Today’s feast has its origin in the 13th Century. We celebrate the institution of the Eucharist and the Mass on Holy Thursday in the depth of the grief of the Passion and Death of the Lord. The Church gives us another chance to study the “most Blessed Sacrament”- the First Mass, the First Communion and the First ordination of Priests.
The Gospel today is the Gospel of John in the context of the miracle of the loaves and fishes.
Some Notes: There are four accounts of the two different miracles of the loaves and fishes. John does not give an account of the institution of the Eucharist. He gives us the longest chapter in the NT – the teaching of Jesus and the rejection of that teaching by the crowd. Today we have part of that teaching.
“I am the living bread which has come down from heaven”
“The bread that I shall give is my flesh for the life of the world”
The Eucharist is about GIVING THANKS for what we have. In all the miracles of the loaves and fishes there is a theme about impossibility. There is no money, there is no time. We never have enough. Jesus takes the little we have, the few fish and the few loaves and HE blesses them and HE breaks them and HE gives them to the disciples and they give them to the people. The miracle happens in the hands of Jesus. Likewise at Mass we are invited to give the Lord all that we have, not what we wish we had, and Jesus will take it and bless it and multiply it to his glory.
‘Anyone who eats this bread will live forever.’
The Gospel today is the Gospel of John in the context of the miracle of the loaves and fishes.
Some Notes: There are four accounts of the two different miracles of the loaves and fishes. John does not give an account of the institution of the Eucharist. He gives us the longest chapter in the NT – the teaching of Jesus and the rejection of that teaching by the crowd. Today we have part of that teaching.
“I am the living bread which has come down from heaven”
“The bread that I shall give is my flesh for the life of the world”
The Eucharist is about GIVING THANKS for what we have. In all the miracles of the loaves and fishes there is a theme about impossibility. There is no money, there is no time. We never have enough. Jesus takes the little we have, the few fish and the few loaves and HE blesses them and HE breaks them and HE gives them to the disciples and they give them to the people. The miracle happens in the hands of Jesus. Likewise at Mass we are invited to give the Lord all that we have, not what we wish we had, and Jesus will take it and bless it and multiply it to his glory.
‘Anyone who eats this bread will live forever.’
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