19 SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – CYCLE B – 2021

Ø  We continue with the same theme of last week “the Bread of Life” to which John dedicates the 6^th chapter of his Gospel.  

Ø  In the last Sundays we have seen Jesus feeding the crowd and the people, that have been fed, complaining because they are experiencing hunger and, asking for a sign.   

Ø  Let us see this Sunday’s message.   

FIRST READING  1 Kings  19: 4-8

Ø  Elijah has walked through the desert for one day and he is exhausted and discouraged. 

Ø  We also sometimes in the deserts of our life, inner desert, loneliness desert, discouragement desert, we feel tired and we even believe that there is nothing else to do but to die.   

Ø  And like the prophet, we ask God to grant us the favor to die, so that we will not suffer anymore.

Ø  But He gives instead new strength to continue our journey in which we will surely have the opportunity to help other brothers and sisters, who are suffering and waiting for a friendly hand or a friendly shoulder to cry. 

Ø  God send an angel to Elijah, and he sends us to others to be like angels to help them.   

Ø  Moreover, the second time that Elijah eats the food that God gives him, he is able to journey during 40 days. Forty a symbolic number of plenitude. 

RESPONSORIAL PSALM : Ps  Ps 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9 

R. (9a) Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall be ever in my mouth.
Let my soul glory in the LORD;
the lowly will hear me and be glad.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Glorify the LORD with me,
Let us together extol his name.
I sought the LORD, and he answered me
And delivered me from all my fears.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Look to him that you may be radiant with joy.
And your faces may not blush with shame.
When the afflicted man called out, the LORD heard,
And from all his distress he saved him.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

The angel of the LORD encamps
around those who fear him and delivers them.
Taste and see how good the LORD is;
blessed the man who takes refuge in him.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

Ø  The rest of the Bible proclaims God’s works, the  law and his saving plan.  

Ø  In the Psalms the Word of God becomes, at the same time, the voice of humankind.    

GOSPEL  – John 6: 41-51

This Sunday’s Gospel has three paragraphs.  

First Paragraph

Ø  Last Sunday the Jews, those who had eaten from the loaves, complained because they were hungry.   

Ø  Today they complain because Jesus has told them “I am the Living Bread that has come down from Heaven.”   

Ø  What does he say? We know very well who his parents are, we also know the town where he comes from. Do they really know?   

Ø  It happens also to us, we judge from what we see and we classify people according to what we think we know about them?    

Ø  They know that this man is a carpenter and the son of a carpenter and of a woman from Nazareth. They do not know anything else, but they do not think they have to know anything else. How often we do that ourselves! In addition, in so doing we deprive ourselves of the benefit to really know the person. People are a treasure, they are the image of God our Father; if we were able to enter with respect in the sanctuary of each human being, how happy we would be and how much the work of God in every human being would inspire us, even in those persons we least appreciate.   

Second Paragraph

Ø  Jesus answer their question, “how can he say that he came down from heaven, if we know his family?  

Ø  In his answer, he asks them “not to mumble”. These words do not seem to answer their question.   

Ø  Now he explains to them that no one can come to him, unless he/she is led by the Father.

Ø  Jesus will raise this one from the dead on the last day, and will give him/her a new life which will never end. 

Ø  What does he mean by the last day? What last day is this?

Ø  We do not have the answer now; we need to trust Jesus and the Father.

Ø  This last day, regardless when, will be a day full of the light of the risen Lord, filled with the eternal light, full of joy and light. 

Ø  Jesus repeats to them the words of the prophet who says, that all who listen to him (Jesus) will be disciples of the Father. We need to listen in order to be attracted by the Father.   

Third Paragraph

Ø  And Jesus speaks again about himsef as life, as the bread of life. 

Ø  Who gave to Israel bread in the desert was the Father, and nevertheless they died, because it was bread for the body. 

Ø  But Jesus is the bread that feeds our spiritual being, the one who prepares us for life eternal, to never die. 

Ø  The bread that Jesus gives to us, the bread of life,  is himself given in a sacramental way as bread and wine= as food and as joy.   

Ø  Jesus gives us the bread so that, we can, in turn, give ourselves to others, as Eucharist. 

Ø  What a wonderful task! 

Ø  Let us make this truth come alive,  and let us proclaim it to all those we meet, most of the time this proclamation will not be through words but though our own life given with joy.   

CLARETIAN CORNER  

When I saw that everything was on the way to the foundation of the Company of Mary, I decided to write to him privately since the Archbishop was already here for the visit, making him understand in a few words that we would not belong to the Company of Mary and that I was informing him just for his discernment. The procurator did not pay attention to this notice, rather considering our foundation impossible unless it would not be a house of the Company of Mary, negotiated the petition we had planned, and not knowing my interior feelings. Because I was always very reserved in giving this kind of news, and God had already told me that he did not orient me to the procurator for this work: to proceed with much silence, that, in due time, He would defend His cause. (Venerable María Antonia París, Autobiography 178) 

Dear Sister:

I have just received your letter together with the letter from the Bishop of Urgel, and I answer you … that for the Government that has to give the authorization for the foundation as well as for us these Rules (of the Company of Mary) are an essential requirement and, not the rules of St. Benedict. Once the Government gives its authorization for the foundation, it will be the Prelate who will approve anything we want. With this answer I think that all of you will understand me. 

Pray for me to God and give my kind regards to the Sisters and the girls, sincerely 

Anthony Mary, Archbishop of Cuba. (Unpublished English Translation of the History of the RR. Of Mary Immaculate Claretian Missionary Sisters, ch 5 pg.10)   

BIBLIOGRAPHY

PARIS, María Antonia, Autobiography 178.

RR. DE MARÍA INMACULADA MISIONERAS CLARETIANAS. English translation of the History) 

CANVIS, JEFF … Psalms the School of Prayer. 2009