Prayer:
O Jesus, teach me to learn from the Father.
Imagination:
Picture Jesus teaching the crowds.
Context:
Jesus continues to speak about the Israelites in the desert. Just as they murmured against Moses, Jesus’ audience is murmuring against him. Yet, Jesus is the bread of life, ensuring that we will live forever.
Gospel Text: (Read slowly, possibly aloud.)
Many murmured because Jesus said, “I am the bread come down from heaven.” Jesus said, “Do not murmur. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him up on the last day. Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him, comes to me. No one has seen the Father except the one who is of God. He has seen the Father.
Whoever believes in me has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate manna in the desert and died. This is the bread come down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will never die. I am the living bread come down from heaven.”
Thoughts: (Read all. Ponder the ones that attract you.)
- Before receiving the manna, their ancestors murmured.
- This crowd also murmurs because they cannot believe what Jesus promises.
- Their minds do not grasp this mystery and they refuse to listen.
- They do not believe that Jesus has seen the Father and speaks his word.
- These listeners are helpless – unable to grasp and unwilling to learn.
- The heavenly bread will do them no good.
Affections: (When one touches your heart, use your own words.)
- Jesus, how patient you are with me when I murmur.
- O Father, instruct me. My own intellect cannot absorb this mystery.
- Jesus, draw me to the Father.
- O Jesus, you have seen the Father and you reveal him to me.
- Jesus, raise me up on the last day.
- Nourish me, O Bread of Life, and I will live forever.
Resolutions: (Possibly you might want to make your own.)
+ I will receive Holy Communion as often as possible.
+ I will let the Father draw me into this mystery.