The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary invite us to meditate on the source of our resilience and joy.
Bread of Life
The reading from the Acts of the Apostles describes the witness of Saul to the stoning of Stephen.
* [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). * [7:57] Covered their ears: Stephen’s declaration, like that of Jesus, is a scandal to the court, which regards it as blasphemy.1
Psalm 31 is a prayer and praise for deliverance from enemies.
* [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
In the Gospel of John, Jesus proclaims ‘‘I am the bread of life.’
* [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 Mc 2:5–8), was expected to reappear miraculously at Passover, in the last days.3
Beth Samson shares that by receiving the Body and Blood of Christ we are transformed, becoming what we are reminded of in a prayer of St. Teresa of Avila.
Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world.Christ has no body now on earth but yours.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 comments that in being deprived of Communion for a time, we may have realized what a truly amazing gift it is. We may have especially missed it as we were trying to adjust to the “new normal” of the pandemic. Perhaps going forward, we may desire to receive the Eucharist more frequently than we did before.
Whatever difficulty you face, you can count on Jesus to redeem it; he knows how to bring good out of evil. You can also count on Jesus, the Bread of Life, to be with you in your heart. Even when you can’t come to him, he will come to you! “Father, thank you for the great gift of Jesus in the Eucharist!”6
Friar Jude Winkler recalls the elements of the Passion of Jesus in the account of the stoning of Stephen. Jesus is present in the death of His martyrs. Friar Jude notes that Jesus' teaching is mostly sapiential in the early part of the “Bread of Life” discourse.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments we witness the many ways the earth has been exploited and damaged beyond repair. We must grieve and commit to show our love through conscious action. The Rev. Dr. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas expresses her grief through prayer.
I’ve taken to praying outdoors. I go outside, feel the good earth beneath my feet and the wind on my face, and I sing to the trees—to oak and beech, hemlock and pines. Making up the words and music as I go along, I sing my grief to the trees that are going down, and my grief for so much more—for what we have lost and are losing, and for what we are likely to lose. I sing my outrage about these beautiful old trees being cut to the roots, their bodies chipped to bits and hauled away to sell. I sing my fury about the predicament we’re in as a species. I sing my protest of the political and corporate powers-that-be that drive forward relentlessly with business as usual, razing forests, drilling for more oil and fracked gas, digging for more coal, expanding pipeline construction, and opening up public lands and waters to endless exploitation, as if Earth were their private business and they were conducting a liquidation sale. I sing out my shame to the trees, my repentance and apology for the part I have played in Earth’s destruction and for the part my ancestors played when they stole land and chopped down the original forests of the Native peoples who lived here. I sing my praise for the beauty of trees and my resolve not to let a day go by that I don’t celebrate the precious living world of which we are so blessedly a part. I’m not finished until I sing my determination to renew action for trees and for all of God’s Creation. . . .7
The wisdom we receive from the “Bread of Life” carries us through trials and inspires our struggle to bring His Peace to all of Creation.
References
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