Prayer:
Come, Holy Spirit. 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 now murmuring against him. Jesus boldly proclaims that he is the bread of life, who can promise 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 but 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, the Israelites murmured in the desert.
- Now, their descendents murmur against God. They cannot believe what Jesus promises.
- Their natural reasoning cannot grasp the mystery that Jesus is the Bread of Life.
- Also, they do not believe that Jesus has seen the Father and speaks his word.
- These listeners are helpless. They cannot understand and are unwilling to learn.
- The heavenly bread will do them no good.
Affections: (When one touches your heart, use your own words.)
- O Jesus, be patient with me when I murmur.
- You want to draw me to the Father.
- O Father, please teach me. My own intellect cannot absorb this mystery.
- O Jesus, you have seen the Father. Reveal him to me.
- O Jesus, I will believe and have eternal life.
- Nourish me, O Bread of Life. You have come down from heaven.
- Absorb me. Claim me. Then, 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.
Thought for the Day: (To recall your meditation.)
Whoever eats this bread will live forever.