Thursday in the Third Week of Easter, April 18, 2024

John 6, 44-51

Jesus said to the crowds: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. It is written in the prophets: They shall all be taught by God. Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my Flesh for the life of the world.”

Having declared that he is the Bread of life who came down from heaven, the Lord teaches that “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day.”  The Lord introduces the matter of Divine Providence.  Only those who are drawn by the Father to the Son will be raised on the last day.  The Father loves all his human creatures and so draws them all to his Son.  Not all will go to the Son, however.  Many will reject him, as we will see in John 6, 66.  But that all should have the opportunity to learn from what is necessary for salvation the Lord quotes from Isaiah 54, 13: “All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children.”  This teaching is found in other places as well, such as in the Prophet Micah.  “Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me.”  That is, everyone who studies the Law and the Prophets and is devoted to doing the will of God will recognize the Son by his resemblance to the Father.  This resemblance could be seen in how the Son completes or fulfills the Mosaic Law and through his miracles, which the Son could only perform at the Father’s pleasure.  To make clear that it would be through the Law and the Prophets that they would hear the voice of God and come to him, Jesus adds, “Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father.”  He further reveals to the people that he has seen the Father, though it was known that human one could see God and live (cf. Exodus 33, 20).  

“Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.”  Whoever believes in the One the Father has sent into the world.  But what are we to believe.  “I am the bread of life.”  That Jesus, the Son of God, is the only way into eternal life and so we follow his commandments as a most certain guide.

“Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die.”  The Lord returns to the theme of the manna in the desert which the crowd had raised, comparing the bread he had multiplied for them earlier with the manna that came down from heaven.  The Lord now answers them.  They were saying that the manna was superior to the Lord’s bread and he reminds them that their ancestors ate this bread and still died, and teaches them that the true Bread that the Father gives — the Son — will give eternal life to those who consume it.  “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever.”  “Living bread” can be compared to “living water”.  Water is said to be “living” when it is fresh and flows in a stream so that many different forms of life may live in it and be nourished by it.  It is not the water of a stagnant pool which is full of death and decay.  This “living” bread then should be understood as giving life beyond the life that common bread could convey, which would not prevent him from perishing one day.

“And the bread that I will give is my Flesh for the life of the world.”  Up to this time we could think that the Lord Jesus was speaking of himself as bread as the teaching which a student could consume and profit by.  By teaching that this bread is his Flesh we can no longer do this.  The Lord is saying that we must eat his flesh, not only follow his teachings and commandments.  The Jews who listened to him must have been profoundly shocked.  It is a shocking statement worth a lifetime of pondering.  But only with grace can we understand a little of what this means, and only with grace can we eat the Flesh he gives us.

The ninth article in our continuing series on the Holy Mass: The Washing of the Hands

There are two basic kinds of actions, the functional and the ritual.  A function is an action which has no meaning in itself. A ritual does have meaning in itself.  A function may be done without much thought, especially if it has been done repeatedly.  A ritual must be done with great attention and devotion.  It must be carried out just so.  A function is practical and serves a practical purpose.  A ritual is not concerned with what is practical and serves a purpose beyond the obvious. The Mass is a ritual.  It is a ritual composed of rituals all governed by a rite.  Each action within it must be done with great devotion for each action goes beyond the obvious and serves a higher purpose than the same action would if it were only performed as a function.

When the priest washes his hands at Mass, preparatory to the sacrificial part of the Mass, he is not cleansing his hands from exterior dirt but performing a sign.  In the modern Mass the priest prays as he washes his hands, “Lord, wash me from my iniquity; cleanse me from my sin.”  The prayer echoes the words of David in Psalm 51.  In the ancient form of the Mass, the priest prayed the second half of Psalm 26 while washing his hands: “I shall wash my hands among the innocent and I shall walk about your altar, O Lord, that I may hear the voice of your praise: and tell of all your wondrous works. I have loved, O Lord, the beauty of your house; and the place where your glory dwells.  Take not away my soul, O God, with the wicked: nor my life with bloody men in whose hands are iniquities.  I have walked in my innocence: redeem me, and have mercy on me. My foot has stood in the direct way: in the churches I will bless you, O Lord.”  In the modern prayer of this ritual the priest asks God to forgive his sins so that he may be pure to offer the Sacrifice of the Lamb of God to the Father, and in this respect may be likened to the ceremonial washings carried out by the Temple priests before they began their work.  The action accompanying the prayer emphasizes his great desire to be free from sin and signifies that God does so free him.  He says this prayer quietly for it concerns only himself and God, but seeing it, the worshipper should be aware of the need to be free from sin and any attachment to sin in order to worthily receive a share in the One whom the priest will shortly offer.