Today's Readings:
First Reading: Proverbs 9:1-6
Psalm: Psalm 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7
Second Reading: Ephesians 5:15-20
Gospel Reading: John 6:51-58
In the First Reading today the Hebrew and the Greek words for widsom are feminine in gender, thus giving rise to descriptions of this personification of an attribute of God as woman. Today, Proverbs speaks of her as preparing lavish banquet of food of understanding ad inviting all to partake.
The Responsorial Psalm today is an invitation to taste of the banquet provided by the Lord that is echoed in the First Reading. It is a psalm or praise. The psalm directs us to "taste and see how good the Lord is."
At Mass, we recieve eternal life as we consume the living bread of Christ's Body and Blood in the Eucharist. This is the purpose of why we come to church every Sunday: to gather as God's people, to remember and ratify God's covenant of love and life for us, and to receive his life within us as we are nourished by the the gift of his own Body and Blood. Today and each Sunday we celebrate this mystery, which has been handed down from Christ through the ages until today. Within the Mass and the life of the Church, our Catholic faith celebrates and lives Christ yesterday, today, and always.
In the Gospel - we continue reading the Bread of Life discourse from John's Gospel. We hear Jesus speak of himself as the "living bread" (John 6:51) - true manna from heaven - the food that nourishes unto eternal life. The identification of the bread with his own flesh and blood is startling for many of his hearers. And what about those who hear today? Do we really hear it? Do we recognize what - who - is offered to us in each each Eucharist?
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