The Nazareth Page - A gospel meditation for your home
August 18, 2024 – Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
John 6:51-58
REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
Download this simple process to Prepare for Sunday using the Observe, Judge, Act Method.
We continue to reflect on gospels drawn from the sixth chapter of John’s Gospel, readings that describe the close connection between Jesus himself and us. And we are invited to find ways through which we can connect with God. We know that God is always connected with us as the source of our existence and our day-to-day lives, inviting us to find God’s presence through awareness and prayer.
A primary way our human lives are sustained is through taking in food. And Jesus calls himself food in the form of a unique bread that sustains our spiritual lives. He recalled the manna, a bread-like food, that God provided for the Israelites on their journey to the Promised Land. Jesus offers as nourishment to us in what we call the Eucharist.
This connection between consuming bread and sustaining life was a reality his listeners could easily grasp. But this new connection Jesus described was something different. Christians recall his Last Supper when he changed bread into himself. And he said to those assembled to continue to do the same “in memory of him.”
I believe that there are four primary ways to connect with God’s presence. As a Catholic I believe that God is present in Christ in all the sacramental rituals of the church, especially though active participation in the Eucharist. This entails the reception of the body and blood of Christ in Holy Communion, as Jesus did at the Last Supper.
Next, we are reminded that we can experience God’s presence by listening and understanding God’s word in Sacred Scripture. This can be done during formal worship or privately. I have spent much of my life in the study of God’s word in the Bible. In forty years of study and teaching I have (hopefully) come to an ever-deepening awareness of God’s presence in that word especially as related to my own existence.
Third, God is present in interpersonal life, in community. To recall the profound words of Jesus, whenever two or three are gathered in accord with Christ’s teachings. Specifically , whenever there is love flowing between us.
And lastly, God is present in Creation. Throughout the universe, known now and yet to be discovered. God is present as creator in the four-hundred billion stars in our own galaxy. That’s fifty stars for each person now alive on Earth. Imagine the immensity of God!
David M. Thomas, PhD