August 23 - Twenty First Sunday in Ordinary Time : Do you want to quit?

 First Reading  Joshua
24:1-2a,15-17,18b
Joshua and the people declare that they will serve the Lord.
Responsorial Psalm  Psalm
34:2-3,16-17,18-19,20-21
The Lord hears the cries of the just.
Second Reading  Ephesians 5:21-32
(or shorter form Ephesians 5:2a,25-32)
Husbands and wives should love one another as Christ loves the Church.
Gospel ReadingJohn 6:60-69
There are times in life
when we are pushed to the wall, when we are ready to quit. There are times in
life when we need something to hold on to. We see this in today's Gospel. The
disciples of Jesus are pushed to the wall. Their faith in Jesus is challenged
severely by what Jesus said earlier about giving them his body to eat. The
disciples respond to the challenged in two ways: one group part company with
Jesus and no longer walk with him. The second group meet the challenge
successfully and remain faithful to Jesus. The group who left did so because
they had their attention fixed on the problem where as the group who stayed did
so because they had their attention fixed on Jesus. In which group do you want
to be? The choice is yours?

August 16 - Twentieth Sunday in ordinary Time: To become what we receive

First Reading  Proverbs 9:1-6
Wisdom has set a feast before us.
Responsorial Psalm   Psalm
34:2-3,4-5,6-7
A prayer of praise to God for his goodness
Second Reading  Ephesians 5:15-20
Filled with the Spirit, Christians strive to follow the will of the Lord.
Gospel ReadingJohn 6:51-58
Love demands union. The greater the love, the more intimate is the union
desired. The lover longs to be joined to the beloved – in thought, in letters,
in phone conversations, in physical presence, and ultimately – in spousal love
– through the love embrace between husband and wife. So much does Jesus love us
that he conceals himself under what looks like bread in order to ravish us in
the love embrace of Holy Communion! Such was the meaning of one of the early
Church Fathers, St. John Chrysostom, when he wrote: “How many of you say, I
would like to see his face, his garments, his sandals. You do see him, you
touch him, you eat him. He gives himself to you, not only that you may see him
– but also to be your food and your nourishment.”
The Eucharist is a prayer,
it is a sacrifice. It is a blessing and it is also a challenge. We have to
become what we behold, to become what we receive

August 9 - Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Eucharist – a foretaste of heaven

 First Reading  1 Kings 19:4-8
The Lord feeds Elijah, strengthening him for his journey to Horeb.Responsorial Psalm  Psalm 34:2-3,4-5,6-7,8-9
A prayer of praise to God for his goodnessSecond Reading  Ephesians 4:30—5:2
The Ephesians are encouraged to be imitators of Christ.Gospel ReadingJohn 6:41-51 Jesus calls himself
“the living bread that came down from heaven.” We need food that not only gives
us strength of body, keeps us alive here on earth, but food that strengthens us
for eternal life, keeps us for life forever. The Lord makes an amazing, a tremendous
promise, one that we may and should accept as it stands: “whoever eats this
bread will live forever.” We heard in the first reading about the wonderful
power of the food the Lord provided for Elijah. This food strengthened him for
a journey of forty days in the desert. This power of the food God gives, to
strengthen him for forty days, is only a sign and indication of the much more
marvelous power of this bread of life, the Eucharist, which strengths not for
forty days, but for life forever, for eternal life. In the
Eucharist Christ gives us himself totally. He comes to us and becomes our
bread, our food for that life with God that never ends. Christ's love overcame
death. He who is united in faith and love with Christ, will live forever, soul
and body, according to the Lord's promise: "I will raise him on the last
day."