who am sent by the living Father,
myself draw life from the Father,
so whoever eats me will draw life from me.
This is the bread come down from heaven;
not like the bread our ancestors ate:
they are dead,
but anyone who eats this bread will live for ever.’
DRAWING LIFE FROM THE WORD, THE EUCHARIST AND THE CHURCH
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Dt 8:2-3, 14-16; Ps 147:12-15, 19-20; 1 Cor 10:16-17; Jn 6:51-58]
We all want to live. But living goes beyond mere survival. If we are suffering because of poor health, we wish that God will take away our pain by shortening our life. On the other hand, some of us are physically very healthy, especially those of us who are young, going for daily exercise in the gym and running marathons, eating well, going for holidays and indulging in all kinds of pleasures, and yet, cannot find life. The Israelites in the desert complained they did not have the good things and food they used to have in Egypt. They said, “If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; but now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.” (Num 11:4-6) They were not satisfied even when God sent them quails as meat.
To find life, we must first listen to the Word of God and obey what the Lord has instructed us to do. Moses said “Remember how the Lord your God led you for forty years in the wilderness, to humble you, to test you and know your inmost heart – whether you would keep his commandments or not. He humbled you, he made you feel hunger, he fed you with manna which neither you nor your fathers had known, to make you understand that man does not live on bread alone but that man lives on everything that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”
The Word of God must be the basis for guiding our life. Although we profess the Bible is the Word of God, few of us consult it to guide our actions, conduct and in decision-making. Instead we take our cue from what is popular and fashionable in the world. When our Lord was tempted in the desert by the devil, He quoted Moses from the Scriptures to ward off the Evil One.
This is why our Lord in the Gospel reminded us to come to Him because He said, “I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever.” This bread refers to the Word of God which Jesus spoke of in the Eucharistic Discourse. He said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” (Jn 6:35) He also said, “I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.” (Jn 6:38) ) “Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.” (Jn 6:46-48) If we want to find life’s direction, we must turn to our Lord who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Believing in His words and doing the Father’s will is the way to live uprightly and find true happiness: “Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (Jn 10:9f)
However, encountering the Lord is more than just listening to the Word of God and carrying it out. We need to encounter Him deeply by touching Him in the Eucharist. Jesus shocked His audience by claiming, “the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.” He did not mince His words in speaking about His Real Presence in the bread and wine. “I tell you most solemnly, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink my blood, you will not have life in you. Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood has eternal life, and I shall raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in him.” If this was merely symbolical, Jesus would have said so and not caused confusion and dismay among his followers who “started arguing with one another: ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?'”
If the Eucharist is merely a symbol of His presence, His disciples would not have grumbled saying, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” (Jn 6:60) As a consequence, “many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” (Jn 6:67-69) Faith in the words of our Lord is needed to believe in His Real Presence in the Eucharist. As Jesus remarked, “It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” (Jn 6:63) But because we are human, how we receive the spirit is through the body and blood in the Eucharist, and by adoring the Eucharist in faith and contemplation, we allow the Spirit of Jesus to live in us.
Of course, faith in Jesus as the Bread of Life in the Word of God and in the Eucharist is not merely a notional assent to these truths. Rather, we must fully embrace in our minds and hearts, recognising that the Eucharist we receive is truly His body and blood, given up to us at His death on the cross. Every Mass we celebrate is truly the sacrifice of Christ at Calvary offered for the forgiveness of our sins. St Paul wrote, “The blessing-cup that we bless is a communion with the blood of Christ, and the bread that we break is a communion with the body of Christ.” By believing that Jesus is truly present both when the Word of God is read and proclaimed at Mass, and when we receive the Eucharist, we draw life from Him. The Lord said, “As I, who am sent by the living Father, myself draw life from the Father, so whoever eats me will draw life from me. This is the bread come down from heaven; not like the bread our ancestors ate: they are dead, but anyone who eats this bread will live for ever.”
Receiving the real presence of our Lord cannot be done superstitiously, or it will not transform our life. To let the Lord live in us means that we share in His death so that we can rise to a new life in Him. Receiving the Eucharist means that we will also offer our body and shed our blood for the love and service of our fellowmen. It is a call to become the Eucharist ourselves, so that entering into the life and death of our Lord, we will find life by giving ourselves to others. Reception of the Eucharist itself is incomplete without a real desire to become what we eat and what we celebrate. This is why the Church allows us to continue to encounter Jesus outside the Mass by adoring the Real Presence of our Lord in the Eucharist. Even though the Mass has ended, the bread and wine which have been consecrated remain His real presence, His Body and Blood, so that we can continue to prolong our contemplation of His saving death for us.
Above all, contemplation of the Eucharist should lead to a deeper love and union with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. The Eucharist, which is the Body of Christ, also includes all His members as well. St Paul wrote, “The fact that there is only one loaf means that, though there are many of us, we form a single body because we all have a share in this one loaf.” So, not only do we draw life from Christ through the Word of God and the Sacrament of the Eucharist, but we are also called to draw life from the Church, the Body of Christ. We are called and to find strength and support from our brothers and sisters in the faith. Journeying with them is necessary if we want to remain connected with Jesus, the vine. Indeed, there is no true devotion to the Eucharist, if we do not have the same devotion to His Body, the Church. This explains why the Eucharist is only for those who are in communion with the Lord and with the Church in worship, doctrines and in leadership. To receive communion means that we are in communion with the Church and in fellowship with the members of the Church. In this way, we draw life from Christ and His church.
Best Practices for Using the Daily Scripture Reflections
- Encounter God through the spirit of prayer and the scripture by reflecting and praying the Word of God daily. The purpose is to bring you to prayer and to a deeper union with the Lord on the level of the heart.
- Daily reflections when archived will lead many to accumulate all the reflections of the week and pray in one sitting. This will compromise your capacity to enter deeply into the Word of God, as the tendency is to read for knowledge rather than a prayerful reading of the Word for the purpose of developing a personal and affective relationship with the Lord.
- It is more important to pray deeply, not read widely. The current reflections of the day would be more than sufficient for anyone who wants to pray deeply and be led into an intimacy with the Lord.
Note: You may share this reflection with someone. However, please note that reflections are not archived online nor will they be available via email request.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment