Texts taken from the Missalette “On Your Word” July-August 2021
19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
3rd week of the Psalter
FIRST READING
From the First Book of Kings (1 Kings 19:4-8)
In those days, Elijah went on a day’s journey into the desert and sat down under a broom tree. Wanting to die, he said: “Enough, Lord! Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down and fell asleep under the broom tree. But an angel touched him and said to him: “Get up and eat!” He looked and saw near his head a flatbread baked on hot stones and a jar of water. He ate and drank, then lay down again. The angel of the Lord came back a second time, touched him, and said: “Get up and eat, because the journey is too long for you.” He got up, ate and drank. With the strength from that food, he walked for forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb. The word of God.
Commentary on the First Reading
Elijah, a true man of God, had killed all the false prophets. Such courage and zeal for the Lord turned into terror when the king learned of it and promised to take revenge on him. He had no choice but to flee. His inner movements are fear and discouragement, reaching the point of depression with the desire to let himself die, but also stinging pride: “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.” Who, Elijah, unfortunately suggested to you that you must be without sin, unlike your ancestors? Probably a tempter insinuated himself among Elijah’s successes and almost made him believe that all his prophetic successes were his own personal work. But God, just as he had left Elijah free in his flight, now takes the initiative as a loving Father, indeed as the most tender Mother. Twice the angel of the Lord is sent to him with flatbreads and water. This enables him to resume his journey, leading to his encounter with God in the “sound of a gentle breeze” (1 Kings 19:12). Let us recognize the “angels” in our own lives as well.
SECOND READING
From the Letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Ephesians (Eph 4:30 - 5:2)
Brothers and sisters, do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked for the day of redemption. All bitterness, indignation, anger, shouting, and slander, along with every kind of malice, must disappear from you. Instead, be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ. Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children, and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, offering himself to God as a fragrant sacrifice. The word of God.
Commentary on the Second Reading
The most difficult attitudes to practice in a family (and also in a community) are listening and forgiveness. Families often carry resentments or decades-old quarrels with them, without realizing that very little would be needed to revive love in their hearts. Listening deeply to one another, without judging before the other person has even finished speaking, already means opening the door to true charity. To forgive means opening, sometimes tearing open, one’s own heart, so that our brother or sister may find the opportunity, space, and strength to grow.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY
From the Gospel according to John (Jn 6:41-51)
At that time, the Jews began to murmur against Jesus because he had said: “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” And they said: “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? How then can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” Jesus answered them: “Do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him on the last day. It is written in the prophets: ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has listened to the Father and learned from him comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father; only the one who is from God has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, and they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that whoever eats it may not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” The Gospel of the Lord.
Commentary on the Gospel of the Day
In this Gospel passage, we glimpse the struggle between the slavery of prejudice (“Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph?”), the murmuring that follows, and, on the other hand, the freedom made absolute generosity on the part of Jesus and God. “If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” Bread as a great gift from God is also very present in the Old Testament. Indeed, everyone has many reasons (from economic to theological ones) to appreciate Jesus’ act of multiplying the loaves. First of all, it could solve the problem of world hunger once and for all. It is easy to want to proclaim as king and Messiah someone who acts in this way. The real problems, explained with great clarity in the version of the evangelist John, consist above all in an intolerable scandal for well-meaning Jews: he speaks of “flesh,” of his own person, and goes so far as to declare: “The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” The Jews’ reaction is based strictly on the material and means: “We are not cannibals!” Only the Holy Spirit can grant the true meaning of the Eucharist.
