Bread for Complete Life

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today connect us to Life that sustains us now and beyond death.

Bread of Life

The reading from Acts describes Stephen’s Martyrdom.

* [7:55] He…saw…Jesus standing at the right hand of God: Stephen affirms to the Sanhedrin that the prophecy Jesus made before them has been fulfilled (Mk 14:62).1 

The passage from Psalm 31 declares “Into your hands I commend my spirit.”

* [31:6] Into your hands I commend my spirit: in Lk 23:46 Jesus breathes his last with this Psalm verse. Stephen in Acts 7:59 alludes to these words as he is attacked by enemies. The verse is used as an antiphon in the Divine Office at Compline, the last prayer of the day.2 

The text from the Gospel from John is in the Bread of Life Discourse.

 * [6:31] Bread from heaven: cf. Ex 16:4, 15, 32–34 and the notes there; Ps 78:24. The manna, thought to have been hidden by Jeremiah (2 Maccabees 2:5–8), was expected to reappear miraculously at Passover, in the last days.3

Molly Mattingly finds that Stephen, the first martyr, points to Christ in every moment of his life, even the darkest moment. He trusts God-with-us, and invites us to that trust as well.

In today’s first reading, St. Stephen invites us back to that Good Friday moment. He expresses the same trust in the face of death that Jesus expressed on the cross. But, instead of asking God the Father to receive his spirit, he asks Jesus to receive it.4 

Don Schwager quotes “Trusting in the Lord,” by Saint Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

"If you put your trust in money, you are paying futile regard to vain things; if you put your trust in high office or some exalted rank in human government, you are paying futile regard to vain things... When you put your trust in all these, either you expire and leave them all behind, or they will crumble while you are still alive, and what you trusted will have let you down...  For my part, I do not put my trust in empty things as they do or pay futile regard to them; I have put my trust in the Lord." (excerpt from Exposition on the Psalms 31,12)5 

The Word Among Us Meditation on John 6:30-35 shares that it’s not just Jesus who can reach into heaven. In his resurrection, he has opened heaven’s gates for us. Now every person on this earth can reach in and receive the Bread of Life.

There are many ways we can touch heaven while on earth: through prayer, Scripture reading, caring for the poor, offering forgiveness, and loving our families. But the most powerful and the most important way we can reach into heaven is by receiving Jesus himself, the true Bread of Life, at Mass.6 

Friar Jude Winkler shows how Stephen’s spirited attack on the religious leaders leads to his illegal execution. The signs of walking on water and multiplying loaves did not convince the religious authorities about Jesus nature. Friar Jude explains Jesus as Lady Wisdom in the Bread of Life Discourse before the verse (John 6.51).

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, opens a reflection on our place at the Table with comments on the icon

http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/images-renaissance/rublev-trinity.jpg

created by Andrei Rublev (c. 1360–c. 1430): The Hospitality of Abraham, or simply The Trinity.

There are three significant colors in Rublev’s icon, each illustrating a facet of the Holy One:
Gold: “the Father”—perfection, fullness, wholeness, the ultimate Source
Blue: “the Incarnate Christ”—both sea and sky mirroring one another (In the icon, Christ wears blue and holds up two fingers, telling us he has put spirit and matter, divinity and humanity, together within himself. The blue of creation is undergirded with the red of suffering.)
Green: “the Spirit”—the divine photosynthesis that grows everything from within by transforming light into itself (Hildegard of Bingen [1098–1179] called this viriditas, or the greening of all things.)
The icon shows the Holy One in the form of Three, eating and drinking, in infinite hospitality and utter enjoyment between themselves. If we take the depiction of God in The Trinity seriously, we have to say, “In the beginning was the Relationship.” The gaze between the Three shows the deep respect between them as they all share from a common bowl. Notice the Spirit’s hand points toward the open and fourth place at the table! Is the Holy Spirit inviting, offering, and clearing space? I think so! And if so, for what, and for whom?7

We are invited to communion with the Divine that is our life source and force.

References

1	(n.d.). Acts, chapter 7 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved May 7, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/acts/7
2	(n.d.). Psalms, chapter 31 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved May 7, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/psalms/31
3	(n.d.). John, chapter 6 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved May 7, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/john/6
4	(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections - OnlineMinistries - Creighton University. Retrieved May 7, 2019, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
5	(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved May 7, 2019, from https://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/
6	(n.d.). 3rd Week of Easter - Mass Readings and Catholic Daily Meditations .... Retrieved May 7, 2019, from https://wau.org/meditations/2019/05/07/
7	(2019, May 6). Take Your Place at the Table — Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved May 7, 2019, from https://cac.org/take-your-place-at-the-table-2019-05-06/