Readings(Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland)
Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)
Gospel John 6:24-35 (English Standard Version, Anglicised: India)
When the crowd saw that
Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats
and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.
When they found him on the
other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus
answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not
because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do
not labour for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to
eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God
the Father has set his seal.” Then they said to him, “What must we
do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is
the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” So
they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe
you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the
wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Jesus
then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave
you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For
the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the
world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
Jesus said to them, “I
am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever
believes in me shall never thirst.
I have featured Fr Ragheed Ganni a number of times on Sunday Reflections. As a priest and as a Catholic Christian I am truly inspired by this man who was less than half the age I am now when he was assassinated.
He was a raconteur par excellence and a font of knowledge - we discussed everything and anything from the metaphysical to the trivial. A young and gauche student at the time, I learnt about Iraq and about theology; about the workings of the college in the summer and the best places to eat pizza. I was amazed at his command of English and Italian and his perennial good spirits and big smile - he was and will always be an inspiration.
That is how an Irish student at the Pontifical Irish College in Rome
described Fr Ragheed Ganni, a Chaldean Catholic priest murdered
along with three subdeacons, Basman
Yousef Daud,Wahid
Hanna Isho, and Gassan Isam Bidawed, on 3 June 2007 just after
the young priest had celebrated Mass in Holy Spirit parish, Mosul, Iraq. (The cause
for the canonisation of these four men has now officially opened). Fr Ganni, an engineer, studied
theology in Rome before and after ordination, and stayed at the Irish College, where he was known as 'Paddy
the Iraqi', 'Paddy' being a generic term for Irishmen, derived from the name of
Ireland's - and Nigeria's - patron saint, St Patrick.
Dear young people, do not be satisfied with anything less than Truth and Love, do not be content with anything less than Christ. Pope Benedict spoke these words at the prayer vigil on 20 August 2011 during the Madrid World Youth Day. He also said, we need to speak with courage and humility of the universal significance of Christ as the Saviour of humanity and the source of hope for our lives.
In these words he is echoing the answer of Jesus to the question put to him in today's gospel, What must we do, to be doing the works of God? His reply: This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.
In Verbum Domini (2010) the Pope wrote, We cannot keep to ourselves the words of eternal life given to us in our encounter with Jesus Christ: they are meant for everyone, for every man and woman . . . It is our responsibility to pass on what, by God's grace, we ourselves have received.
In his Angelus talk on 29 October 2006 Benedict said, The rediscovery of the value of one's own Baptism is at the root of every Christian's missionary commitment, because as we see in the Gospel, those who allow themselves to be fascinated by Christ cannot fail to witness to the joy of following in his footsteps. [Emphasis added].
In that same talk, in which he commented on the gospel of that Sunday which tells the story of the meeting between the blind Bartimaeus and Jesus, Mark 10:46-52, Pope Benedict said, The decisive moment was the direct, personal encounter between the Lord and that suffering man. They found each other face to face: God with his desire to heal and the man with his desire to be healed; two freedoms, two converging desires.
One theme that comes through repeatedly in the teaching of Pope Benedict is that our faith is in a person, Jesus, God who became man. Jesus tells us clearly that it is his Father's will that we believe in him.
Another theme of Benedict is the
joy that Jesus promised those who follow him. This was the theme of the Pope's message for World Youth Day 2012 held on Palm Sunday
in Rome. Benedict insists so often that our faith is faith in the person of
Jesus, not in a set of doctrines, though they come to us from Jesus through his
Church and are central to the deposit of faith.
Just over a year before his death Father Ragheed spoke at the Eucharistic
Conference in Bari, Italy. He said, Mosul Christians are not
theologians; some are even illiterate. And yet inside of us for many
generations one truth has become embedded: without the Sunday Eucharist we
cannot live.
In the context of the war
in Iraq he spoke eloquently about the Sunday Eucharist: It is among such difficulties that we understand
the real value of Sunday, the day when we meet the Risen Christ, the day of our
unity and love, of our (mutual) support and help. There are days when I feel
frail and full of fear. But when, holding the Eucharist, I say 'Behold the Lamb
of God, who takes away the sin of the world', I feel His strength in me. When I
hold the Host in my hands, it is really He who is holding me and all of us,
challenging the terrorists and keeping us united in His boundless love.
In normal times, everything is taken for granted and we forget the greatest
gift that is made to us. Ironically, it is thanks to terrorist violence that we
have truly learnt that it is the Eucharist, the Christ who died and risen, that
gives us life. And this allows us to resist and hope.
This martyr of our times was clearly fascinated by Christ and understood that it is the Risen Lord himself whom we meet when we come together for Sunday Mass.
Jesus chides the people and questions their real reason for coming after him: Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Yet he doesn't regret having fed them and he sees that for at least some of them their reason is somewhat deeper. He gives a straight answer to their question about the work of God: This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent. It is not being 'good', it is not being 'nice'. It is in accepting him for who he is, God who became man, who lived among us, died for us on the Cross, rose from the dead on Easter Sunday and is with us in an intimate and challenging way when we celebrate Mass, especially on Sunday.
All who met Father Ragheed described him as a joyful person. There is something very joyful, in the sense that Jesus meant, in a person who can not only tell you where the best pizza in Rome is, who is not content with anything less than Christ and who is prepared to go back to a very dangerous situation in order to be able to celebrate Mass with his people and to stay with them in the midst of war.
Read more about Fr Ragheed Ganni here and here.
The refrain of this Communion hymn is in Latin. Here it is with an English translation.
Iesu, panis vitae, donum patris.
Iesu, fons vitae, fons vitae acquae.
Cibus et potus noster, Cibus et potus
noster
In itinere, in itinere ad domus Dei.
Jesus,
bread of life, gift of the Father.
Jesus,
source of life, source of the water of life.
Our
food and drink, our food and drink
On
the journey, on the journey to the house of God.
The verses are, successively, in Tagalog, English and Spanish.
Traditional Latin Mass (TLM)
Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
The
Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of
that page to 8-1-2021 if necessary).
Epistle: 1 Corinthians 12:2-11. Gospel: Luke 18:9-14.
Church Interior with the Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican [Luke 18:9-14]Authentic Beauty
Authentic beauty, however, unlocks the yearning of the human heart, the profound desire to know, to love, to go towards the Other, to reach for the Beyond.
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