THE DAILY GOSPEL

April 24, 2015 (Friday)

Ps 117:1bc, 2 Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.

3rd Week of Easter Psalter: Week 3/(White/Red) St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen, priest & martyr 1st Reading: Acts 9:1-20

Meanwhile, Saul considered nothing but violence and death for the disciples of the Lord. He went to the High Priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues of Damascus that would authorize him to arrest, and bring to Jerusalem, anyone he might find, man or woman, belonging to the Way.

As he traveled along and was approaching Damascus, a light from the sky suddenly flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul! Why do you persecute me?” And he asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The voice replied, “I am Jesus, whom you persecute. Now, get up, and go into the city; there, you will be told what you are to do.”

The men who were traveling with him stood there speechless: They had heard the sound, but could see no one. Saul got up from the ground and, opening his eyes, he could not see. They took him by the hand and brought him to Damascus. He was blind; and he did not eat or drink for three days.

There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias, to whom the Lord called in a vision, “Ananias!” He answered, “Here I am, Lord!” Then the Lord said to him, “Go, at once, to Straight Street and ask, at the house of Judas, for a man of Tarsus named Saul. You will find him praying, for he has just seen in a vision that a man named Ananias has come in and placed his hands upon him, to restore his sight.”

Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many sources about this man, and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; and now, he is here, with authority from the High Priest, to arrest all who call upon your name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument, to bring my name to the pagan nations and their kings, and the people of Israel as well. I, myself, will show him how much he will have to suffer for my name.”

So Ananias left and went to the house. He laid his hands upon Saul and said, “Saul, my brother, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me to you, so that you may receive your sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately, something like scales fell from his eyes and he could see; he got up and was baptized. Then he took food and was strengthened.

For several days Saul stayed with the disciples at Damascus, and he soon began to proclaim in the synagogues that Jesus was the Son of God. Gospel: Jn 6:52-59

The Jews were arguing among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So Jesus replied, “Truly, I say to you, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.

My flesh is really food, and my blood is truly drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood, live in me, and I in them. Just as the Father, who is life, sent me, and I have life from the Father, so whoever eats me will have life from me. This is the bread from heaven; not like that of your ancestors, who ate and later died. Those who eat this bread will live forever.”

Jesus spoke in this way in Capernaum when he taught them in the synagogue. Reflection:

The custom of eating bread, the bones and flesh of Huitzilopochtli, was the ancient Aztecs’ way of communing with him and is called teoqualo, “god is eaten.” Every May and December, an image of this god is made from dough, broken in pieces and solemnly eaten. This practice was also common among the Aryans of ancient India. The Brahmans offered rice cakes and converted ritually into the real bodies of men. (Eating the God among the Aztecs, Sir J. George. The Golden Bough)

The pagan rituals tried to honestly verbalize the ancients’ communion with their gods. Polytheism arose out of finite man’s desire to capture the immense divine power. Thus, the ancients ended up with many gods/goddesses. Divine revelation sets apart Christianity from other faiths, because Jesus Christ is God-in-person, incarnated (in+carx, flesh) through whom God has spoken. The Eucharistic meal is not humanly fabricated, but since the beginning is based on God’s love He shares with us his eternal life. To be with Jesus Christ, in whom the fullness of divinity dwells, He calls us to a lifelong humility. “Receive what you are.” (Augustine). That makes Christ incarnated in us and his life becomes ours. We are “alter Christus.”

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