4th Easter Sunday, Good Shepherd Sunday [11 May 2025]

God bless us and may the Virgin protect us! We are in a decisive week for the Church, and the biblical texts of this Sunday help us to better understand the mission of the new pontiff, successor of Peter, who is called to firmly maintain the trust of the Christian people in Jesus the true Shepherd who knows and loves all his sheep. Yes, we are his and we belong to him. The disciples of Jesus, throughout history, really need to rest on the certainty that no one can snatch them from the hand of the Father!

*First Reading from the Acts of the Apostles (13, 14.43-52)  

We are in the synagogue of Antioch of Pisidia (in the heart of Asia Minor, today western Turkey) on a Saturday for the celebration of Shabbat. There are many people there with some differences: there are Jews by birth, some proselytes, that is, people who are not Jewish but have converted to the Jewish religion whom Luke calls "converts to Judaism" and pagans called "God-fearers" because having been attracted to the Jewish religion they go to the synagogue on the Sabbath for Shabbat, but even though they know the Jewish Scriptures they do not accept circumcision and all the Jewish practices. When Paul arrived in the city he went to the synagogue and first of all wanted to speak to his Jewish brothers about Jesus of Nazareth. The apostles were all Jews who recognised Christ as the Messiah and tried to convince other Jews to convert to Christ. Paul, preaching in the synagogues, thought that when all the Jewish people are converted, the conversion of the Gentiles will take place, since God's plan foresaw two stages: the choice of the chosen people to whom he revealed himself (this is the election of Israel) and the chosen people are entrusted with the task of proclaiming salvation to the Gentiles.  Of this "logic of election" of God's plan, the prophet Isaiah writes: "I have established you as the light of the nations, that my salvation may reach the ends of the earth" (Is 49:6) and, again in this logic, Jesus also told the apostles at the beginning: "Do not go among the Gentiles... go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Mt 10:5). From the first Saturday, Paul and Barnabas therefore go to the synagogue where they receive a favourable reception that gives them hope that some will become Christians. The following Saturday they return to the synagogue and many people go to hear them. This success of theirs, however, begins to annoy the Jews who "when they saw that crowd, they were filled with jealousy and with insulting words opposed Paul's statements". Luke calls "Jews" those Jews who categorically refuse to recognise Jesus as the Messiah. On the contrary, the pagans (i.e. the God-fearing) seem more favourable as he notes immediately afterwards: 'The pagans rejoiced and glorified the word of the Lord, and all who were destined for eternal life believed'.  In Antioch of Pisidia Paul decides to change his plans: if only a few Jews accept, and the hope of converting the entire Jewish people to Christ must be abandoned for the time being, the rejection of the majority of the Jews must not, however, delay the proclamation of the Messiah to the Gentiles. In this regard, he knew well that it will be the "little Remnant", of whom Isaiah speaks at length (cf. chapters 1- 12 of the book of the prophet Isaiah), who will save Israel and all mankind. Paul understands that the little Remnant formed by Paul and Barnabas with all those who want to follow them, must take on the vocation of apostles of Israel and the pagan nations and says: "It was necessary that the word of God be proclaimed to you first, but since you reject it and do not judge yourselves worthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles" and from that moment they direct their missionary energy first of all to the "God-fearing" and then to the Gentiles. As is clear, here in Antioch of Pisidia there was a decisive turning point in the lives of the early Christians.

*Responsorial Psalm (99 (100) 1-3.5) 

This psalm was composed specifically to accompany a thanksgiving sacrifice and is called the 'psalm for todah' (in Hebrew, 'thanks' is said todah).

Already from the first verses, it is clear that it is meant to accompany a celebration in the Temple: 'Hail... serve... present yourselves to him with exultation'. Just as a hymn book can often be found at the entrance to churches, so the book of Psalms is the Jerusalem Temple's book of canticles suitable for various types of celebrations. This psalm was composed for a thanksgiving sacrifice and, in Israel, when thanks are given, it is always for the covenant. A very short psalm, each line evokes the entire history and faith of Israel and almost every word recalls the Covenant. After all, the heart of the tradition, faith and prayer of this people, the memory that is transmitted from generation to generation is this common faith: election, deliverance, the Covenant. After all, the whole Bible is here. Let us examine a few words: 'Acclaim', the word used indicates a special acclamation reserved for the new king on the day of his coronation and therefore means that the true king is God himself. "Acclaim the Lord": in the Hebrew text, the word Lord is expressed with the four letters YHWH (the Tetragrammaton), which we do not even know how to pronounce or translate because God is beyond our comprehension, and God revealed Himself by this name during the burning bush to Moses (Ex 3). Moses discovered on that occasion the greatness of God, the Totally Other. At the same time Moses receives the revelation of God's total closeness: 'I have seen, yes, I have seen the misery of my people... I have heard their cry... I know their sufferings'. "All the earth": anticipating a future event, Israel already glimpses the day when all mankind will come to acclaim its Lord. Indeed, in the psalms we always find the two themes linked: the election of Israel and the universalism of divine salvation. "Recognise that the Lord alone is God": here is Israel's profession of faith: Shema Israel: "Hear, O Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord is One". "Serve the Lord in joy": in Israel's memory, the Egypt of slavery will be called the "house of bondage". Henceforth, the chosen people will learn 'service' as the choice of free men, and hence the exodus can be said to have been for the Jewish people the transition 'from slavery to service'. "He has made us and we are his": this formula is not a reference to the creation, but to the liberation from Egypt: the people do not forget that they were slaves in Egypt and that God made them free, from fugitives he made the Jews a people. Throughout the Sinai crossing Israel learnt to live in the Covenant proposed by God and the expression "He has made us and we are His" became a customary Covenant formula. The first article of Israel's 'Creed' is not I believe in God the Creator, but I believe in God the Deliverer. 

NOTE: The Bible was not written in the order in which we read it: it did not begin by recounting the creation, then the events of the life of the chosen people, as in a report. Reflection on creation only came much later. Having experienced God as the liberator, Israel realised that this work of liberation has been going on since the creation of the world, and the reflection on creation stems from faith in a liberating God. The ancient formula 'We, his people' typical of the Jewish faith is a reminder of the Covenant, because God, in proposing the Covenant, had promised: 'You shall be my people and I will be your God'.  The expression then "We, his people and the flock of his people" is typical of Israel where the flock was the wealth of the owner, his boast, but also the object of his solicitude and care, and it was for the needs of the flock that the nomadic shepherd would move his tent in the desert, following the clumps of grass for the animals' nourishment. In the same way God moved with his people as they walked in the Sinai desert. Finally "His love is forever" is a refrain of the Covenant that we know well because it recurs in other psalms and here it is joined to the following verse with another traditional formula: "His faithfulness from generation to generation": "love and faithfulness" is one of the few ways to speak of God without betraying him

*Second Reading, from the book of Revelation of St John the Apostle (7:9 -17)  

 The reference to the "immense multitude that no one could count" recalls God's promise to Abraham of an innumerable descendants: "I will make your descendants as numerous as the dust of the earth: if one could count the grains of dust, one could count your descendants!"(Gen 13:16); and a little further on: "Look at the sky and count the stars, if you can...so shall your descendants be!" (Gen 15:5); and again: "I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore" (Gen 22:17). Revelation, the last book of the Bible, makes us contemplate God's project realised: a multitude composed of all nations, races, peoples and languages, four terms to indicate the whole of humanity, as Isaiah had announced: "All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God" (Is 52:10). The salvation of which Isaiah speaks is the elimination of all hunger, thirst, and tears, and in chapter 49 we read verbatim: "They shall hunger and thirst no more; the fierce wind and the sun shall smite them no more. He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them to springs of water" (Is 49:10). And, above all, salvation is the presence of the One who is at the root of true happiness: "full of compassion", says Isaiah and John translates here: "He who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them". When he uses this expression, his readers know what he is referring to: the Jewish people have always aspired to this - that God would 'pitch his tent' in their midst, that is, that God would dwell permanently in their midst: it is the mystery of closeness, of intimacy, of permanent divine presence. In this regard, we note that John in the gospel used the same terms for Christ: "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (Jn 1:14). In the Jewish people, some already had the honour of living, in a certain way, an anticipation of this intimacy: they were the priests, who served God day and night in the Temple of Jerusalem, a visible sign of God's presence. Here the sacred author glimpses the day when all mankind will be introduced into intimacy with God: 'I saw an immense multitude, which no one could count...all stand before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple'. To describe this immense multitude he uses images from the Jewish liturgy and the Christian liturgy: all this enriches the text while making it complex. When referring to the Jewish liturgy, John alludes to the feast of the Tents or Tents (Sukkot), a feast that is a remembrance of the past and an anticipation of the future promised by God. It recalls the time spent in the desert when one discovered the Covenant proposed by the neighbouring God and lived for eight days in specially built huts. At the same time, the eight days heralded God's promised future, the new creation (as the figure eight reminds us each time, a foretaste of the triumph of the Messiah and with him the fulfilment of God's plan consisting of happiness for all). Among the rituals of the Feast of Tents, John recalls the palms carried in processions around the altar of sacrifices in the Temple of Jerusalem. In fact, in such processions each person waved a bunch (the lulav) composed of various branches, including a palm tree (lulav), a sprig of myrtle (Hadas), a sprig of willow (Aravah) along with a citron (Etrog) lemon-like fruit while chanting "Hosanna", which means both "God gives salvation" and "we pray thee, Lord, give us salvation". Let us read the text of Revelation uncut: "I saw: behold, an immense multitude, which no one could count... they stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes and with palms in their hands. And they cried with a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb!"  Another rite of the Feast of Tanah was the rite of the "Water Libation" (Nisuakh haMayim), the procession to the pool of Siloe on the eighth and last day of the feast, carrying water in procession to sprinkle the altar, a rite of purification prefiguring the final purification promised by God through the prophets, especially Zechariah: "On that day, living waters shall go out from Jerusalem, half to the eastern sea and half to the western sea" (Zech 14:8). It was precisely during a Feast of Tabernacles, on the eighth day, that Jesus said (and it is again St John who reports this): "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me, and drink who believes in me. As the Scripture says, out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water" (John 7:37). Here, in echo, John predicts: "The Lamb who stands in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd and will lead them to the springs of the waters of life". From the Christian liturgy, St John has taken the white robe of the baptised and the blood of the Lamb, the sign of the life given, to tell us that all that the Feast of Tents symbolically announced is now fulfilled. In Jesus Christ the expectation of God's people for a definitive purification, a new Covenant, God's perfect presence with us, is fulfilled. Through Baptism and the Eucharist, humanity participates in the life of the Risen One and thus enters into God's intimacy for good.

NOTE: In the immense multitude (v. 9) tradition identifies the Church even though at the end of the first century Christians were not many. However, there is a possible different interpretation: in the preceding verses (v. 3-8), John describes a first crowd ("the servants of our God" whose "forehead is marked with the seal") and it is believed to be the baptised, i.e. the Church. The immense crowd clothed in white robes (the wedding garment) would then be the multitude of the saved, in the line of the Servant theology (cf. the four hymns of the second book of Isaiah), with which the Johannine writings, and not only them, are all imbued. Therefore the immense crowd (vv9 ff.) would be the "multitude" justified by the Servant: "The righteous, my servant, will justify the multitudes" (Is 53:11). Confronted then with persecution, Christians found here a reason to resist because they knew that their sacrifice was a seed of salvation for the multitude.*From the Gospel according to John (10:27-30)

Right after the text proposed to us in this Sunday's liturgy, St John writes: "The Jews again picked up stones to stone him" (v.31). Why did they react so strongly and what had Jesus said that was so extraordinary? In reality, he did not take the initiative but merely answered a question.The evangelist narrates that he was in the Temple in Jerusalem, under the portico called 'Solomon's Portico', and the Jews, in order to corner him, asked him: 'How long will you keep us in uncertainty? If you are the Christ, tell us openly' (v24). In short, we are faced with a kind of ultimatum, such as: Are you the Christ (i.e. the Messiah) or not, say it clearly once and for all. Instead of answering "yes, I am the Messiah", Jesus speaks of "his" sheep, but it is the same thing because the people of Israel willingly compared themselves to a flock: "We are God's people, the flock he leads", this expression recurs often in the psalms, in particular, in this Sunday's psalm: "He has made us and we are his, his people and the flock of his pasture"; a flock often mistreated, neglected, or misguided by the successive kings on David's throne. It was known, however, that the Messiah would be an attentive shepherd, so Jesus truly presents himself as the Messiah. His interlocutors understood this very well and Jesus takes them much further because when speaking of "his" sheep he dares to say: "I give them eternal life and they will not be lost for ever and no one will snatch them out of my hand" (v. 28). But who can ever give eternal life? The expression 'to be in the hand of God' was customary in the Old Testament as we find for example in Jeremiah: 'As clay is in the hand of the potter, so you are in my hand, house of Israel!" (Jer 18:16), or in the book of Qoheleth (Ecclesiastes): "The righteous, the wise, and their deeds are in the hand of God" (Qo 9:1), and also in Deuteronomy: "I make dead and alive, I wound and I heal, and no one can deliver from my hand" (Deut 32:39), and a little further on: "All the saints are in your hand" (Deut 33:3). Jesus refers to all this and adds: "No one can snatch them out of the hand of the Father" (v.29), equating "my hand" and "the hand of the Father". And he does not stop there because he says: "I and the Father are one" (v.30) which is to say: "yes, I am the Christ, that is, the Messiah" making himself equal to God, himself God. For his interlocutors, this was unacceptable because they expected a Messiah who was a man but could not imagine that he could be God: faith in the one God was so strongly affirmed in Israel that it was practically impossible for fervent Jews to believe in the divinity of Jesus. Professing daily the Jewish faith: 'Shema Israel', 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is the one Lord', they could not tolerate hearing Jesus say: 'I and the Father are one'. This explains why the fiercest opposition to Jesus came from the religious leaders. The reaction was immediate and as they prepared to stone him, they accused him of blaspheming by making himself God. Once again, Jesus came up against the incomprehension of those who had been waiting for the Messiah with greater fervour and this is a constant reflection in John: "He came among his own, and his own did not receive him". The whole mystery of Christ is contained in this, and also, in filigree, his trial. And yet, all is not lost; Jesus faced misunderstanding, even hatred, he was persecuted, eliminated, but some believed in him; John himself says this in the Prologue of his gospel: "He came among his own, and his own did not receive him... but to those who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God" (John 1:11-12). And we know well that it is thanks to these that the revelation has continued to spread. From that little Remnant was born the people of believers: "My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life'. In spite of the opposition that Jesus encounters here, in spite of the already foreseeable tragic outcome, there is undoubtedly in these words a language of victory: "No one will snatch them out of my hand"... "No one can snatch them out of the hand of the Father": one perceives here an echo of another phrase of Jesus reported by the same evangelist: "Have courage, I have overcome the world" (Jn 16:33). Jesus' disciples, throughout history, really need to rest on the certainty that no one can snatch them from the hand of the Father.

+Giovanni D'Ercole

«Who shall we go to?». Faith, a critical sign (not attenuated)

(Jn 6:60-69)

A God on our level? «This Logos is sclerotic» (v.60) - as in: to imagine that the Most High identifies himself to the ‘least’ in everything is an incomprehensible and offensive position.

Can the Eternal recognize himself in a mere son of man?

Like his ministry in Judea, Jesus' last activity in Galilee ends in failure (v.66).

Even the disciples who taste the new Word are disappointed.

Many of the people sought him as a doer of miracles - continuing to be content with the dominant reference points, with the same material bread as ever.

Christ is not for continuing to adapt, but for consistent Nourishment. Here’s the crisis: it’s not lacking when we are faced with serious choices.

The Master had a different interpretation. And the “wedding” drama could not be resolved in comfortable parentheses.

Proposals such as the communion of goods, the choice of last place, the welcome given not only to the neighbors of the clan and so on, overturn the idea of ​​greatness and failure.

The question becomes intimate: «But do you also want to go away?» (v.67).

Peter responds in the plural, expressing the Faith of the small group that takes risks, without too many keys of circumstance - and that can be ours.

The Galilee crisis is not a pale historical memory, but a watershed at the center of which we all are - every day. A persistent event, which divides us from easy enthusiasm, but leads the authentic journey.

Accepting this conclusive challenge, it changes the boundaries of the narrow world that entangles the soul, thus the course of existence... even the ambitious one of the disciples who perhaps did not want the inconveniences of another 'kingdom'.

The ranks are thinning, the choices no longer obvious, the voices are many [and so the half measures]. The once safe place is undermined.

Is it worth being consistent? Isn't it better to adapt to power relations or fashions?

Faith unites us with the Lord, Listening gives the right position, and the intertwining of natures, human and divine, is produced in the Eucharist.

Deep aspirations lead beyond calculations and the natural order. In us, the incarnation and action of the only Guide who can be trusted continues.

The purity of truth doesn’t break, rather it pours out.

Faced with hardship in the desert, the people had doubted the divine presence [«in the midst of us»].

The same were happening in the Johannine communities of the end of the first century, which questioned themselves about the presence of the Risen One in the ‘breaking of bread’.

Some had left the church to return to the «onions of Egypt».

In the area of ​​Ephesus there was no lack of well-being and attractions - guaranteed and sanctified by pagan religiosity.

The same devout life polarized around the economic inducement of the Artemis’ Temple - transformed into one of the major banks of the ancient East - guaranteed a carefree existence and a much more "solid" and showy quality of life than the humble Eucharistic sign.

What could those crumbs were worth compared to one of the seven Wonders of the ancient world?

With Jesus there remains only a small group, which however is more intimate - and the right question is asked:

Is it also dignified not to be first in the class, and "winners"?

Who... knows how to value history, and every path, even defections?

What Person does not force us to be one-sided?

[Saturday 3rd wk. in Easter, May 10, 2025]

«Whom shall we go to?». Faith, a critical sign (not attenuated)

(Jn 6:60-69)

A God on our level? "This Logos is sclerotic" (v.60) - as if to say: to imagine that the Most High joins with the least in everything is an incomprehensible and offensive position.

Can the Eternal recognise Himself in a simple son of man - even subversive and out of the loop - alienated from established circuits?

As in his ministry in Judea, Jesus' last activity in Galilee ends in failure (v.66).

The official pious experience proceeded on the surface - centred on the visibility of events and elite judgement, then on a succubus reality.

Even the disciples who taste the new Word are disappointed by the Master, who substitutes the Father for the tradition of the 'fathers'.

Many of the people sought him as a miracle-worker - continuing to be content with the religious structure, the dominant reference points, the same material bread as always (and so on).

Christ is not for continuing to conform, but for consistent nourishment. Here is the crisis: it does not fail when one is faced with serious choices.

For their own use, the leaders propagated dead idols, which blandished petty ideas (and immediate interests) - and frightened no one who deserved it.

Instead, the Lord went beyond the demands and horizons of normality. He had a different key.

The nuptial drama could not be resolved in convenient parentheses, as in conformist devotions: which ultimately compromise nothing [as in the later bigoted idea of 'angel food'].

Proposals such as the communion of goods, the choice of the last place, the welcome given not only to clan neighbours and so on, overturn the idea of greatness and failure.

To get involved, the disciples would have to be ready to embrace Life in the Spirit.

Impassable territory... but you can't agree with everything: bargaining, negotiation, calculations and apparatuses have had their day. In today's global crisis, the aut aut aut is pressing.

The question troubles: "But do you also want to leave?" (v.67).

Peter responds in the plural, expressing the Faith of the small group that ventures out - and that can be ours, when we remain untethered by dissociations of life, or verifications and paroxysms of 'worldviews'.

The crisis in Galilee is not a pale historical memory, but a watershed at the centre of which we are all - every day. A persistent event, which separates us from easy enthusiasms - but leads the authentic journey.

Accepting this final challenge changes the boundaries of the narrow world that entangles the soul, thus the course of existence... even the ambitious one of the disciples who perhaps did not want the discomforts of another kingdom.

Especially in the (even sacred) world of externality and shouting, the dilemma is alive: that of the fulfilled, perfect personal way; which goes in the direction of intimate energy, not of circumstantial keys.

Deaf opposition from the leaders, interested murmuring from many followers: the choice to draw on another Life must be peremptory.

The ranks are thinning, the choices are no longer obvious, the voices are many (and so are the half-measures). The once safe place is undermined.

Is it better to be consistent? Is it not better to conform to power relationships or fashions?

Faith unites with the Lord, listening gives the right position, and in the Eucharist the intertwining of natures, human and divine, is produced.

Deep aspirations drive beyond calculations and the natural order.

In us, the incarnation and action of the only Guide we can trust continues.

The purity of truth does not shatter, rather it spills over.

Before the hardships in the desert, the people had doubted the divine presence ("in our midst").

The same happened in the Johannine communities of the late first century, which questioned the Presence of the Risen One in the breaking of bread.

Some had left the church to return to the "onions of Egypt". On the other hand, in the area of Ephesus there was no lack of wealth and attraction - guaranteed and sacralised by pagan religiosity.

The same devout life polarised around the inducement of the Temple of Artemis - transformed into one of the major banks of the ancient East - guaranteed a carefree and much more 'solid' and conspicuous quality of life than the humble Eucharistic sign.

What could those crumbs be worth compared to one of the seven wonders of the ancient world?

And then enjoy being surrounded by so many "proper" people around, therefore well inserted in public and private relations - as well as adhering to attractive proposals from every point of view, not least of which was profit [or discredit: cf. the Ephesian silversmiths of trinkets; goldsmiths and craftsmen outraged with Paul: Acts 19:23ff].With Jesus, only a small group remained, but they were more intimate - and asked the right question:

Is it also dignified not to be first in the class, and 'successful'?

Who knows how to value history, and every path, even defections?

What Person does not force us to be one-sided?

The epilogue of John 6 does not call for a discipline of extrinsic spiritual proposals.

Nor does he tell (as typical in the ancient East) of talismans or mythical plants 'that make the old man young', nor of a 'sacred fire of the gods'.

For Jesus does not advocate the arduous climbing of religions, but humanisation... that brings us closer. Concrete adherence.

A saved existence glosses over any idea of naturalistic sequels expressible by ancient symbols or metaphors.

Thus e.g. the outward icons of "Plant" or "Fire", which alluded to immortal life and the divine, are discarded altogether and even replaced by "flesh" and "blood".

Their opposite, but: the character of lambs.

The experience of divinisation cannot ignore the Paschal faith-relationship dimension, which elevates us only in the freedom to 'descend'.

In times of leisure and harmony, we are always surprised to notice that our innermost core demands a different Rest.

We understand that the longed-for Peace is not a matter of place, exclusive beaches or panoramas; nor of ingenious calculations, hypotheses, sophisticated worldviews or ideal situations, but of a just Person.

But if today we feel poised in every decision and at every moment, "Who can we trust" always?

Every day we need a You that encourages and refreshes, making us feel like protagonists and collaborators, not reserves or benchwarriors.  

Never will the Dharma convince us in earnest, nor a Book... the engine of a conversion (unless it is opened with a spear).

It is only an experience that does not trap us in solitude that changes us from lukewarm believers to critical witnesses.

We feel the urgency of a loving purpose, otherwise nothing makes sense; not even success.

In me, I distinctly perceive an inclination to only grant trust to Whom I feel in need, or in at least a slightly reciprocal relationship; in a feeling that at least inwardly qualifies.

A Person who helps me first of all to reconcile with my limitations; not to feel accepted in general, but understood and welcomed within a configured affair, of real forgiveness or redemption. Or at least relationship.

Something good is not enough for me: I need Someone to free me from narrow horizons, from conditioning that takes my breath away, from internal powers that demand, from external social idols that suffocate identity, making the reason I was born diminish.

I need encouragement when I become despondent, and then I feel a need for motherly hands that welcome, for fatherly hands that reassure; for a witness, for a glance.

I feel an impelling need for a Thou who reveals to me the Good on which to begin or begin again; I am in need of an Interlocutor who makes me realise that there is a future, even in adverse conditions - and at any age.

I am not interested in façade perfection: I hunger for a Person who does not betray, who does not let me fall to the ground at the most beautiful, to the point of touching the dust. 

I seek a Friendship that doesn't mock and trample. And let it not be 'now and then': let it notice, let it heal, let it understand me and let me breathe, then raise my head and get back on track... until I too am able to pull sisters and brothers to growth.

Instead of the thunder and lightning of Sinai, which overpowers and repels, I ask for an attunement on my own level, which allows situations to be sublimated into precious correspondence and empathy.

Then yes: the personal aspect of the mission-relationship with the world becomes manifest, intense; decisive.

The non-depersonalising contact with the Voice of the Father made Brother convinces, in the drama and even in the clash of the face-to-face relationship.

The one not distant and indistinct Person who knows where to lead me and pulses within conveys that sense of participation and complicity that makes the soul so mysteriously sure of its most palpitating inclinations. Thus finally transforming a conformist and intimidated life into a dense, complete and shining adventure - one that overcomes obstacles, mentalities and conditioning that would make it pale into extinction.

We need a Presence that in the joy of togetherness opens, invites, gives taste; shatters the tension of deserving and fulfilling expected performance.

A Person who allows us to feel heard, understood and cared for, and who in the warmth of this Nest makes of ourselves a human sign with a Purpose of Love.

What is needed is Someone who transforms the meaning of everyday actions, even minute or apparently banal ones, into intimacy and Dialogue.

A Core of Sharing where we find support - not sentences - for our incessant transmigration: from the spiritualisations that 'elevate' to the humanisation that brings us closer.

And establish us at root. And transmits smiles to the soul.From the ancient religious sense to the Fedenovella? A question of Person.

To internalise and live the message:

The usual and at hand, or the best and that fits you?

What and Whom do you choose?

Do you see deep? Do you choose beyond boundaries?

«We have believed and then known»

On this passage we have a beautiful commentary by St Augustine, who says, in one of his sermons on John 6: "Do you see how Peter, by the grace of God, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, understood? Why did he understand? Because he believed. You have words of eternal life. You give us eternal life by offering your [risen] body and blood [Yourself]. And we have believed and known. It does not say: we have known and then believed, but we have believed and then known. We believed in order that we might know; for if we had wanted to know before we believed, we could neither know nor believe. What have we believed and what have we known? That you are Christ the Son of God, that you are eternal life itself, and in flesh and blood you give us what you yourself are' (Commentary on the Gospel of John, 27, 9). So said St Augustine in a sermon to his believers.

[Pope Benedict, Angelus 26 August 2012]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

On the past few Sundays we have meditated on the “Bread of Life” discourse, which Jesus gave in the Synagogue of Capernaum after satisfying the hunger of thousands of people with five loaves and two fish. The Gospel today presents the disciples’ reaction to this discourse, a reaction which Christ himself deliberately provoked.

First of all, the Evangelist John — who was present with the other Apostles — says: “After this many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him” (Jn 6:66). Why? Because they did not believe in the words of Jesus who said: “I am the living bread which came down from heaven... he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life” (cf. Jn 6:51, 54); words that were truly difficult to accept, incomprehensible. This revelation — as I have said — was incomprehensible to them because they understood it in a purely literal sense, whereas these words foretold the Paschal Mystery of Jesus, in which he was to give himself for the world’s salvation: the new presence of the Blessed Eucharist.

Seeing that many of his disciples were deserting him, Jesus turned to the Apostles, asking them: “Will you also go away?” (Jn 6:67). As on other occasions it was Peter who answered on behalf of the Twelve: “Lord, to whom shall we go?”. We, too, might wonder: to whom should we go? “You have the words of eternal life; and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God” (Jn 6:68-69).

We have a beautiful comment of St Augustine on this passage. In one of his sermons on John 6 he says: “See how Peter, by the gift of God and the renewal of the Holy Spirit, understood Him. How other than because he believed? ‘You have the words of eternal life’. For You have eternal life in the ministration of Your body [Risen] and Your blood [Yourself]. ‘And we have believed and have known’. He does not say: ‘we have known and then believed’, but ‘we have believed and then known’. We believed in order to know; for if we wanted to know first, and then to believe, we should not be able either to know or to believe. What have we believed and known? ‘That You are Christ, the Son of God’; that is, that You are that very eternal life, and that You give in Your flesh and blood only that which You are” (In Evangelium Johannis tractatus, 27, 9). St Augustine addressed this homily to his believers.

Finally, Jesus knew that among the Twelve Apostles there was also one who did not believe: Judas. Judas could have gone away too, as did many of the disciples; indeed, perhaps if he had been honest he would have been bound to leave. Instead he stayed on with Jesus. He did not stay out of faith or out of love, but rather with the secret intention of taking revenge on the Teacher. Why? Because Judas felt let down by Jesus and decided that he, in his turn, would betray Jesus. Judas was a zealot and he wanted a victorious Messiah who would lead a revolt against the Romans. Jesus had not measured up to these expectations. The problem was that Judas did not go away and his greatest sin was his deceitfulness, which is the mark of the Devil. For this reason Jesus said to the Twelve: “One of you is a devil” (Jn 6:70). Let us pray to the Virgin Mary to help us believe in Jesus, like St Peter, and always to be sincere with him and with everyone.

[Pope Benedict, Angelus 26 August 2012]

1. “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (Jn 6:68).

Dear young people of the Fifteenth World Youth Day! These words of Peter, in his conversation with Christ at the end of the discourse on the “bread of life”, affect us personally. In these days we have meditated on John’s statement: “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn 1:14). The evangelist has brought us back to the great mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God, the Son given to us through Mary “when the fullness of time had come” (Gal 4:4).

[…]

2. We have reached the high point of World Youth Day. Yesterday evening, dear young people, we confirmed our faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God whom the Father sent, as the First Reading reminded us today, “to bring good tidings to the poor, ... to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound ... to comfort all who mourn” (Is 61:1-3).

In today’s Eucharistic celebration, Jesus helps us to come to know a particular aspect of his mystery. In the Gospel, we listened to a part of his discourse in the synagogue at Capernaum after the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves. In it he reveals himself as the true bread of life, the bread which has come down from heaven to give life to the world (cf. Jn 6:51). These are words that those who hear him do not understand. Their outlook is too material for them to grasp what Christ really means. They are thinking in terms of flesh, which “is of no avail” (Jn 6:63). Jesus’s words, instead, have to do with the unlimited horizons of the spirit: “The words that I have spoken to you – he insists – are spirit and life” (ibid.).

But his hearers are hesitant: “This is a hard saying, who can listen to it?” (Jn 6:60). They consider themselves to be persons of common sense, with their feet on the ground. For this reason they shake their heads and go away muttering, one after another. The initial crowd gradually grows smaller. At the end, only the tiny group of his most faithful disciples remains. But with regard to the “bread of life” Jesus is not prepared to back down. Rather, he is ready to lose even those closest to him: “Will you also go away?” (Jn 6:67).

3. “Will you also?” Christ’s question cuts across the centuries and comes down to us; it challenges us personally and calls for a decision. What is our answer? Dear young people, if we are here today, it is because we identify with the Apostle Peter’s reply: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (Jn 6:68).

Around you, you hear all kinds of words. But only Christ speaks words that stand the test of time and remain for all eternity. The time of life that you are living calls for decisive choices on your part: decisions about the direction of your studies, about work, about your role in society and in the Church. It is important to realize that among the many questions surfacing in your minds, the decisive ones are not about “what”. The basic question is “who”: “who” am I to go to, “who” am I to follow, “to whom” should I entrust my life?

You are thinking about love and the choices it entails, and I imagine that you agree: what is really important in life is the choice of the person who will share it with you. But be careful! Every human person has inevitable limits: even in the most successful of marriages there is always a certain amount of disappointment. So then, dear friends, does not this confirm what we heard the Apostle Peter say? Every human being finds himself sooner or later saying what he said: “To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life”. Only Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God and of Mary, the eternal Word of the Father born two thousand years ago at Bethlehem in Judaea, is capable of satisfying the deepest aspirations of the human heart.

In Peter’s question: “To whom shall we go?” the answer regarding the path to follow is already given. It is the path that leads to Christ. And it is possible to meet the divine Master personally: he is in fact truly present on the altar in the reality of his Body and Blood. In the Eucharistic Sacrifice, we can enter into contact with the person of Jesus in a way that is mysterious but real, drinking at the inexhaustible fountain that is his life as the Risen Lord.

4. This is the stupendous truth, dear friends: the Word, who took flesh two thousand years ago, is present today in the Eucharist. That is why the year of the Great Jubilee, in which we are celebrating the mystery of the Incarnation, had to be an “intensely Eucharistic” year as well (cf. Tertio Millennio Adveniente, 55).

The Eucharist is the sacrament of the presence of Christ, who gives himself to us because he loves us. He loves each one of us in a unique and personal way in our practical daily lives: in our families, among our friends, at study and work, in rest and relaxation. He loves us when he fills our days with freshness, and also when, in times of suffering, he allows trials to weigh upon us: even in the most severe trials, he lets us hear his voice.

Yes, dear friends, Christ loves us and he loves us for ever! He loves us even when we disappoint him, when we fail to meet his expectations for us. He never fails to embrace us in his mercy. How can we not be grateful to this God who has redeemed us, going so far as to accept the foolishness of the Cross? To God who has come to be at our side and has stayed with us to the end?

5. To celebrate the Eucharist, “to eat his flesh and drink his blood”, means to accept the wisdom of the Cross and the path of service. It means that we signal our willingness to sacrifice ourselves for others, as Christ has done.

Our society desperately needs this sign, and young people need it even more so, tempted as they often are by the illusion of an easy and comfortable life, by drugs and pleasure-seeking, only to find themselves in a spiral of despair, meaninglessness and violence. It is urgent to change direction and to turn to Christ. This is the way of justice, solidarity and commitment to building a society and a future worthy of the human person.

This is our Eucharist, this is the answer that Christ wants from us, from you young people at the closing of your Jubilee. Jesus is no lover of half measures, and he does not hesitate to pursue us with the question: “Will you also go away?” In the presence of Christ, the Bread of Life, we too want to say today with Peter: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (Jn 6:68).

6. Dear friends, when you go back home, set the Eucharist at the centre of your personal life and community life: love the Eucharist, adore the Eucharist and celebrate it, especially on Sundays, the Lord’s Day. Live the Eucharist by testifying to God’s love for every person.

I entrust to you, dear friends, this greatest of God’s gifts to us who are pilgrims on the paths of time, but who bear in our hearts a thirst for eternity. May every community always have a priest to celebrate the Eucharist! I ask the Lord therefore to raise up from among you many holy vocations to the priesthood. Today as always the Church needs those who celebrate the Eucharistic Sacrifice with a pure heart. The world must not be deprived of the gentle and liberating presence of Christ living in the Eucharist!

You yourselves must be fervent witnesses to Christ’s presence on the altar. Let the Eucharist mould your life and the life of the families you will form. Let it guide all life’s choices. May the Eucharist, the true and living presence of the love of the Trinity, inspire in you ideals of solidarity, and may it lead you to live in communion with your brothers and sisters in every part of the world.

In a special way, may sharing in the Eucharist lead to a new flourishing of vocations to the religious life. In this way the Church will have fresh and generous energies for the great task of the new evangelization. If any of you, dear young men and women, hear the Lord’s inner call to give yourselves completely to him in order to love him “with an undivided heart” (cf. 1 Cor 7:34), do not be held back by doubts or fears. Say “yes” with courage and without reserve, trusting him who is faithful to his promises. Did he not assure those who had left everything for his sake that they would have a hundredfold in this life and eternal life hereafter? (cf. Mk 10:29-30).

7. At the end of this World Youth Day, as I look at you now, at your young faces, at your genuine enthusiasm, from the depths of my heart I want to give thanks to God for the gift of youth, which continues to be present in the Church and in the world because of you.

Thank God for the World Youth Days! Thanks be to God for all the young people who have been involved in them in the past sixteen years! Many of them are now adults who continue to live their faith in their homes and work-places. I am sure, dear friends, that you too will be as good as those who preceded you. You will carry the proclamation of Christ into the new millennium. When you return home, do not grow lax. Reinforce and deepen your bond with the Christian communities to which you belong. From Rome, from the City of Peter and Paul, the Pope follows you with affection and, paraphrasing Saint Catherine of Siena’s words, reminds you: “If you are what you should be, you will set the whole world ablaze!” (cf. Letter 368).

I look with confidence to this new humanity which you are now helping to prepare. I look to this Church which in every age is made youthful by the Spirit of Christ and today is made happy by your intentions and commitment. I look to the future and make my own the words of an ancient prayer, which sings the praise of the one gift of Jesus, the Eucharist and the Church:

“I give thanks to you, Father of us all,
for the life and the knowledge
which you have revealed to us through Jesus your servant.
To you be glory in every age!

Just as this bread now broken
was wheat scattered far and wide upon the hills
and, when harvested, became one bread,
so too let your Church be gathered into your kingdom
from the far ends of the earth...

You, O Lord almighty, have created the universe
to the glory of your name;
you have given people food
and drink for their comfort,
so that they may give you thanks;
but to us you have given a spiritual food and drink
and eternal life through your Son...
Glory be to you for ever!” (Didache 9:3-4; 10:3-4)

Amen.

[Pope John Paul II, homily at Tor Vergata 20 August 2000]

The Gospel for today’s liturgy (Jn 6:60-69) shows us the reaction of the crowd and the disciples to Jesus’ discourse following the multiplication of the loaves. Jesus invited them to interpret that sign and believe in him, who is the true bread come down from heaven, the bread of life; and he revealed that the bread he will give is his body and blood. These words sound harsh and incomprehensible to the ears of the people, so much so that, from that moment, the Gospel says, many of his disciples turn back; that is, they stop following the Master (vv. 60, 66). Then Jesus asks the Twelve: “Do you also wish to go away?” (v. 67), and Peter, on behalf of the whole group, confirms their decision to stay with Him: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life; and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God” (Jn 6:68-69). And it is a beautiful confession of faith.

Let us look briefly at the attitude of those who withdrew and decided not to follow Jesus any more. Where does this disbelief come from? What is the reason for this rejection?

Jesus’ words enkindled great scandal: he was saying that God decided to manifest himself and accomplish salvation in the weakness of human flesh. It is the mystery of the incarnation. The incarnation of God is what provoked scandal and presented an obstacle for those people — but often for us too. Indeed, Jesus affirms that the true bread of salvation, which transmits eternal life, is his very flesh; that to enter into communion with God, before observing the laws or satisfying religious precepts, it is necessary to live out a real and concrete relationship with him. Because salvation came from him, in his incarnation. This means that one must not pursue God in dreams and in images of grandeur and power, but he must be recognized in the humanity of Jesus and, as a consequence, in that of the brothers and sisters we meet on the path of life. God made himself flesh. And when we say this, in the Creed, on Christmas Day, on the day of the Annunciation, we kneel to worship this mystery of the incarnation. God made himself flesh and blood; he lowered himself to the point of becoming a man like us. He humbled himself to the extent of burdening himself with our sufferings and sin, and therefore he asks us to seek him not outside of life and history, but in relationship with Christ and with our brothers and sisters. Seeking him in life, in history, in our daily life. And this, brothers and sisters, is the road to the encounter with God: the relationship with Christ and our brothers and sisters.

Even today, God’s revelation in Jesus’ humanity can cause scandal and is not easy to accept. This is what Saint Paul calls the “folly” of the Gospel in the face of those who seek miracles or worldly wisdom (cf. 1 Cor 1:18-25). And this “scandalousness” is well represented by the sacrament of the Eucharist: what sense can there be, in the eyes of the world, in kneeling before a piece of bread? Why on earth should someone be nourished assiduously with this bread? The world is scandalized.

Faced with this prodigious deed of Jesus, who with five loaves and two fish fed thousands of people, everyone acclaimed him and wanted to lift him up in triumph, to make him king. But when he himself explains that the gesture is a sign of his sacrifice, that is, of the gift of his life, his flesh and blood, and that those who want to follow him must resemble him, His humanity given for God and for others, then no, this is not pleasing, this Jesus throws us into crisis. Rather, we should be worried if he does not throw us into crisis, because we might have watered down his message! And we ask for the grace to let ourselves be provoked and converted by his “words of eternal life”. And may Mary Most Holy, who bore her Son Jesus in the flesh and joined herself to his sacrifice, help us to always bear witness to our faith in our real lives.

[Pope Francis, Angelus 22 August 2021]

No triumphal march: fragments, to reconcile

(Jn 6:52-59)

The Eucharistic theme conveys a fundamental message, about the quality of Life of the Eternal that we can already experience here and now.

The Life of the Eternal is not the effect of external “belief” in Jesus. Conviction that would stop us, and lose 'contact'.

Instead, it becomes reciprocal, evolves, recovers us, as in a natural energy.

Here is the raw Food, and Drink: by 'chewing’ Him and 'crushing’; 'drinking’ Him and 'gulping’, ‘quaffing’ Him and ‘swilling down' even [verbs used in the Greek text].

Total assimilation, which is converted into an experience - Gift from Person to person.

The Food to be fed on is not a seal, but an everlasting, convoking motion. Not a logical, compassed and consenting doctrine, but Word-event that fully engages.

For this reason, here is the Person of Christ - in his true and full human reality, offered and broken; in his authentic teaching and vicissitude as the paschal lamb, amidst wolves that shredded him.

It is the raw means by which the Life of the Eternal is given and preserved.

In this sense the Eucharist received in bare Faith is the real (not symbolic) Presence of the Risen One.

The harshness of the vocabulary used - not very intimate - scratches the lives of believers with concrete effects in the first person.

«To have Life» is to be united with Jesus - but not in a sweet, sentimental, or dazzling way.

The Pact of a new kingdom is existence in God: a charge that’s not exhausted, and ushers us into the paradoxical, wounded glory of the community of sons.

The Eucharist is the reference point of Church recognizing itself, defines what it is called to be. And must not find its perennial bonds elsewhere.

With polemical crudeness, Jesus insists on proposing Himself as the Easter Lamb who rudely chopped up and totally absorbed, frees from slavery - introducing his own intimates in angular but true trajectories.

His proposal passes through an impertinent transgression of legalism: it was absolutely forbidden to assume blood, considered the seat of life.

To make the story of the total Christ one's own - so far removed from controlled thinking - is to mark a contestation of norms and habits or fashions.

In short, others "manna" or external affective dependencies, diluted, conditioning-centred, are not even pale figures of the Living Food.

The life Communion with the concrete Person of Lord is only that of the Son with the Father: cultivating it, we dream of it and keep it there, along with our events - so that they are nourished by same Spirit.

By letting the motivations and the world of images linked to the Lord's Supper evolve, we allow ourselves to be led by the efficacious Sign. It will guide and even lead, precisely where we need to go.

By surrendering to such a memorial that gives intimate impetus, something will happen - for the soul to take the field. We will see other stages give birth.

Here is the Judgement of the wounded Crucified, who sprinkles authentic life (even if inclement); without admirable attunements all around.

This by taking our flesh and blood [involves the body and moods] which assimilates to Him the discarded, those outcasts of earthly thrones and opportunistic entanglements.

This is shocking for the vulgar outside mentality that raises defences and seeks approval, recognition, achievement; mirages of success, things that everyone wants.

Decrease that doesn’t attract enthusiastic consensus, but rather flies in the face of normal expectations of the usual choruses of glory - of the acclamation’ symphonies for whirlwind success and available, but mitigating.

Flesh and Blood: thrown into the furrows of history. We also being involved without dampening the Spirit; in a personal and intimate way: One Body, assimilated into Him and His affair.

First fruits of no triumphal march: we too became food, crumbs and fragments, to reconcile.

Otherwise, the time of the Promises cannot be fulfilled.

[Friday 3rd wk. in Easter, May 9, 2025]

No triumphal march: fragments, to reconcile

(Jn 6:52-59)

The Eucharistic theme conveys a fundamental message, about the quality of Life of the Eternal that we can already experience here and now.

The Life of the Eternal is not the effect of external "belief" in Jesus. Conviction would stop us, and we would lose 'contact'.

Instead it becomes reciprocal, it evolves, it recovers us, as in a natural energy.

Here is the raw Food, and Drink: 'chew it' and 'crush it', 'drink it' and 'swill it' even [verbs used in the Greek text].

Total assimilation, which is converted into an experience - Gift from Person to Person.

The Food to be nourished on is not a seal; rather, an everlasting, convoking motion.

Not a logical doctrine, compassed and consenting, but Word-event that fully engages.

And his story - with all its implications of persecution suffered, and harshness, and denunciation activity.

[This is an aspect that is in tune with the so-called inspired prayer 'in the Name of Jesus', i.e. a prayer imbued with the dramatic bearing and burden of his historical events; which neither spiritualises nor anaesthetises us at all, because it contrasts critical witnesses with installed situations].

For this reason, here is the Person of Christ - in his true and full human reality, offered and broken; in his authentic teaching and vicissitude as the paschal lamb.

Between wolves that have shredded it.

It is the abrupt means by which the Life of the Eternal is given and preserved.

In this sense, the Eucharist received in naked Faith is the real (not symbolic) Presence of the Risen One.

The harshness of the vocabulary used - not very intimate - scratches the believers' lives with concrete first-person effects, not automatic or magical.

Faith emphasises the paradigmatic nuptiality "Do you want to unite your life to mine?": it is a privileged place - on which we feed and drink, even in its very harshness, to make it explicit.

It is Life from the Father through the Son, assimilated in us: not devotion.

"To have Life" is to be united with Jesus - but not in a sweet, sentimental, or dazzling way.

We are impregnated and sent, made One with the "Son of Man" [the divine measure for each one of us] in the Covenant of events.

Relationship, motive, vehicle, unifying movement, anticipation, which unfold the Communion between Father and Son - without stillness or pause.

The covenant of a new kingdom is life in God: a charge that is not exhausted, and ushers us into the paradoxical and wounded glory of the community of sons.

The Eucharist is a point of reference for the Church, sometimes lost in the hypnosis of external events.

Assembly that recognises itself; it defines what it is called to be. And it must not find its perennial bonds elsewhere.

Some passages from John are an interesting historical testimony of the catechesis at the end of the first century in the communities of Asia Minor.

Fraternities in search of ancestral motivations, of the most ancient energies, that would rise above the whirlwinds of persecution and not alter consciousness in Christ.

Instruction was configured to short questions and answers, formulated to welcome pagans, stem defections, deepen themes.

Arguments and thrusts that distinguished the living Faith from a religiosity of the past and its perfectionist or commemorative schemes.

Styles that it was appropriate to lay down, to satiate the hunger and thirst for fullness - conquering freedom, joy, and a more complete, total, indestructible being.

With polemical rawness, Jesus insists on presenting himself as the Lamb of the true Passover.

A lamb that, roughly pounded, crushed, shredded, and totally absorbed, could liberate from bondage, and give the joy of ecstasy.

In this way, he introduced his own into angular, but true trajectories - finally reknotted, both to activate the authentic realisation of individuals, and for qualities of coexistence.

His proposal passed through an impertinent transgression of purism, legalism, and intimist, devout culture in general.

It was absolutely forbidden to take blood, which was considered the seat of life.

To make the story of the total Christ - so far removed from controlled thinking - his own was to mark contestation.

It was rejection of symbols, norms, habits or fashions. There would be no alternative, no non-offensive compromise.

Not only that: it was also necessary to change the minds of those who imagined that they could align themselves (individually or as a group) with the archaic idea of a powerful, victorious, and guarantor Messiah.

Perhaps adaptable, flexible; available for any kind of Jesus-Empire alliance, which already enchanted some.

In short, other external, diluted, conditioning-centred 'manne' or affective dependencies could not even be pale figures of the Living Food.

Communion of life with the concrete Person of the Lord is only that of the Son with the Father.By cultivating it, we dream it and keep it there, along with our own affairs - so that they may be nourished by that same Spirit.

By letting the motivations and the world of images linked to the Lord's Supper evolve, we allow ourselves to be led by the efficacious Sign.

It will guide and even lead precisely where we need to go.

By surrendering to such a memory-giving intimate impulse, something will happen - for the soul to take the field.

Waiting until we are ready, we will learn to understand the fruitfulness and wisdom of the broken Gift-Response that incessantly gives birth to other stages, still activating different, perhaps unknown, resources.

Here it is the Judgment of the wounded Crucified One that spreads authentic 'life' even inclemently; without admirable attunement all around.

This by taking our flesh and blood [it even involves the body and humours] that assimilates the discarded, the outcasts of earthly thrones, and opportunistic entanglements to Him.

This is shocking to the vulgar mentality outside. World of convictions that raises defences and seeks approval, recognition, achievements; mirages of success, things everyone wants.

Diminution that does not attract enthusiastic consent, but rather repels the normal expectations of the usual choruses of glory - of symphonies of acclamation for the swirling and available, but mitigating success.

Flesh and Blood: thrown into the furrows of history.

Involved without dampening the Spirit; personally and intimately. One body, assimilated into Him and His story.

First fruits of no triumphal march: we too become food, crumbs and fragments, to reconcile.

Otherwise, the time of Promises cannot be fulfilled.

To internalise and live the message:

What understanding do you show by taking the Food and Drink of Life? All quiet?

How do you see fit to combine and deepen Faith in the Real Presence of the Risen One with the harshness of life?

This […] is the concluding part and culmination of the discourse given by Jesus in the Synagogue of Capernaum after he had fed thousands of people with five loaves and two fishes the previous day. Jesus reveals the meaning of this miracle, namely that the promised time had come; God the Father, who had fed the Israelites in the desert with manna, now sent him, the Son, as the true Bread of life; and this bread is his flesh, his life, offered in sacrifice for us. It is therefore a question of welcoming him with faith, not of being shocked by his humanity, and it is about eating his flesh and drinking his blood (cf. Jn 6:54) in order to obtain for ourselves the fullness of life. It is clear that this address was not given to attract approval. Jesus knew this and gave this speech intentionally. In fact it was a critical moment, a turning point in his public mission. The people, and the disciples themselves, were enthusiastic when he performed miraculous signs; the multiplication of the loaves and fishes was a clear revelation that he was the Messiah, so that the crowd would have liked to carry Jesus in triumph and proclaim him King of Israel. But this was not what Jesus wanted. With his long address he dampens the enthusiasm and incites much dissent. In explaining the image of the bread, he affirms that he has been sent to offer his own life and he who wants to follow him must join him in a deep and personal way, participating in his sacrifice of love. Thus Jesus was to institute the Sacrament of the Eucharist at the Last Supper, so that his disciples themselves might share in his love — this was crucial — and, as one body united with him, might extend his mystery of salvation in the world.

In listening to this address the people understood that Jesus was not the Messiah they wanted, one who would aspire to an earthly throne. He did not seek approval to conquer Jerusalem; rather he wanted to go to the Holy City to share the destiny of the prophets: to give his life for God and for the people. Those loaves, broken for thousands, were not meant to result in a triumphal march but to foretell the sacrifice on the Cross when Jesus was to become Bread, Body and Blood, offered in expiation. Jesus therefore gave the address to bring the crowds down to earth and mostly to encourage his disciples to make a decision. In fact from that moment many of them no longer followed him.

Dear friends, let us once again be filled with wonder by Christ’s words. He, a grain of wheat scattered in the furrows of history, is the first fruits of the new humanity, freed from the corruption of sin and death. And let us rediscover the beauty of the Sacrament of the Eucharist which expresses all God’s humility and holiness. His making himself small, God makes himself small, a fragment of the universe to reconcile all in his love. May the Virgin Mary, who gave the world the Bread of Life, teach us to live in ever deeper union with him.

[Pope Benedict, Angelus 19 August 2012]