liturgy...

Our Daily Bread
The Sermon or Discourse on the "Bread of Life"
John 6 (Biblia.com)

John, chapter 6: The Bread of Life:

53- "Let me solemnly assure you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

54- Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.

55-For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink..." (John 6:53-55)

In the sixth chapter St. John we have the sixth treasure of the Gospel, the Sermon of the Bread of Life. Jesus promises us our daily bread, to live on earth this beautiful life in Christ as a wedding feast, to have eternal life, and to help others to do so.

This Sermon is the announcement of the Eucharist, we have to eat his flesh and drink his own blood, the most substantial Sermon of Jesus. And it was the greatest scandal, the multitudes disciples left him thinking he was crazy, to eat his flesh and drink his blood?!Jesus signed his death sentence that day as well, "after this Jesus went about in Galilee; he did not wish to go about in Judea because the Jews were looking for an opportunity to kill him" (7:1) ... and  the next time he went to Judea they killed him!... on a Cross!

The chapter starts with two of the seven miracles of the Gospel: The multiplication of the seven barley loaves and two fish, to feed 5,000 people (6:1-14), and Jesus walking on water (6:18:21)... both of them show us the power of Jesus on nature, preparing us for the announcement of the greatest miracle on nature, the Eucharist, the Bread of Life.

The multitudes were so impressed with the multiplication of the bread and fishes that they wanted to make him a king!, but Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself (6:15).

The next day, when they found him, they asked him: "What must we do to perform the the works of God?. Jesus answered to them: This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent" (6:28)... repeated four times in this chapter, "This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day" (6:40, 28, 35, 47). He prepares us to eat his flesh and drink his blood!

Now they ask Jesus for a "sign", as the "manna" was a sign for their ancestors, for 40 years in the wilderness. Jesus tells them that it is the Father who gives the bread from heaven, or the bread of life. So they said to Jesus: "Sir, give us this Bread of Heaven always" (6:30-34).

The Sermon of the Bread of Life, John 6:35-69:

"Jesus said t o them: I am the bread of of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty" (6:35). Then the Jews murmured about him because he said Ï am the bread of life", and they said, ""Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph?... and then the Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat? (6:35-2)... it is for real!... we have to eat his flesh!... he is crazy!...

And when the Jews were disputing this, Jesus did not take a word out of it, rather, he repeats 6 times to them: "Very truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them..." , in Johyn 6:52-58, Jesus repeats it 6 times in different ways!

Now the 72 disciples said: "This saying is hard, how can any one accept it?... because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went   about with him" (6:60-66)...the crowds, the 5000, left him thinking he became crazy... now many of the 72 disciples do not accompany him... these were the last days of Jesus on earth, and he was almost left alone, except the 12 apostles were still there!

And when the 12 apostles were alone with Jesus, and he asked "Do you also wish to go away? " (6:67)... if you don't believe me, do like the multitudes and the disciples, go away!... if you want to follow me, you just have to believe what I just told you, and you have to eat my flesh and drink my blood, just as it sounds, real!... the 12 stayed, guided by the answer of Peter, "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" (6:68-69).

The first Christians met every day for the breaking of the bread, for the celebration of the Eucharist (Act.2:46), and very specially on Sundays (Act.20:7)... My Sweet Jesus, prisoner of love in the Eucharist: I adore you and praise your name. Let my be like the Baptist: He saw a man with eyes and teeth and hands and nails... but he saw God!.. I see bread and wine, let me see you, God!. Thank you my Love. Amen.

Today

Chapter 6 is the only one in the Bible that is read to us 5 Sundays in a row at Mass every year, during August and September. However, thank God, the Eucharist is the most cherished treasure of Christianity. In the Bread and the Wine there is the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ... it is God Himself made more humble than as a child in Bethlehem.

"Without discerning"

St. Paul, commenting Jn.6:53, says to the Christians of Corinth, "he who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks his own condemnation; and for this reason many of you are week, and ill, and some have died" (1Cor.11:29-30)... St. Paul!: If you eat without "discerning the body", "you eat your own condemnation"!... and he continues: "for this reason", because you eat the body without "discerning", many of you Christians are weak, and ill, and some have already died spiritually... ( 1Cor.11:27-30).

Paul means by "without discerning", eating the body as if it were a "symbol"!...and because of it, not only you do no have life, as Jesus said in Jn.6:53, but you are eating "your own condemnation", "you eat and drink judgment against yourselves".

Often we behaveas fools: Imagine that a person is visited by The President of the United States, and in five minutes leaves him alone in the living room and he goes to the yard to play ball... that's what some of us do with Jesus often, we receive him in the Eucharist, and in five minutes we forgot about him... that's receiving the body without discerning... that's foolishness!.

St. Ignatius used to meditate for 3 hours after Communion, with tears of thankfulness and joy, and practically all the Saints used to enjoy and live the reality of Jesus in their hearts for 24 hours, after the next Communion!

"Our Daily Bread"

Jesus is the "bread of life", says in John 6, "our daily bread" in Matt.6:11 in the center of the Sermon of the Mount..

We pray often the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray: The Our Father , of Mt.6 and Lk.11. On it we ask the Father to give us today our daily bread... and the Father gives it to us, every day... but we have to go and receive it daily!

The Eucharist, or the "Holy Sacrifice of the Mass" , as it is also known, is the most you can ask for, and the most God can give you.... go daily to receive Him!... if you feel weak, or sick, or like dying, try Him!... every day... discerning!... you will see wonders in your life!... it is the best you can do for your family, for your neighbors, for your friends, for your beloved deceased, for yourself... for the world.

At Bethlehem Jesus looked like a child, he could not talk, had to be feed and cleaned; he was a baby, but he was God!... in the Eucharist Jesus is more humble, less than a man, less that an animal or a plant... it is just bread and wine, tastes to bread and wine, but it is really God, the same one of Bethlehem... the real Jesus Christ!.

"God must be crazy, because he died for me, and now becomes bread and wine for me every day". Paul is in the Bible talking about the foolishness of God, the craziness of God, "for the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength" (1Cor.1:25)... the "foolishness", the "weakness", there can not be more weakness than to make Himself bread and wine!...

God is in love with you. Let yourself be loved. Go to receive him daily... I adore you Jesus, my sweet prisoner of love in the Eucharist, I give you my whole self and I receive your whole self in me. Help me to love with your heartbeat, that of a passionate lover. Use my hands and feet in searh of souls, for the glory of the Father, with the power of the Spirit. Thank you my Love. Amen.

If your Church offers you the Eucharist as a symbol, or just as a remembrance, but not as "real", that's not the Church of Jesus Christ... or if that church does not offer you the Eucharist daily, it is not the Church of Jesus.

The Institution of the Eucharist: The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass:

The Sacrament of the Eucharist was promised by Jesus on Jn.6, and Jesus instituted it on the Last Supper on Holy Thursday, giving the order to his disciples to do it: "He took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying: "take it and eat, this is my body; do this in remembrance of me". Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins . Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes" (Matt.26:26-28, Mr.14:22-24, Luk.22:19-20, 1Cor.11:24-26).

If the body and the blood are separated, there is a "sacrifice", the sacrifice of the New Covenant, the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ... as "real" as he was "real" as a little humble boy in Bethlehem, and as "real" as he was real as a despised man crucified at Calvary ... and now, even more humble that at Bethlehem!... but he is the same Lord of the Universe... in Bethlehem, like a little humble boy; in the Eucharist , like just wine and bread!.

And the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is not the repetition of what happened at Calvary, it is the greatest miracle of God of time and space, it is exactly as if you were at Calvary on the first Good Friday of the history of humanity, the same sacrifice of Calvary done only once, because "Christ was offered once to bear the sins of mankind" (Heb.9:28)... we have to be at Mass just as if we were at Calvary on Good Friday with Mary and John.

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is a little like Psalm 22 : The first 22 verses is Jesus crucified, with 13 prophecies fulfilled to the letter in Jesus... but all of a sudden, in verse 23 (or 22 in some Bibles), the crucified appears in the midst of the assembly praising the name of God, until the end of the Psalm... The Mass is something similar: Up to the Communion it is Jesus sacrificed, with his blood separated from his flesh, but all of a sudden, in the Communion, the same Jesus sacrificed is now alive in the heart of every Christian who received him, alleluia!... and that's why John Paul II refers to it as "the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass", praise the Lord!, always with thanksgiving for being my prisoner of Love.

The Eternal Sacrifice:

The Sacrifice of the Mass is the "eternal and permanent sacrifice" of Num.28:1-6 and Ex.29:38-43... if it is "permanent", is got to be now, and it is!, in the daily Holy Sacrifice of the Eucharist, and not only twice a day as in Num.28, but over 500,000 times a day, every day!... and if it is "eternal", is got to be eternally in Heaven, and it is!, "the lamb standing, like slaughtered" of Rev.5:6 , just in the center of the Throne of Heaven, the reason of all praise and joy and singing of the saved for an eternity.

The Eucharist, the Perpetual Sacrifice, will be abolished when the "Antichrist" comes ( Mat.24:15, Dan.8:11, 9:27, 11:31, 12:11)... it is a pity that for many Christian churches, the Antichrist has already come (1Jn.4:3)... they already do not have the daily sacrifice, the regular burnt offering... no altar, no priest, no tabernacle...

In Psalm 2 God says: "You are my son... you shall brake them with a rod of iron, and shatter them in pieces like a potter's vessel" (Ps.2:7,9). Thee Book of Revelation when it says, "the Son of Man... out of his mouth came a sharp sword, double-edged" (Rev.1:13,16)... the "sword" is the love of God, and the two edges are his "suffering" in the Cross, and his "humility" in the Eucharist. The "rod of iron" is his love in the Cross and in the Eucharist, day by day. From the throne of the Eucharist he is shattering into pieces our pride, day by day, and now, at the wake of the Third Millennium, without noise, we are already 2 billion Christians all over the world!.

The immense value of the Eucharist:

- Only one Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is worth more "adoration" to God than all human beings prostrated for one year!, because it is Christ, God offered, with an infinite value!... I adore you my God.

- Only one Holy Sacrifice of the Mass has more "thanksgiving" value than all the angels praising God for all eternity!... it is an infinity value of thanksgiving!... thank you, my sweet prisoner of Love.

- Only one Holy Sacrifice of the Mass has more penitential value than all the monks of all times making penance at the same time!... praise be my Lord and my God, Jesus Christ.

- Only one Holy Sacrifice of the Mass has more value of "petition" to God, than all humans and Angels and Saints praying together for a sick person!... it is God!... glory to you Jesus, my love and my all!.

- Only one Holy Sacrifice of the Mass!...

And now you can have it... free... go and receive Him... daily... discerning!... when the final Antichrist comes it will be very difficult to find it!.

Now the Holy Mass is celebrated 500.000 times daily all over the world. In Communist China, India, Africa, North, Central and South America, in Australia, in Communist Russia, Poland and Yugoslavia, and all Europe and teh United States... it's so available, and so free!... let's receive Him daily... every day!... He is madly in love with us!... come, my sweet Jesus, live in me, be my daily bread, to nourish others with my crosses.

Thank you my Love.