19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (August 8, 2021)
Sunday Readings: 1 Kings 19:4-8; Ephesians 4:30, 5:2 & John 6:41-51
Whoever eats this bread will live forever.
It is incredible how Jesus insists on the truth that He is the bread of life and that those who believe in Him will have eternal life. The insistence only highlights the fact that Jesus wants to give himself to us so that we may live, and he desires very much to be received by us.
Jesus, however, goes a step further when he says, "…the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world (v. 51)." Here Jesus makes His promise of the gift of the Eucharist, where He gives Himself to us in His own body and blood. The Eucharist, Christ's body and blood, his very self-given in the form of bread and wine, is "the mystery of faith." As Jesus presented Himself to the Jews then as the bread of life to be accepted in faith, He gives Himself today in the Eucharist to be received by us in faith.
In and through the Holy Communion, our "AMEN" proclaims the faith in receiving the Body of Christ. Fr. Joseph Cardozo SJ / Contributor
About the Author
Fr. Joseph Cardozo is a Jesuit priest pursuing a doctorate in Ignatian Spirituality at Jana Deepa Pontifical Institute, Pune, India. Fr. Cardozo has a master's degree in pastoral studies from Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines, and a master's in theology at the University of Innsbruck, Austria. Fr. Cardozo studied in the School of Theology and Ministry at Boston College, USA.
