The Catholic Calendar for Thursday, April 14, 2005
Thursday of the Third Week of Easter

Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
Acts 8:26-40
Psalm 66:8-9,16,17,20
John 6:44-51

A reflection on today's Scripture. . . .

"The bread I give you is my flesh for the life of the world." (Acts 8: 40)

Our Lord is ever seeking for human hearts who are sensitive to His call, willing to respond affirmatively and truly receive Him. Such was the case of one who may seem, an unlikely convert, the eunuch in charge of a queen's treasury who sought Baptism into Christ from the apostle Philip. Through his welcoming Christ into his heart and then going forth to announce the "good news" to all, he shows how God, through one faithful person, can manifest His love, goodness and power and cause His kingdom to grow.

Today Christ's search continues for those who have Faith in God's Word. As Catholics we are blessed by being able to reaffirm our faith each time we receive Christ at Mass in the Eucharist. The bread and wine not only nourishes us physically; in Communion we know that Christ is fully present and giving Himself to us -- body, blood, soul and Divinity. As we welcome Him into our being, we should also be making a pledge to give ourselves as totally to Him as He has to us. Let us meditate upon His self-sacrificing love culminating in the resurrection life He manifested on Easter Sunday, a new life He desires to share with us.

The grossly misinformed are fond of equating Catholicism with cannibalism; they cannot see that Christ's giving of Himself to us was completed on the cross; His giving is a physical and a spiritual reality as mysterious as it is real. We take God at His Word. The effect of our partaking of His Person, if done with sincere faith, offers us the grace to love Him more deeply and to give ourselves more fully to Him and in consequence to one another.

Blessed Father, as we receive Your Son and welcome Him into our hearts, may we renew our resolve to allow Your Spirit to transform us in His image of truth and love. Amen.

- Marie Bocko, OCDS
(mlbocko at earthlink dot net)

____________________

These meditations are also available by email subscription
©1986-2005 The Way, The Truth, The Life