Now, Jesus has specifically said that the "Bread of Life,"

which brings salvation to those who believe, is His own flesh.

"How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"

What we eat becomes part of us as we assimilate the energy of our daily food and drink.

We become assimilated into Jesus when we eat his body and drink his blood.

 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊     

Acts 9:1-20*

(...) There was a disciple in

Damascus named Ananias, to whom the Lord called in a vision, "Ananias!" He answered, "Here I am, Lord!" Then the Lord said to him, "Go at once to Straight Street and ask, at the house of Judas, for a man of Tarsus named Saul. You will find him praying, for he has just seen in a vision that a man named Ananias has come in and placed his hands upon him, to restore his sight."

 

Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many sources about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem, and now he is here with authority from the High Priest to arrest all who call upon your name." But the Lord said to him, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to bring my name to the pagan nations and their kings, and the people of Israel as well.

 

I myself will show him how much he will have to suffer for my name." So Ananias left and went to the house. He laid his hands upon Saul and said, "Saul, my brother, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me to you so that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." Immediately something like scales fell from his eyes and he could see; he got up and was baptized. Then he took food and was strengthened. 

For several days Saul stayed with the disciples at Damascus, and he soon began to proclaim in the synagogues that Jesus was the Son of God.

 

Ps 117:1bc, 2 Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.

 

＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊      

John 6:52-59

The Jews were arguing among themselves, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" So Jesus replied, "Truly, I say to you, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.

 

My flesh is really food, and my blood is truly drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood, live in me, and I in them. Just as the Father, who is life, sent me, and I have life from the Father, so whoever eats me will have life from me. This is the bread from heaven; not like that of your ancestors, who ate and later died. Those who eat this bread will live forever."

Jesus spoke in this way in Capernaum when he taught them in the synagogue.

 

Gospel Reflection ：

"New relationship."

Jesus always offers us a new relationship. He also challenges us to a new way of relating. We need to leave our old life behind. We are called to conversion. The first reading for today, from the Acts of the Apostles, narrates the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, who became Paul the Apostle.

 

Paul found a new life in Christ and he never returned to his old life. In today's Gospel, Jesus reminds us of the old way of understanding what the bread from heaven might mean. The ancestors of the Israelites ate the manna in the desert while understanding it as bread coming down from heaven since the manna were falling from the skies (cf. Ex. 16). The Israelites in the wilderness remained stubborn and selfish despite the manna provided them.

 

Thus, the new way of understanding the bread from heaven is to relate it with Jesus who is always willing to offer himself for the nourishment of other people's lives. Those who ate the manna died. The 

one who eats the bread of life, who is Jesus, will live forever. We are challenged to become more and more self-giving as Jesus invites us to a new way of relating.