LAITY REFLECTIONS FOR THE EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR B
1st Reading: Exodus 16:2-4.12-15
RESPONSORIAL PSALM Ps 78:3 and 4bc.23-24.25 and 54 (R. 24b)
2nd Reading: Ephesians 4:17.20-24
Gospel Reading: John 6:24-35
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| Nathaniel Onwuasoegwu |
REFLECTION
Jesus is the bread of life.
No wonder He was born in Bethlehem (House of bread).
We shall become a house of bread if we eat Jesus in the holy Eucharist.
In the bread of life there is the eucharistic pledge.
A pledge of eternal life for all who eat the bread. (John 6:51.)
He came to us in the form of bread because it's the food for all - A universal food.
Let's make ourselves available to eat this bread always and in a state of grace.
He has put all things in place to save us.
We have the sacraments.
Let us be the eucharistic people.
Do we believe that he is the bread of life?
If we do let us go to him in the holy Eucharist.
It's an open invitation.
Like the people of Moses He has given us our own bread just like manner and there are conditions and consequences to how to eat this new bread.
May we not eat condemnation.Rather may we eat unto eternity now and forever.
Ave!
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| Nwanya Precious C. |
REFLECTION
TO HAVE GOD IS TO HAVE EVERYTHING
I went on to read the entire passage of the first reading, and the Gospel as well, and what was peculiar is captured in the words of Jesus, 'That you believe in Him Whom He has sent.'
It is faithlessness that keeps us blind even when in the ocean. It is faithlessness that leaves us hungry even when in a field of plenty. Faithlessness keeps us in uncertainty where we are like a nylon bag blown by the wind.
In the First and Gospel readings, it is clear that the people didn't know WHO was present with them.
• Although God had delivered them with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm from the Egyptians through the Red Sea, they still did not believe in Him — in His power to do all things. So they didn't ASK from God, they MURMURED.
• The Jewish people who went in search of Jesus, although He had fed them the previous day, didn't believe in Jesus either. The Jewish people referred to the First reading and obviously, they even wrongly translated the second verse of the Psalm that it was Moses who gave their fathers bread to eat. But when Jesus corrected them and began to teach them the Truth, they MURMURED.
Asking, "What sign do you do, that we may see, and believe you?"
Meant that Jesus feeding the 5,000 was nothing new... Their patriarch "Moses" had done it before, "He" fed even more people... So they're like "Give us something better, we don see this one before. No be today."
And Jesus would go on to tell them, "Naaah, that was just a sign for you, I AM THE TRUE BREAD.". I find the use of the present tense "gives" quite significant.
The true bread comes down from Heaven and gives life to the world reminds me again of the parable of the treasure hidden in the field we read earlier this week (Matt 13:44-46), an invitation St Paul gives us in today's Second Reading. To eat the Bread of Life, we must do away with every futile lifestyle. To participate fully at the Lamb's Super, we must strive to be in the State of Grace.
Let us make Heb 11:6 our daily disposition.
And without faith it is impossible to please God. For we come to God in faith knowing that HE IS and that He rewards the faith of those who passionately seek Him.
LORD, I BELIEVE, HELP MY UNBELIEF. AMEN.
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| Victor Enabudoso |
REFLECTION The gospel reading points us to a particular nature of man, which focuses on selfish motives. In our reading today, we see how the people went from Tiberius to Capernaum in search of Christ when they noticed they didn't see him and his disciples anymore. This was shortly after he had fed them, and they had witnessed the miracle of multiplication.
Christ, in His divine nature, knowing the reason they came looking for Him was because of the fact that they saw one who could feed them and called them to a deep reflection on their motives.
I'll think the readings of today points seriously to our dealings as Christians in our society today where we only seek God for what He can do for us not because of our desire to know and share intimacy with Him. We follow Christ for breakthroughs, cars, good jobs, visas, etc. While these aren't wrong, Christ reminds us today that these our selfish desires will only afford us with things that does not last eternally, but we should reach forth for the bread that'll last for eternity. It is a call to reflect on our motives for following Christ and bearing the name Christians.
Glory to Jesus!!!
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| Uboh Ngozi |
REFLECTION Do not labour for the food which perishes but for the food which endures for eternal life
This paragraph is admonishing me to look inward into my intention for seeking God.
Am I ONLY seeking Him for the things of this world that will soon perish or am I seeking Him in truth and spirit to find peace in Him which guarantees my eternal life?
By the Sacrament of the holy Eucharist, He has given me all the grace that I need to achieve the life of peace in Him.
With His peace in me, every other things will be added, BUT even if all is not added, my eternity with Him is the paramount.
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| Okolo Samuel Ikechukwu |
REFLECTION
If we seek him we shall find Him Regardless
There are different reasons we seek Jesus, some for emergency situations, some for material benefits and others for the burdens of Life.
The motive behind our seeking God is usually reshaped whenever we truly find Him Regardless of whatever reasons... Moses found him and he was asked to remove his Sandals, Jeremiah found and was asked to renew his sight and he saw an almond tree, Isaiah found Him and found a new way of Worship from the seraphs and discovered how unworthy his motives were.....
Jesus begins to teach us how to sustain the hunger of seeking Him, the Bread that strengthens and gives Life to your purpose of seeking God.
Man does not live on Bread alone but on every Word(Jesus the True Bread).....so it means you are only Alive when you feed on Christ either by Prayers or the Word and especially the breaking of the Bread.
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| Jude Akiti-Momodu |
REFLECTION
“Be renewed in the Spirit of your Minds”
I so much love these words from the second reading. This is the fundamental process that gradually ushers and transforms us into the new man (Jesus Christ). Therefore the act of making ourselves Christ-like, all begins from our minds and the quality/worth of the human mind is totally dependent on what it is feed with. The whole of today’s reading talks about food; I see people searching for what to eat. The sons of Israel preferred and choose captivity over freedom, a mistake we sometime in our own quest for satisfaction, blinded with our current challenges and circumstances may also prefer.
The morals of today’s reading is to remain in freedom (the New man), which can be obtainable only in us finding the satisfaction to our definite hunger in life, with no other meal the world and it’s system can offer but with the Divine meal God offers, which is the bread from Heaven (Jesus Christ), as we see in the gospel reading. God is still feeding us with this bread from Heaven literally in the reception of the Holy Eucharist and theoretically with His sound teachings and doctrines as embodied in His written word the Bible and amplified by the precise teachings of Faith; upheld by the Church and inspirited by the Holy Spirit.
This special life giving bread was given with an instruction to guide its consumption as seen in the first read. This instruction was enacted not just to merely install the amount of order due it, but it was also intended to serve as a test; a basis for verdict of discipleship. And what is this instruction, it demands for all to “Go to the fields daily, to gather a day’s portion” an amount sufficient for each day, meaning to them and to us and our survival is dependent on God’s provision and providence not on our ability to amass things for ourselves. Our dependence on God should be day by day not determined or subject to our convenience/preferences, which remands me of the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:11).
To Lay more emphasis on why we need to constantly on a day to day basis, seek this bread. It is because Each day stands to represent each stage of life, life exist in stages and they come with their demands (hunger), let learn to face them seeking Jesus to direct our spirit through the working of the Holy Spirit to help us survive each stage of life. This practice is essential as bread; an example of any meal that basically satisfies hunger, and should be treated as such. Eating it conforms and makes us more focused not on the wilderness (world) but on the promise Land, the Holy Mount Zion over flowing with milk and honey, the place God’s right hand has indeed won for us. But for the now let us seek, find daily and be filled with Christ, the bread that comes from Heaven.
Hallelujah!!
