READINGS: Exodus 16:2-4.12-15: The Lord sends manna from Heaven.
Psalm: 78: The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
Ephesians 4:17.20-24: Put aside your old self and put on the new.
John 6:24-35: It is my Father who gives you bread from heaven, I am bread of life.
REFLECTION
Many of us may often feel that God treats us unfairly. We do not always seem to get what we ask for in prayer. Things do not seem to work out as we would like. Perhaps we feel that even though we try to do our best , generally, to live as God wants us to, even so, we get a pretty raw deal. Not only does life not work out as we want, but all too often there are few apparent rewards to be gained along the way, in the practice of our religion. All in all, a fairly unsatisfactory deal or so we might sometimes think!
This seems to be the attitude of the Israelites which we heard in today’s first reading. They complain to Moses. Remember that they were in the desert, having been led out of slavery in Egypt but the Promised Land that Moses was leading them to was nowhere to be seen, and even worse their stomachs were rumbling, Should they have stayed in Egypt at least there they had the security of safe lodgings, albeit as exiles, and enough to eat.
Read More: Seventeenth Sunday In Ordinary Time Year B 25/7/2021https://agnesisika.com/god-seventeenth-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-b-25-7-2021/
It must be so hard for Moses to lead and unite such a divided and discontented group. But God helped him out. God rained down bread from heaven- a mysterious but perfectly adequate daily ration of food, to sustain them in their wanderings. Our Lord makes reference to this wilderness food to Himself-the new Manna, the heavenly bread that gives eternal life to all who receives him in faith and trust.
The essential difference between the old Manna and the new Bread of Life is that the new ration will be totally satisfying Christ says,”He who comes to me will never be hungry; he who believes in me will never thirst.” The Father gives us Jesus, the new Bread from heaven, containing within Itself all sweetness, all grace, all life. That is why the Church wants us take advantage of such an amazing privilege- to receive Holy Communion daily at Mass
This is the reason we have to live our knowledge of God on a daily basis. It is because we are so small, with a very limited capacity to absorb even the minutest fraction of His wonders. He is infinite. We like tiny ants, scurrying about our business, not at all equipped to view or count the stars, let alone fathom what those stars might mean, or contain.
In this perspective, we can better appreciate God’s sublime mercy in scaling Himself down to our level at the Incarnation. He entered our small world, He made himself little, so that we would not be totally overwhelmed in the process of getting to know Him. The Blessed Sacrament is the greatest example of this most gracious condescension. So He gives us the same miraculous but small ration, again and again, day by day, week by week, so that we can take it all in, can take Him in, little by little, and gradually intimacy develops in the relationship with repeated new starts all over again.
As we begin a new Month, the Month of August may we visit the Lord regularly. May He be our guests not only at table but in our hearts so that we may grow to live in knowledge of His Divine Providence as we all hope and look forward to the banquet of eternal Life. Amen.
Please kindly pray for the soul of Mrs Racheal Oniga to Rest In Peace at Mass and Prayers today! Thanks
Happy New Month of August!
Shalom
Joseph Osho
