Jesus feels compassion for the people
The Banquet of Life – Jesus invites to sharing
Mark 6:30-34

1. Opening prayer

Lord Jesus, send Your Spirit to help us to read the Scriptures with the same mind that You read them to the disciples on the way to Emmaus. In the light of the Word, written in the Bible, You helped them to discover the presence of God in the disturbing events of Your sentence and death. Thus, the cross that seemed to be the end of all hope became for them the source of life and of resurrection.

Create in us silence so that we may listen to Your voice in Creation and in the Scriptures, in events and in people, above all in the poor and suffering. May Your word guide us so that we too, like the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, may experience the force of Your resurrection and witness to others that You are alive in our midst as source of fraternity, justice and peace. We ask this of You, Jesus, son of Mary, who revealed the Father to us and sent us Your Spirit. Amen.

2. Reading

a) A key to the reading:

The text on which we will meditate on this 16^th Sunday of Ordinary Time is brief. Only five verses. At first sight a few lines seem to be only a brief introduction to the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves in the desert (Mk 6:34-44). But if the Liturgy of this Sunday has underlined these five verses, it means that they contain something very important that perhaps we would not notice if they were only used as an introduction to the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves.

In fact, these five verses reveal a characteristic of Jesus which has always struck and continues to strike us: His concern for health and the formation of the disciples, His accepting and welcoming humanity toward the poor people of Galilee, His tenderness towards people. If the Church, by means of the Sunday Liturgy, invites us to reflect on these aspects of the activity of Jesus, it is in order to encourage us to prolong this same attitude of Jesus in the relationship that we have with others. During this reading we will be very attentive to the minute details of Jesus’ attitude toward others.

b) A division of the text to help in the reading:

Mark 6:30: Revision of the apostolic work

Mark 6:31-32: Concern of Jesus that the disciples get some rest

Mark 6:33: People have other criteria and follow Jesus

Mark 6:34: Moved to compassion, Jesus changes His plan and receives and welcomes the people.

c) The text:

The apostles gathered together with Jesus and reported all they had done and taught. He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” People were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat. So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place. People saw them leaving and many came to know about it. They hastened there on foot from all the towns and arrived at the place before them. When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.

3. A moment of prayerful silence

that the Word of God may penetrate and enlighten our life.

4. Some questions

to help us in our personal reflection.

a) Which characteristic of Jesus’ attitude which has pleased you the most and which evoked greatest admiration among the people in Jesus’ time?

b) Jesus’ concern for the disciples and His concern to accept and welcome the people well: both of these are important. Which one of these predominates in Jesus’ attitude?

c) Compare Jesus’ attitude with the attitude of the Good Shepherd of Psalm 23. What strikes you the most?

d) Is the attitude of our community the same as that of Jesus?

5. For those who wish to reach more deeply into the theme

a)    The context which enlightens the text:

i) Chapter six of Mark shows an enormous contrast! On the one hand, Mark speaks about the banquet of death, held by Herod with the great of Galilee, in the palace of the capital city, during which John the Baptist was killed (Mk 6:17-29). On the other hand, the banquet of life, held by Jesus for the people of Galilee, hungry in the desert, so that they would not perish along the way (Mk 6:35-44). The five verses of this Sunday’s reading (Mk 6:30-34) are placed exactly between these two banquets.

ii) These five verses underline two things:

- they offer a picture of Jesus, the formator of the disciples;

- they indicate that the Good News of Jesus is not only a question of doctrine, but above all of acceptance, of goodness, of tenderness, of availability, of revelation of the love of God.

b) Commentary on the text:

Mark 6:30-32: The welcoming acceptance given to the disciples

These verses indicate that Jesus formed the new leaders. He involved the disciples in the mission and He took them to a more peaceful place so as to be able to rest and do a review of their mission (cf. Lk 10:17-20). He was concerned about their nourishment and their rest, because the work of the mission was such that they did not even have the time to eat (cf. Jn 21:9-13).

Mark 6:33-34: Moved to compassion, Jesus changes His plans and receives the people

The people perceive that Jesus has gone to the other shore of the lake, and they follow Him. When Jesus is getting out of the boat, and sees that crowd, He sacrifices His rest and begins to teach them. Here we can see the state of abandonment in which the people were. Jesus was moved to compassion “because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” The one who reads this parable remembers the Psalm of the Good Shepherd (Ps 23). When Jesus becomes aware that the people have no shepherd, He begins to be their shepherd. He begins to teach. He guides the crowds in the desert of life, and the multitude could then sing, “The Lord is my shepherd. There is nothing I shall want!”

b)    Extending the information:

● A picture of Jesus, the Formator

“To follow” was the term which formed part of the education system of the time. It was used to indicate the relationship between the disciple and the master. The relationship of master-disciple is different from the relationship of professor-pupil. The pupils attend classes given by the professor on a given subject. The disciples “follow” the master and live with him. And it is precisely during this “living together” of three years with Jesus that the disciples received their formation.

Jesus, the Master, is the axis, the center, and the model of formation. In His attitudes  is a proof of the Kingdom.  He incarnates the love of God and reveals it (Mk 6:31; Mt 10:30-31; Lk 15:11-32). Many small gestures mirror this witness of life by which Jesus indicated His presence in the life of the disciples, preparing them for life and for the mission. This was His way of giving a human form to the experience which He Himself had with the Father:

- to involve them in the mission (Mk 6:7; Lk 9:1-2, 10:1);

- once, He reviews this mission with them (Lk 10:17-20);

- He corrects them when they make a mistake or when they want to be the first ones (Mk 10:13-15; Lk 9:46-48);

- He waits for the opportune moment to correct them (Mk 9:33-35);

- He helps them to discern (Mk 9:28-29);

- He challenges them when they are slow (Mk 4:13; 8:14-21);

- He prepares them for the time of conflict (Jn 16:33; Mt 10:17-25);

- He sends them out to observe and to analyze reality (Mk 8:27-29; Jn 4:35; Mt 16:1-3);

- He reflects together with them on the questions of the present moment (Lk 13:1-5);

- He places them before the needs of the multitude (Jn 6:5);   He corrects the mentality of revenge (Lk 9:54-55);

- He teaches that the needs of the multitude are over and above the ritual prescriptions (Mt 12:7,12):

- He fights against the mentality which thinks that sickness is a punishment from God (Jn 9:2-3);

- He spends time alone with them in order to be able to instruct them (Mk 4:34; 7:17; 9:30-31; 10:10; 13:3);

- He knows how to listen, even when dialogue is difficult (Jn 4:7-42);

- He helps them to accept themselves (Lk 22:32);

- He is demanding and asks them to leave everything for His sake (Mk 10:17-31);

- He is severe with hypocrisy (Lk 11:37-53);

- He asks more questions than gives responses (Mk 8:17-21);

- He is firm and does not allow Himself to be turned away from the road (Mk 8:33; Lk 9:54-55).

This is a picture of Jesus, the formator. The formation in the “following of Jesus” was not just the transmission of truth to be learned by heart, but rather a communication of a new experience of God and of life which radiated from Jesus for the disciples. The community which formed around Jesus was the expression of this new experience. Formation led the person to see with other eyes, to have other attitudes. It planted in them a new awareness concerning the mission and themselves. Yes, it made them place their feet side by side with those who were excluded. In some, it produced “conversion” because they accepted the Good News (Mk 1:15).

● How Jesus announces the Good News to the multitude

The fact that John was in prison impels Jesus to return and begin the announcement of the Good News. It was an explosive and creative beginning! Jesus goes around and through all of Galilee: the villages, the towns, the city (Mk 1:39). He visits the communities. Finally He changes residence and goes to live in Capernaum (Mk 1:21; 2:1), a city on the cross roads to several places, and this facilitated proclamation of the message . He practically never stops; He is always on the road. The disciples go with Him everywhere: in the fields, along the streets, on the mountain, in the desert, in the ship, in the synagogues, in the houses. And they go with great enthusiasm!

Jesus helps the people, serving them in many ways: He drives out the evil spirits (Mk 1:39), He cures the sick and those who are possessed by the devil (Mk 1:34), He purifies those who are excluded because of some impurity (Mk 1:40-45), He accepts the marginalized and interacts and eats with them (Mk 2:15). He announces, calls and convokes. He attracts, consoles and helps. This is a passion which is revealed - passion for the Father and for the poor and abandoned people of His land. There He finds people who listen to Him.  He speaks and proclaims the Good News everywhere.

In Jesus, everything is revelation which fascinates or captivates Him from within! He Himself is the proof, the living witness of the Kingdom. In Him one sees what happens when a person allows God to reign, allows God to guide or direct his life. In His way of living and acting together with the others, Jesus transforms nostalgia into hope! All of a sudden people understood: This was what God wanted for His people!

This was the beginning of the announcement of the Good News of the Kingdom which was rapidly absorbed among the villages of Galilee. In a small way, like a seed which grows until it becomes a big tree, under which people could rest (Mk 4:31-32). And people took care to spread the News.

The people of Galilee remained impressed with the way Jesus taught. “A new teaching! Given with authority! Different from that of the scribes!” (Mk 1:22, 27). What Jesus did most was to teach (Mk 2:13; 4:1-2; 6:34). And this was what He used to do (Mk 10:1). More than fifteen times the Gospel of Mark says that Jesus taught. But Mark hardly ever says what He taught. Perhaps he is not interested in the content? It depends on what people understand by content! To teach does not mean to teach only new truths and thus people learn them by heart. The content which Jesus has to give does not only appear in the words, but also in His gestures and in the way in which He enters into relationship with the people. The content is never separated from the person who communicates it. Jesus was a welcoming person (Mk 6:34). He loved the people. Goodness and love, which were visible in His words, formed part of the content. They constitute His temperament. Good content without goodness is like spilled milk. Mark defines the content of the teaching of Jesus as “the Good News of God” (Mk 1:14). The Good News which Jesus proclaimed comes from God and reveals something about God. In everything which God says and does, the traits of the face of God are visible. The experience which He Himself has of God, the experience of the Father, is visible. To reveal God as Father is the source, the content, and the purpose or end of the Good News of Jesus.

6. Pray with Psalm 23 (22)

Yahweh is my shepherd

Yahweh is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
In grassy meadows He lets me lie.
By tranquil streams He leads me
to restore my spirit.
He guides me in paths of saving justice
as befits His name.
Even were I to walk in a ravine as dark as death
I should fear no danger,
for You are at my side.
Your staff and Your crook are there to soothe me.
You prepare a table for me under the eyes of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup brims over.
Kindness and faithful love pursue me every day of my life.
I make my home in the house of Yahweh
for all time to come.

7. Final Prayer

Lord Jesus, we thank for the word that has enabled us to understand better the will of the Father. May Your Spirit enlighten our actions and grant us the strength to practice what Your Word has revealed to us. May we, like Mary, Your mother, not only listen to but also practice the Word. You who live and reign with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.

Eating and sharing the bread of life

John 6:1-15

1. Let us invoke the Holy Spirit

Our Father in heaven,

You have given us Your beloved Son.

Send Your Spirit

that we may eat and savor Your gift.

Give us our daily bodily and spiritual bread.

May it provoke in us a hunger and thirst

for You, for Your Word and Your banquet,

where You will satisfy us with Your presence,

with Your love and Your shalom,

in the joy of communion with the brothers and sisters that You give us this day,

that we may share with them the material and spiritual bread. Amen.

2. Reading

a) The premises and key of biblical and liturgical reading:

* Our passage contains an unusual characteristic: it narrates the only “inflated” episode in the Gospels. In fact, all together it is told six times (once in Luke and John, twice in each of Mark and Matthew). Apart from any historical-critical evaluation of this unusual repetition, it is clear that early Christian tradition gave this episode great emphasis.

* Much discussion has gone on concerning the literary connections with the other Gospel stories, but really we cannot tell definitely whether there are any direct or indirect connections among the various Gospel stories. The nearest parallel to John seems to be the first text in Mark (6:30-54), but John would have had an independent source, which he reworked so that it would fit in well with the discourse that follows.

* As is usual in the fourth Gospel, a discourse of great theological importance is closely coupled with the “sign,” which in this case is a miracle. Here, the discourse that follows covers almost the whole of the sixth chapter: it is the discourse on the “bread of life" (6:26-59), the great source of theological reflection on the sacrament of the Eucharist.

* Throughout the text there are several references to actions, words and ideas characteristic of the Christian liturgy. Thus there seems to be a close relationship between this passage and the liturgical tradition of Eucharistic celebration, especially in view of the fact that the Gospel of John makes no reference to the institution of the Eucharist

* In this year’s liturgical cycle, which is based on the Gospel of Mark, a series of Sunday Gospels taken from John are inserted at this point. The insertion takes place precisely where one would have expected the readings on the multiplication of the loaves. The choice of the first reading is a classical example of mutual illumination between the Testaments: we have the multiplication of loaves by the prophet Elisha (2Kings 4:42-44). The parallel between the miracles throws light also on the prophetic aspect of the person of Jesus. Again, the second reading (Eph 4:1-6) emphasizes an aspect of the Eucharistic life of the Church: the communion built around Christ and nourished by the one Eucharistic bread.

* The main themes of this passage are those that concern the symbolism of the bread and of sharing the meal. It also has an eschatological dimension. Other important motifs present in the text are those of faith in Jesus and in His way of interpreting messianism, here expressed through the Old Testament figure of Moses.

b) The text:

Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee. A large crowd followed him, because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. The Jewish feast of Passover was near. When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, he said to Philip, "Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?" He said this to test him, because he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, "Two hundred days' wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little." One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?" Jesus said, "Have the people recline." Now there was a great deal of grass in that place. So the men reclined, about five thousand in number. Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted. When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples, "Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted." So they collected them, and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat. When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, "This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world." Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry him off to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain alone.

c) A subdivision of the text for a better understanding:

vv. 1-4: Temporal, geographic and liturgical introduction.

vv. 5-10: The preparatory dialogue between Jesus and the disciples.

vv. 11-13: The meal “multiplied” and over-abundant.

vv. 14-15: The reactions of the people and of Jesus.

3. A moment of interior and exterior silence

to allow the Word of God to impregnate our hearts and minds.

* It is spring, and Easter is close. The air is still fresh, and this makes it easier to follow and listen to the now famous, though controversial, rabbi of Nazareth.

* As I read and reread, I hear a voice, but still saying rather “strange” things”: how is it possible to feed this great crowd of people?

* A few loaves and fewer fish…but we must not lose them, while we agree to share them. Look, they increase as we distribute them!

* At the end, we collect everything: it is very tiring, but bread is always precious, everywhere and at all times, especially this bread.

* I resume my journey with Him, without stopping, with a light and happy heart because of the great things that I have seen today, but also with a few more questions. I go on looking at Him and listening to Him, I let my heart echo His actions, the expressions of His face, His voice and His words.

4. The Word given to us

* The “Book of Signs” of the fourth Gospel: Our passage comes from a part of the Gospel known as the “book of signs” (from 1:19 to 12:50), where we find descriptions of, and comments on, seven great “signs” of self-revelation (semeion, a symbolic miracle or action) worked by Jesus in this Gospel. Discourses and “signs” are closely correlated: theological discourses explain the “signs,” and in the “signs” we find a concrete presentation of the contents of the discourses in a progressive deepening of the divine revelation and the consequent growing hostility towards Jesus.

* Chapter 6 of John: In an attempt to clarify the chronology and geographical details of chapter 6, some propose that we change the places of chapters 5 and 6. This, however, would not resolve all the problems. It is better, then, to keep and respect what tradition has passed on to us, keeping in mind the historical-editorial problems involved, so as not to “unduly stress something which does not seem to have had great importance for the Evangelist" (Raymond Brown).

* Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias: The lake is identified as having two names; the first is the traditional one, the second is adopted by John in the New Testament (also in 21:1), perhaps because it had appeared recently in the life of Jesus and was, therefore, in common use after His death and widespread especially among the Greeks.

* And a multitude followed Him, because they saw the signs which He did on those who were diseased: Before this (2:23-25), we come across a similar situation of many believers in Jesus who had seen the “signs” He had worked. In both situations, Jesus shows clearly that He disapproves of the motivation (2:24-25; 6:5, 26).

The “signs” on those who were diseased, namely the healings that Jesus worked in Galilee, are told by John, except for the healing of the son of the regional official (4:46-54). However, with these words, this Evangelist lets it be understood that he had not told all the events and that he had chosen a few among many that he could have communicated to the readers (cf.  21:25).

* Jesus went up on the mountain, and there sat down with His disciples: There is no way of knowing which mountain.

The scene of Jesus, like Moses, sitting surrounded by His disciples, is a recurring theme also found in the other Gospels (cf. Mk 4:1; Mt 5:1; Lk 4:20). The action of sitting in order to teach was normal for rabbis, but John – contrary to Mk 5:34 – does not mention that Jesus taught on this occasion.

* Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand: The fourth Gospel makes three references to the celebration of the Passover by Jesus during His public life. This was the second (the first: 2:13; the third: 11:55) and we are told the religious and theological circumstances of everything said and done in chapter 6: the “bread given” by God like the manna, the going up the mountain by Jesus, like Moses, the crossing of the water as during the exodus (in the following episode: 6:16-21), the discourse on the theme of the bread that comes from God. Concerning the relationship between the manna given to Israel in the desert and the multiplication of the loaves, there are also several parallels recalling Numbers 11 (vv. 1, 7-9, 13, 22).

Some  of Jesus’ actions (for instance, the breaking of the bread), as well as the many theological themes touched upon in the following discourse, are clear references to the liturgical actions of the seder at Passover and to the liturgical readings in the synagogue for the feast.

The Passover is a springtime feast, and in fact, John notes that “there was much grass in the place” (6:10; cf. Mt 14:19; Mk 6:39).

* Seeing that a multitude was coming to Him: At the beginning of the narrative, it seemed that the people had been following Him before, whereas here John seems to say that the crowd was arriving. Perhaps this is a reference to one of John’s favorite themes and one greatly emphasized in this chapter: the coming to Jesus, an expression synonymous with complete adhesion to the faith (3:21; 5:40; 6:35, 37, 45; 7:37 and elsewhere).

* Jesus said to Philip… Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother: These are two of the Twelve who in this Gospel seem to have a special role (cf. 1:44 and 12:21-22), whereas in the other Gospels they remain in the shadows. It seems that they were particularly venerated in Asia Minor, where the Gospel of John was written.

* “How are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” The question addressed to Philip may possibly be justified because he came from that geographical region.

If we interpret this question in the light of similar questions in the whole Gospel (1:48; 2:9; 4:11; 7:27-28; 8:14; 9:29-30; 19:9), we discover its Christological importance: asking from where the gift comes is also to seek to understand the origin of the giver, in this case, Jesus. Thus the question leads to seeking the divine origin of Jesus.

* This He said to test Him, for He himself knew what He would do: The “testing”  of the reaction of the disciple is indicated by a verb (peirazein) which usually has a negative meaning, of temptation, checking or deceit. The role of this sentence, however, is to protect the reader against any doubt that Jesus’ question may be interpreted as ignorance. This is an example of the issues encountered in translation, and the nuances that can be lost. 

* “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little”: The amount is equivalent to a laborer’s salary for two hundred days of work (cf. Mt 20:13; 22:2).

Mark (6:37) puts it in such a way that we may think that such a quantity of bread would be sufficient for the present need, but John wants to emphasize the greatness of the divine intervention and the disproportion of human resources. Andrew’s words, which follow, have the same purpose: "… but what are they among so many?"

* “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish”: Judging by the double diminutive of the Greek text (paidarion), the lad is really a small child: someone with no social standing. The same term is used in 2Kings (4:12, 14, 25; 5:20) for Elisha’s servant, Giezi.

Barley loaves, unlike loaves made from wheat, were particularly simple food and cheap, used by poor people. This may be an allusion to the story of Elisha multiplying the barley bread (2Kings 4:42-44). It would seem (cf. Lk 11:5) that the meal for one person was made up of three loaves. The dried fish (opsarion, again the use of a double diminutive) was the common food to go with the bread.

* “Make the people sit down…in number about five thousand”: In reality, according to the custom of the times, Jesus commands that they “lie down” or to “stretch out”: the meal has to be eaten in comfort, just as it is prescribed for the ritual meal of the Passover and as of obligation in banquets. All the Gospel reports of this episode only refer to the number of men present.

* “Jesus then took the loaves, and when He had given thanks, He distributed them…so also the fish”: These actions and words of Jesus are very close to those of the Eucharistic rite, although we cannot say that the one derives from the other.

* "When He had given thanks" is a translation of eucharistein, which was commonly used as distinct from eulogein, to bless, the verb used by the synoptic Gospels here; the first verb is characteristic of the Greek milieu, whereas the second comes directly from the milieu of Hebrew culture. If we take into account the language in use at the time of writing of the Gospels, then we cannot say that there are any significant differences of content between the expressions, even though John’s expression is, for us who are used to the Christian liturgical language, a much more direct reminder of the Eucharistic sacrament. This is so true that the fourth Evangelist uses the same verb also in 11:41, where we find some reminders of the sacrament.

As presider at the ritual Passover table, Jesus personally breaks the bread and gives it directly to the people. In the same way He will do this at the Last Supper. Most probably, however, things proceeded the way the synoptic Gospels describe them: Jesus gave the broken bread to the disciples so that they might distribute it. In fact, the crowd was too large for Him to be able to do it all alone. John, then, wishes to concentrate the whole attention of his readers on the person of Jesus, true and only giver of “the bread from heaven”. Thus, the disciples join in His role at the meal, prefiguring their role in the Eucharistic celebration and in the Church.

Let us follow closely the sequence of events: the multiplication takes place only after the breaking and the breaking of the bread takes place only after a “small lad” courageously gives up all of his trivial resources. Those poor, small loaves are multiplied as they are broken! Jesus multiplies what we accept, a little blindly, to share with Him and with others.

* As much as they wanted … they had eaten their fill: It is the abundance promised by the prophets when the time of šalom and of the festive eschatological banquet comes (cf. e.g. Isa 25:6; 30:23; 49:9; 56:7-9; Hos 11:4; Ps 37:19; 81:17; 132:15).

Thus, the crowd is not wrong when it says of Jesus, "This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world": a prophet who fulfills the divine promise of sending a prophet “equal to Moses” (Deut 18:15-18) and who ushers in the messianic era preparing a free and abundant banquet, as promised by the ancient prophets.

* “Gather up the fragments left over, that nothing may be lost": The disciples appear on the scene with the task of not letting any of the precious bread go to waste. In fact, this too is a “bread that perishes” and cannot be compared with the true “bread from heaven” (cf. 6:24). The command to gather (synagein) the fragments recalls the prescription regarding the manna (cf. Ex 16:16 ff.).

* So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves: We cannot tell for certain whether the number of baskets is connected with the number of disciples. What is certain is that these words want to emphasize again the great abundance of food from those small barley loaves blessed by Jesus. John seems to pay scant attention to the two fishes offered with the bread, perhaps because the discourse that follows is all about bread.

* When the people saw the sign: The motive that John gives for the miracle just worked is not compassion for the crowd. This would have been well understood by the disciples present, who, according to Mark (6:52 and 8:14-21), did not understand the meaning of what had taken place.

The fourth Gospel then shows the “sign” significance of the miracle.

* Perceiving then that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by Himself: Contrary to the other Evangelists, John gives the reason for Jesus’ sudden disappearance after the miracle. He wanted to prevent His role as Messiah from being “fouled” by any political manifestations of the crowd. Jesus once more makes clear His choice (cf. Mt 4:1-10), which He will repeat right to the end before Pilate (19:33-37).

5. A few questions to direct our reflection and its practice

a) The bread is multiplied because someone “very small” has the courage to renounce hanging on to his security risking failure or being shamefaced. The “young lad” of the Gospel story believes in Jesus, even though Jesus had promised nothing on this occasion. Would I, would we, do the same?

b) The lad is an insignificant person, the loaves are few and the fish even fewer. In the hands of Jesus everything becomes great and beautiful. There is a huge disproportion between what we are and what God can make of us, if we place ourselves in His hands. "Nothing is impossible for God": not converting the hardest of hearts, not transforming evil into an instrument for good… God fills in every disproportion between us and Him. Do I really believe this, in the bottom of my heart, even when everything seems to contradict it?

c) The material bread offered by God refers us to the bread we ought to share with so many men and women who, on this same earth we live on and whose resources we waste so thoughtlessly, struggle desperately for a slice of bread. When we pray “give us this day our daily bread” do we at least think of those who have no bread and how we can help them?

d) Physical hunger and material bread remind us also of the “hunger for God” and the eschatological banquet. These are truths that we often put out of our thoughts because we prefer to think that they are far and distant from us. And yet, if we keep them present, they would help us to see the relative value of so many events and problems that seem to us greater than ourselves, and to live a more serene life busying ourselves only with what is essential. When, during the Eucharistic celebration we say "…as we wait in joyful hope" are we really fervently waiting for the glorious return of the One who loves us and who even now takes care of us?

6. Let us pray (Psalm 147)

Praising God in a hymn with a Passover flavor to Him who provides food and every kind of subsistence to the “little ones” of His people and to every living creature:

Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God;
for He is gracious, and a song of praise is seemly.
The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
He gathers the outcasts of Israel.
He heals the broken-hearted,
and binds up their wounds.
He determines the number of the stars,
He gives to all of them their names.
Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;
His understanding is beyond measure.
The Lord lifts up the downtrodden,
He casts the wicked to the ground.
Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;
make melody to our God upon the lyre!
He covers the heavens with clouds,
He prepares rain for the earth,
He makes grass grow upon the hills.
He gives to the beasts their food,
and to the young ravens which cry.
His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
nor His pleasure in the legs of a man;
but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him,
in those who hope in His steadfast love.

7. Closing prayer

From its earliest days, the Church has celebrated the Eucharist as the supper of the Passover of the Lord where it echoes the event of the multiplication of the loaves. Thus, our closing prayer today is one inherited from the Christians of the first century: 

We thank You, Father, for life and the knowledge You have revealed to us through Jesus Your servant. Glory to You forever.

Just as the broken bread was scattered here and there over the hills and when gathered became one, so now, may Your Church be gathered in Your Kingdom from the ends of the earth;

for Yours is the glory and the power, through Jesus Christ forever.

We thank You, holy Father,

for Your holy name that you make present in our hearts,

and for the knowledge, faith and immortality

that You revealed to us through Jesus, Your servant.

To You Glory forever.

You, all powerful Lord, have created all things to the glory of Your name;

You have given humankind food and drink for comfort, so that humankind may give You thanks;

but You have given us a spiritual food and drink and eternal life through Your servant.

Above all, we thank You because You are powerful.

To You be glory forever.

Remember, Lord, Your Church,

preserve her from every evil

and make her perfect in Your love;

made holy, gather her from the four corners of the earth into Your kingdom, prepared for her.

For Yours is the power and the glory forever.

May Your grace come, and may this world pass by.

Hosanna to the house of David.

(from the Didaché, 9-10)

The bread of life
John 6: 41-51

Opening prayer

Shaddai, God of the mountain,
You who make of our fragile life
the rock of Your dwelling place,
lead our mind
to strike the rock of the desert,
so that water may gush to quench our thirst.
May the poverty of our feelings
cover us as with a mantle in the darkness of the night
and may it open our heart to hear the echo of silence
until the dawn,
wrapping us with the light of the new morning,
may bring us,
with the spent embers of the fire of the shepherds of the Absolute
who have kept vigil for us close to the divine Master,
the flavor of the holy memory.

1. Lectio

a) The text:

The Jews murmured about Jesus because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven, " and they said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he say, 'I have come down from heaven'?" Jesus answered and said to them, "Stop murmuring among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. It is written in the prophets: They shall all be taught by God. Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world."

b) A key to the reading:

The sixth chapter of John's Gospel presents an entire picture that develops around the Paschal theme and, analogously with what precedes it, unfolds through the telling of a miracle (5:1-9a 6:1-15) followed by a discourse (5:16-47; 6:22-59). The chapter relates that part of Jesus' activity in Galilee, precisely at its most sublime moment when Jesus reveals Himself as bread of life to be believed in and eaten in order to be saved. In vv. 1-15 we find the great sign of the multiplication of the loaves whose significance is revealed in the discourse of the following day in vv. 26-59: the gift of bread to satisfy the hunger of the people prepares the way for the words concerning the bread of eternal life. In vv. 16-21, we find the story of Jesus walking on the water. In vv. 60-71 Jesus, knowing their lack of faith (vv. 60-66) and trying to encourage their faith (vv. 66-71), invites the twelve disciples to make up their minds. The whole discourse on the bread of life (6:25-71) presents parallels with some Hebrew texts, especially with Philo.

c) A moment of silence:

Let the sound of the Word echo in us.

2. Meditatio

a) A few questions:

- They murmured at Him: how many are the voices that murmur against God?
- I am the bread which has come down from heaven: where do we acquire the bread that we eat every day?
- No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him: does the Father draw us or do we drag our feet behind Him criticizing that which He says to us in our daily life?
- If anyone eats of this bread, he will live for ever: we nourish ourselves with the Word of God and the broken Bread once a week or even every day… why is it that eternal life is not evident in our words and our human experience?

b) A key to the reading:

To murmur. What better way is there for us not to live in depth that which the Lord asks of us? There are thousands of plausible reasons… thousands of valid justifications… thousands of licit motives… for us not to swallow a Word that defies every reason, every justification, every motivation to allow new echoes to resonate from a not so distant heaven that dwells in our hearts

v. 41. The Jews murmured at Him because He had said: "I am the bread which came down from heaven". Jesus had just said: I am the bread of life (v. 35) and I have come down from heaven (v. 38) and this provokes dissent among the crowd. The term Jews is a theological one in John and may be thought of as synonymous with unbelievers. In truth these were Galileans who were called Jews because they murmured at Christ whose words disturbed their usual definitions. The Jews were familiar with the term bread come down from heaven. The children of Israel knew the bread of God, the manna, which had satisfied their hunger in the desert and had given security to a precarious journey whose horizons were uncertain. Christ, manna for humankind, who in the desert of an unsatisfied hunger invokes heaven to sustain it on its journey. This is the only bread that satisfies hunger. The words of the Jews are an objection to the person of Jesus and also an occasion to introduce the theme of unbelief. In other passages the people "whisper" about Jesus (7:12, 32), but in this chapter they "murmur" about what He says, about His words. This murmuring puts an emphasis on their unbelief and incomprehension.

v. 42. "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph whose father and mother we know? How does He now say: I have come down from heaven?". This is subtle irony. The unbelievers know the earthly origins of the Christ, they know for certain the son of Joseph, but not the son of God. Only those who believe know His transcendental origin by the direct intervention of God in the Virgin. The passage goes from material language, bread made from water and flour, to a spiritual language, bread for the human soul. As once the people in the desert did, the Jews murmur: they do not understand the origin of Jesus' gift: and as once their forbears refused the manna because it was too light, so now the descendants refuse the Word made flesh, bread come down from heaven, because of its earthly origin. The Jews, from all that Jesus said, only take note that He had said: I have come down from heaven (v. 38). Yet this is that which gives substance to all that was said before about being the bread of life (v. 35). The question: Is not this… is asked in a context of surprise in the Synoptic Gospels. In Matthew and Luke, through the story of Jesus' childhood, the reader has already been told of the virginal conception of Jesus. In John, the Galileans are confronted with someone who claims to have come down from heaven without any previous discussion as to His human condition. Son of Joseph means that Jesus is a man like all other men (cf. 1:45).

v. 43-44. Jesus answered them: "Do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day". Jesus does not seem to dwell on His divine origin but stresses that only those drawn by the Father can come to Him. Faith then is a gift of God and depends on a person's openness and ability to listen… but what does it mean to say the Father draws? Is not a person free on this journey? The attraction is simply the desire written in the tablets of flesh borne in the heart of every person. Thus, complete freedom exists in a spontaneous clinging to the source of one's being. Life can only attract life, only death cannot attract.

v. 45. It is written in the prophets: "And they shall all be taught by God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me". The rest of the narrative follows a very precise order. These words are not an invitation, but a command. The creative Word of God, who called light and all other creatures into existence from nothing, now calls His own likeness to participate in the new creation. The consequence does not flow from an autonomous and personal decision, but from meeting with the person of Jesus and His call. It is a grace event, not a human choice. Jesus does not wait for a free decision, but calls with divine authority as God called the prophets in the Old Testament. It is not the disciples who chooses the Master, as was the case with rabbis at the time, but the Master who chooses the disciples as beneficiaries of God's inheritance, which is much greater than any doctrine or teaching. The call implies the giving up of family, profession, a complete change of one's way of life in order to cling to a way of life that leaves no space for self-centeredness. The disciples are people of the kingdom. The call to become disciples of Jesus is an "eschatological call". The words of the Babylonian prophet of the exile say, "and all her children (Jerusalem's) shall be" - referring to the Jews. The use of: "all shall be" is an expression of the universality of salvation whose fulfillment is Jesus.

v. 46. Not that any one has seen the Father, except Him who comes from God, He has seen the Father. Only Jesus, who is from God, has seen the Father and can reveal Him definitively. People are called to come from God. Knowledge of the Father is not a conquest; it is an origin. The movement is not external. If I look for an external origin I can say that I have a father and mother, a creature of the created world. If I look for a deeper origin of my essential being I can say that I come from the Father, Creator of all life.

v. 47. Truly, truly, I say to you: He who believes has eternal life. To believe in the words of Jesus, in His revelation, is a condition for gaining eternal life and being able to be "taught by the Father". I believe, I lean on a rock. The strength is not within my creature limitations, nor in the realization of my creature efforts to attain perfection. All is firm in Him who has no temporal attachments. How can a creature lean on itself when it is not master of one single instant of its life?

v. 48. I am the bread of life. Again the theme of the bread of life is presented together with that of faith and of eternal life. Jesus is the true bread of life. This verse is connected with verse 51 "I am the living bread". Only he who eats this bread, he who assimilates Jesus' revelation as vital bread, will be able to live.

vv. 49-50. Your Fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died: this is the bread which comes down from heaven that a man may eat of it and not die. The bread come down from heaven is contrasted with the manna that fed their fathers but did not preserve them from death. This bread that gives life without end and comes from on high is the incarnate Word of God. The Eucharistic theme, already implied in some expressions, now becomes central. Earthly death does not contradict this experience of life if one walks along transcendental ways. The limitation is no limitation for those who eat of Him.

vv. 51. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any one eats of this bread, he will live forever and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is My flesh." The "flesh" of Jesus is the vital food for the believer. The word flesh (sàrx), which in the Bible indicates the fragile reality of the human person before the mystery of God, now refers to the body of Christ immolated on the cross and to the human reality of the Word of God. It is no longer a metaphorical bread of life, it is the revelation of Jesus because the bread is the very flesh of the Son. For the life of the world means in favor of and emphasizes the sacrificial dimension of Christ because for the world expresses the salvation which flows from that dimension.

c) Reflection

Murmur. If our murmuring were like a soft breeze, it would act as a harmonious basis for the eternal words that become our flesh: I am the living Bread that has come down from heaven. What a surprise that would be, knowing that this eternal Bread is not a stranger, but Jesus, the son of Joseph, a man whose father and mother we know. We eat and we are assumed, because those who eat of this bread will live for ever. This is a bread that is born of the love of the Father. We are invited to listen and learn from Him via the way of attraction, on that peak of faith that allows us to see. Bread with bread, Flesh with flesh. Only He who comes from God has seen the Father. And when we have made of our flesh the table of the living Bread, then we shall have seen the Father. Desert and death, heaven and life. A sweet marriage fulfilled in every Eucharist… on every altar, on the altar of the heart where the life of the divine breath consumes the disfigured lineaments of a lost person.

3. Oratio

Psalm 33 (32)

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
and all their host by the breath of His mouth.
He gathered the waters of the sea as in a bottle;
He put the depths in storehouses.

The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to naught;
He frustrates the plans of the peoples.
The counsel of the Lord stands for ever,
the thoughts of His heart to all generations.

Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him,
on those who hope in His steadfast love,
that He may deliver their soul from death,
and keep them alive in famine.

4. Contemplatio

The experience the food that satisfies the hunger of the heart reminds me, Lord, that I can pass from imperfection to the fulfillment of being a reflection of Yourself, not by doing away with the hunger, but by finding in it no longer a homo dormiens, someone who does not ask questions of himself, who lives without any interest, who does not wish to see or feel, who will not allow himself to be touched, who lives in fear, superficially rather than in depth, and who keeps a horizontal position when confronted by events, sleeping or ignoring whatever he meets… but rather a homo vigilans, he who is always present to himself and others, capable of satisfying himself by his work and service, who responsibly does not stop at that which is immediate, but who knows how to pace himself for the long and patient waiting, who expresses all that dwells in each fragment of his life, who no longer fears feeling vulnerable, because he knows that the wounds of his humanity can be transformed into scars through which life joins in the passing of time, a life that is finally able to realize his end and that sings to love with his "scarred heart" wrapped in a "flame that consumes but does not hurt" and in order to meet him definitively is prepared to "tear the veil". Hunger is no longer hunger, because it now becomes the sweet burden of limitation, protected by "the delicious wound" and always open to the "sweet encounter" that will satisfy every desire: "The Beloved is the mountain, the solitary valleys full of shade…He is like the calm night, very close to dawn, a silent music, a resounding silence… Who will heal this my scarred heart? He is the consuming flame that does not hurt! O my Beloved, tear the veil at the moment of our sweet encounter."

Jesus, the bread of life
John 6:51-58

Let us invoke the presence of God

Shaddai, God of the mountain,
You who make of our fragile life
the rock of Your dwelling place,
lead our mind
to strike the rock of the desert,
so that water may gush to quench our thirst.
May the poverty of our feelings
cover us as with a mantle in the darkness of the night
and may it open our heart to hear the echo of silence
until the dawn,
wrapping us with the light of the new morning,
may bring us,
with the spent embers of the fire of the shepherds of the Absolute
who have kept vigil for us close to the divine Master,
the flavor of the holy memory.

1. LECTIO

a) The text:

Jesus said to the crowds: "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever."

b) A moment of silence:

Let us allow the voice of the Word to resonate within us.

2. MEDITATIO

a) Some questions:

I am the bread of life… Jesus, flesh and blood, bread and wine. These words work a change on the altar, as Augustine says: “If you take away the words, all you have is bread and wine; add the words and it becomes something else. This something else is the body and blood of Christ. Take the words away, all you have is bread and wine; add the words and they become sacrament.” How important is the word of God for me? If the word is pronounced over my flesh can it make me become bread for the world?

b) Let us enter into the text:

v. 51. ”I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, for the life of the world.” John’s Gospel does not recount the institution of the Eucharist, but rather the meaning it assumes in the life of the Christian community. The symbolism of the washing of the feet and the new commandment (Jn 13:1-35) point to the bread broken and the wine poured. The theological content is the same as that in the synoptic Gospels. John’s ritual tradition can, however, be found in the “Eucharistic discourse” that follows the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves (Jn 6:26-65). This text brings to light the deep meaning of Christ’s existence given for the world, a gift that is the source of life and that leads to a deep communion in the new commandment of membership. The reference to the ancient miracle of the manna explains the paschal symbolism where the idea of death is taken up and overcome by life: “Your fathers ate manna in the desert and they are dead; but this is the bread which comes down from heaven, so that a person may eat it and not die” (Jn 6:49-50). The bread of heaven (cf. Ex 16; Jn 6:31-32) figuratively or in reality is not meant so much for the individual as for the community of believers, even though everyone is called to partake personally of the food given for all. Anyone who eats the living bread will not die: the food of the revelation is the place where life never ends. From the bread, John goes on to use another expression to point to the body: sarx. In the Bible this word denotes a human person in his or her fragile and weak reality before God, and in John it denotes the human reality of the divine Word made man (Jn 1:14a): the bread is identified with the very flesh of Jesus. Here it is not a question of metaphorical bread, that is, of the revelation of Christ in the world, but of the Eucharistic bread. While revelation, that is, the bread of life identified with the person of Jesus (Jn 6:35), is the gift of the Father (the verb to give is used in the present, v. 32), the Eucharistic bread, that is the body of Jesus will be offered by Him through His death on the cross prefigured in the consecration of the bread and wine at the supper: “and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, for the life of the world” (Jn 6:51).

v. 52. Then the Jews started arguing among themselves, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” Here begins the drama of a way of thinking that stops at the threshold of the visible and material and dares not cross the veil of the mystery. This is the scandal of those who believe without believing… of those who pretend to know but do not know. Flesh to eat: the celebration of the Passover, the perennial rite that will go on from generation to generation, a feast for the Lord and a memorial (cf. Ex 12:14), whose meaning is Christ. Jesus’ invitation to do what He has done “in memory” of Him, is paralleled in the words of Moses when he prescribes the paschal anamnesis: “This day must be commemorated by you, and you must keep it as a feast”  (Ex 12:14). Now, we know that for the Jews the celebration of the Passover was not just a remembrance of a past event, but also its ritualization, in the sense that God was ready to offer again to His people the salvation needed in new and different circumstances. Thus the past intruded into the present, leavening by its saving power. In the same way the Eucharistic sacrifice “will be able” to give to the centuries “flesh to eat.”

vv. 53. Jesus said, “In all truth I tell you, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.” John, like the synoptic Gospels, uses various expressions when speaking of Christ’s giving of Himself in death, thus not wishing to convey a separation of parts, but the totality of the person given: the spiritualized corporeality of the risen Christ, fully permeated by the Holy Spirit in the Paschal event, will become source of life for all believers, especially through the Eucharist, that unites closely each one of them with the glorified Christ seated at the right hand of the Father, and making each one partake of His own divine life. John does not mention bread and wine, but directly what is signified by them: flesh to eat because Christ is presence that nourishes and blood to drink – a sacrilegious act for the Jews – because Christ is the sacrificed lamb. The sacramental liturgical character is evident here: Jesus insists on the reality of the flesh and of the blood referring to His death, because in the act of sacrificing the sacrificial victims the flesh became separated from the blood.

54. Anyone who does eat My flesh and drink My blood has eternal life, and I shall raise that person up on the last day. The Passover celebrated by Jesus, the Jews, and by the early Christians acquires a new soul: that of the resurrection of Christ, the final exodus of perfect and full freedom (Jn 19:31-37), which in the Eucharist finds the new memorial, symbol of the Bread of life that sustains during the journey in the desert, sacrifice and presence that sustains the people of God, the Church, and having crossed the waters of regeneration, will not tire of making memory, as He said, (Lk 22:19; 1Cor 11:24) until the eternal Passover. Attracted and penetrated by the presence of the Word made flesh, Christians will live their Pesach throughout history, the passage from the slavery of sin to the freedom of children of God. In conforming themselves to Christ, they will be able to proclaim the wonderful works of His admirable light, offering the Eucharist of His corporeality: living sacrifice, holy and pleasing in a spiritual cult (Rom 12:1) that befits the people of His victory, a chosen race, a royal priesthood (cf. 1 Pt 2:9).

vv. 55-56. For My flesh is real food and My blood is real drink. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood lives in Me and I live in that person. This promise of the life of Christ influences greatly the life of believers: «Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood lives in Me and I live in that person» (Jn 6:56). The communion of life that Jesus has with the Father is offered to all who eat the sacrificed body of Christ. This is not to be understood as the magic concession of a sacramental food that automatically confers eternal life to those who eat it. This giving of the flesh and blood needs explanation to make it intelligible and to provide the necessary understanding of God’s action, it needs faith on the part of those who take part in the Eucharistic banquet, and it first needs  God’s action, that of His Spirit, without which there can be no listening or faith.

v. 57. As the living Father sent Me and I draw life from the Father, so whoever eats Me will also draw life from Me. The stress is not placed on the cult as the peak and foundation of love, but on the unity of the body of Christ living and working within the community. There is no liturgy without life. “A Eucharist without fraternal love is equal to self condemnation, because the body of Christ, that is the community, is despised.” Indeed, in the Eucharistic liturgy the past, present and future of the history of salvation find an efficient symbol for the Christian community, which expresses but never substitutes for the experience of faith that must always be present in history. Through the inseparable Supper and Cross, the people of God have come into the ancient promises, the true land across the sea, across the desert, across the river, a land of milk and honey, of freedom capable of obedience. All the great ancient plans find in this hour (cf. Jn 17:1) their fulfillment; from the promise made to Abraham (Gen 17:1-8) to the Passover of the Exodus (Ex 12:1-51). This is a decisive moment that gathers the whole past of the people (cf. DV 4) and the first most noble Eucharist ever celebrated of the new covenant is offered to the Father: the fruitful fulfillment of all expectations on the altar of the cross.

v. 58. “This is the bread which has come down from heaven; it is not like the bread our ancestors ate: they are dead, but anyone who eats this bread will live for ever.” When Jesus pronounces the words “This is My body” and “This is My blood,” He establishes a real and objective relationship between those material elements and the mystery of His death, which finds its crowning glory in the resurrection. These are creative words of a new situation with common elements in human experience, words that will always and truly realize the mysterious presence of the living Christ. The elements chosen were meant to be and are symbol and instrument at the same time. The element of bread, which because of its relationship to life has by itself an eschatological significance (cf. Lk 14:15), is easily seen as an indispensable food and a universal means of sharing. The element of wine, because of its natural symbolism, connotes the fullness of life and the expansion of the joy of a person (cf. Ps 103:15). In the existential Semitic view, the effectiveness of the system of signs is taken for granted. It makes distinctions that make it possible to comprehend mysteries by faith where the senses fail. By referring and going back to the desert and the manna, this different “Pasch,” the material object and the sign, come together, but concupiscence, which is from the flesh, transforms the sign into matter, while the desire, which is from the spirit, transforms the matter into sign.” (P. Beauchamp, L’uno e l’altro testamento, Paideia Ed., Brescia 1985, p. 54). In fact, the manna from heaven comes from God in an invisible form and thus lacks identity. This lack of evidence is seen clearly in the etymology of the word “manna”: “What is it?” (Ex 16:15). This says what it is, a name given to almost nothing, a sign and not a thing, a signed sign. It is proven in the moment it disappears, because one is tempted to remedy that which disappears, to make provision of manna so as not to run short. This is the price of what disappears to the senses. The alternation is the time of the desert. The manna is bread that obeys the laws of Him who gives it. The law, that the manna signifies, is to expect everything from Him: what is required is belief. Because of its lack of substance, manna creates the desire for more solid support; but in the place called “sepulchres of greed” the thing, deprived of sign, brings death (Num 11:34). In the desert what urges people to go ahead with confidence is this seeing the manna either as a sign or as a thing in itself and thus either believe or die.

c) Let us meditate:

Jesus fulfills the true Pesach of human history: “Before the festival of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that His hour had come to pass from this world to the Father, having loved those who were His in the world, loved them to the end. While they were at supper…» (Jn 13:1). To pass over: the new Pasch is precisely this passing over of Christ from this world to the Father through the blood of His sacrifice. The Eucharist is the memorial, bread of the desert and saving presence, covenant of fidelity and communion written in the person of the Word. The history of salvation that for Israel is made up of events, names and places, leads to a reflection of faith over an experience of life that makes the name of Yahweh not just one name among many but the only Name. Everything begins from an encounter, a dialogical event between God and humanity that translates into a covenant of alliance, old and new. The sea of rushes is the last frontier of slavery and beyond it lies the spacious territory of freedom. In this watery sepulcher the old body of Israel is laid to rest and the new and free Israel rises. This is where Israel’s identity is born. Every time that this passage through the waters of birth is evoked more than just as a historical event to be remembered, the eschatological event will arise, capable of a divine fullness that becomes present, sacramental sign of God’s faithful initiative today for the new generations, in expectation of the final liberation that the Lord will provide. It is the gasp of a people that on the eve of the Pesach finds its deep identity individually and as a people, the eve when the Son of the living God gives Himself wholly in the form of food and drink.

3. ORATIO

Psalm 116

What return can I make to Yahweh
for His generosity to me?
I shall take up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of Yahweh.

I shall fulfill my vows to Yahweh,
witnessed by all His people.
Precious in Yahweh's sight
is the death of His faithful.

I beg You, Yahweh!
I am Your servant,
I am Your servant
and my mother was Your servant;
You have undone my fetters.
I shall offer You a sacrifice of thanksgiving
and call on the name of Yahweh.

I shall fulfill my vows to Yahweh,
witnessed by all His people,
in the courts of the house of Yahweh,
in your very heart, Jerusalem.

4. CONTEMPLATIO

When we think of You, Lord, we do not recall events that took place and were fulfilled long ago, but we come into contact with Your reality ever present and alive. We see Your constant passage among us. You intervene in our life to restore our likeness to You, so that we may not be disfigured by the stones of the law, but may find our fullest expression in Your face as Father, revealed in the face of a man, Jesus, the promise of fidelity and love even unto death. It is not necessary at all to go out of ordinary existence  to meet You because the care You take of Your creatures unfolds over our human affairs like a scroll in the proximity of an experience. You, Creator of heaven and earth, indeed do hide in the folds of history and, even though at first obscurely and implicitly, You allow us to meet You in Your transcendence, which is never absent from ordinary events. When our reflection on life brings us to an acknowledgment of Your liberating presence, this meeting can only be celebrated, sung, expressed by sacred symbols, relived festively in great joy. Thus we do not come to You alone, but as a people of the covenant. The wonder of Your presence is always purely gratuitous: in the members of the Church, where two or three are gathered in the name of Jesus (Mt 18:20), in the pages of Sacred Scripture, in evangelical preaching, in the poor and suffering (Mt 25:40), in the sacramental actions of ordained ministers. But it is in the Eucharistic sacrifice that Your presence becomes real; in the Body and Blood there is the whole of the humanity and divinity of the risen Lord, present substantially.

Easter Time

1) Opening prayer

Lord our God,

there is much in us that obscures Your word

and keeps us from being truly Your Church. We pray You today:

Call us, as once You called Mark,

to speak and live Your word.

Inspire us through Your Spirit

and teach us to live in the hope

that Your kingdom will come

and remain among us

through Jesus Christ, our Lord,

now and for ever.

2) Gospel Reading - Mark 16:15-20

Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them: "Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover." Then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them, was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God. But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.

3) Reflection

• Today’s Gospel forms part of the appendix of the Gospel of Mark (Mk 16:9-20) which presents a list of some apparitions of Jesus: to Magdalene (Mk 16:9-11), to the two disciples who were walking out in the country (Mk 16:12-13) and to the twelve apostles (Mk 16:14-18). This last apparition, together with the description of the Ascension into Heaven (Mk 16:19-20), forms the Gospel for today.

• Mark 16:14: The signs which accompany the announcement of the Good News. Jesus appears to the eleven disciples and reproaches them for not believing the persons who had seen Him resurrected. They did not believe Mary Magdalene (Mk 16:11), nor the two disciples on the road out in the country (Mk 16:13). Several times, Mark refers to the resistance of the disciples to believing the witness of those who experienced the resurrection of Jesus. Why does Mark insist so much on the lack of faith of the disciples? Probably to teach two things: First, that faith in Jesus goes through faith in persons who give witness. Second, that no one should be discouraged when there is doubt in the heart. Even the eleven disciples doubted!

• Mark 16:15-18: The mission to announce the Good News to the whole world. After having criticized the lack of faith of the disciples, Jesus confers their mission to them: “Go out to the whole world, proclaim the Gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned”. To those who had the courage to believe in the Good News and who are baptized, Jesus promises the following signs: they will cast out devils, they will speak new languages, they will pick up snakes in their hands and be unharmed if they drink deadly poison, and they will lay their hands on the sick who will recover. This happens even today. To cast out devils is to fight against the force of evil which destroys life. The life of many people improves because they entered into the community and have begun to live the Good News of the presence of God in their life.

- to speak new languages: it means to begin to communicate with others in a new way. Sometimes we meet a person whom we have never seen before, and we care deeply for them and their situation, even though we don't know them well. This happens because we speak the same language, the language of love.

- deadly poison will not harm them: there are many things that poison life together in community. There is gossip which destroys the relationship between persons. The one who lives in the presence of God does not participate in these things and is able to not be disturbed by this terrible poison.

- they cure the sick. Wherever there is a clear and lively knowledge of God’s presence, there is also a special care given to the excluded and marginalized, especially the sick. What can help cure is that the person feels accepted and loved.

• Mark 16:19-20: Through the community, Jesus continues His mission. Jesus Himself, who lives in Palestine and accepts the poor of His time, revealing the love of the Father to them, continues to be alive in our midst in our community. Through us, He wants to continue His mission to reveal the Good News of God’s love to the poor. Even up to this time the resurrection takes place, and it impels us to sing: “Who will separate us from the love of Christ, who will separate us?” No power of this world is capable of neutralizing the force that comes from faith in the Resurrection (Rm 8:35-39). A community which wants to be a witness of the Resurrection should be a sign of life and should struggle against the forces of death in such a way that the world may be a favorable place for life. Above all, in parts of the world such as Latin America and the Middle East, where the life of people is in danger because of the system of death which has become common there, the communities should be a living proof of the hope which overcomes the world without fear of being happy!

4) Personal questions

• How do theses signs of God’s presence take place in my life?

• What are the signs of the presence of Jesus in our midst that convince people the most today?

• Do I proclaim the Gospel through my words and actions every day, or just sometimes?

5) Concluding Prayer

I shall sing the faithful love of Yahweh for ever,

from age to age my lips shall declare Your constancy,

for You have said: love is built to last for ever,

You have fixed Your constancy firm in the heavens. (Ps 89:1-2)

Ordinary Time

1) Opening prayer

Lord,

our help and guide,

make your love the foundation of our lives.

May our love for you express itself

in our eagerness to do good for others.

You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

2) Gospel Reading - Luke 12: 8-12

Jesus said to his disciples: 'I tell you, if anyone openly declares himself for me in the presence of human beings, the Son of man will declare himself for him in the presence of God's angels. But anyone who disowns me in the presence of human beings will be disowned in the presence of God's angels.

'Everyone who says a word against the Son of man will be forgiven, but no one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will be forgiven. 'When they take you before synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how to defend yourselves or what to say, because when the time comes, the Holy Spirit will teach you what you should say.'

3) Reflection

• Context. While Jesus is on the way toward Jerusalem, we read in Luke, chapter 11, that precedes our passage, presenting Him as having the intention to reveal the abyss of the merciful acting of God and at the same time the profound misery hidden in the heart of man. Particularly in revealing this to those who have the task of being witnesses of the Word and of the work of the Holy Spirit in the world. Jesus presents such realities with a series of reflections which provoke effects in the reader, such as to feel attracted by the force of his Word to the point of feeling judged interiorly and detached from all desires of greatness which shake and agitate man (9, 46). The reader identifies himself with various attitudes that the teaching of Jesus arouses. Above all, he recognizes himself as follower of Christ in the disciple and sent to precede him in the role of messenger of the kingdom, in the one who hesitates somewhat in following him, and in the Pharisee or doctor of the Law, a slave of their interpretations and life style. In summary, the course of the reader in chapter 11 is characterized by this encounter with the teaching of Jesus who reveals to him the intimacy of God, the mercy of God’s heart, and the truth of his being a man. In chapter 12, Jesus opposes the perverted judgment of man to the goodness of God who always gives with superabundance. Man’s life enters into play here.  It is necessary to be attentive to the perversion of the human judgment and to the hypocrisy that distorts values in order to privilege only one’s own interests and advantages more than being interested in life, that life which is accepted gratuitously. The Word of God gives the reader an appeal on how to face the question regarding life: man will be judged on his behavior at the time of threats. It is necessary to be concerned with the men who can “kill the body” but rather to have at heart the fear of God who judges and corrects. But Jesus does not promise the disciples that they will be free from threats and persecutions, but He assures them that they will have God’s help at the moments of difficulty.

• To know how to recognize Jesus. The courageous commitment to recognize the friendship of Jesus publicly implies as a consequence a personal communion with Him at the moment of his return to judge the world. At the same time, the betrayal in “who will deny me”, the one who is afraid to confess and recognize Jesus publicly, condemns himself. The reader is invited to reflect on the crucial importance of Jesus in the history of salvation. It is necessary to decide to be either with Jesus or against Him and of his Word of Grace.  This decision, to recognize or to reject Jesus, depends is critical to our salvation. Luke makes it evident that the communion that Jesus gives at the present time to his disciples will be confirmed and will become perfect at the moment of his coming in glory (“he will come in his glory and of the Father and of the angels”: 9: 26). The call to the Christian community is very evident. Even if it has been exposed to the hostility of the world, it is indispensable not to cease to give a courageous witness of Jesus, of communion with him, to value and not to be ashamed to show one is a Christian.

• Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Here Luke understands blasphemy as offensive speaking or speaking against. This verb was applied to Jesus when in 5, 21 He had forgiven sins. The question presented in this passage may give rise in the reader to some difficulty: is blasphemy against the Son of man less grave or serious than the one against the Holy Spirit? The language of Jesus may seem rather strong for the reader of the Gospel of Luke. Through the Gospel he has seen Jesus as showing the behavior of God who goes to look for sinners, who is demanding but who knows how to wait for the moment of return to Him, when the sinner attains maturity. In Mark and Matthew blasphemy against the Spirit is the lack of recognizing the power of God in the exorcisms of Jesus. But in Luke it may mean the deliberate and known rejection of the prophetic Spirit that is working in the actions and teaching of Jesus, that is to say, a rejection of the encounter with the merciful acting of salvation with the Father. The lack of recognition of the divine origin of the mission of Jesus, the direct offenses to the person of Jesus, may be forgiven, but anyone who denies the acting of the Holy Spirit in the mission of Jesus will not be forgiven. It is not a question of an opposition between the person of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, or of some contrasting symbol of two diverse periods of history, that of Jesus and that of the community after the Passover, but rather, the evangelist wants to definitively show that to reject the  Holy Spirit in the mission of Jesus is equal to blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

4) Personal questions

• Are you aware that to be a Christian requires the need to face difficulties, deceit, dangers, and even to risk one’s own life to give witness of one’s own friendship with Jesus?

• Do you become embarrassed of being a Christian? Are you more concerned about the judgments of men, their approval, are these more important for you or that of losing your friendship with Christ?

5) Concluding Prayer

Yahweh our Lord,

how majestic is your name throughout the world!

Whoever keeps singing of your majesty higher than the heavens,

even through the mouths of children, or of babes in arms. (Ps 8: 1-2)

The disciples' heart tested by the Word of the Lord.
The challenge: to keep faith in the Father and the Son
or to side with the evil one.
John 6: 60-69

1. Opening prayer

Lord, Your Word is sweet, it is like a honeycomb, it is not hard nor is it bitter. It may burn like fire, it may be like the hammer that breaks rock, it may be the sharp sword that pierces and separates the soul… but, Lord, Your Word is sweet! Grant that I may listen to it, that it may be gentle music, a song and an echo in my ears, my memory and my intellect. I offer my whole being to You and ask You to grant that I may listen faithfully, sincerely, strongly. Lord. grant that I may keep my ears and heart fixed on Your lips, Your voice, so that not one word may be in vain. Pour forth Your Holy Spirit to be like living water watering my field so that it may bear fruit, thirty, sixty and a hundredfold. Lord, draw me, grant that I may come to You, because, You know… where shall I go, to whom on this earth if not to You?

2. Reading

a) Placing the passage in its proper context:

These are the concluding verses of the great chapter six of John's Gospel, where the evangelist presents his "Eucharistic theology". This conclusion is the climax of the chapter, because the Word leads us deeper into and towards the center of things; from the crowd at the start of the chapter, to the Jews who discuss with Jesus in the synagogue in Capernaum, to the disciples, to the twelve, even to Peter, the only one who stands for each one of us, alone, face to face with the Lord Jesus. Here we hear the reply to Jesus' teaching, to the Word sown abundantly in the heart of His listeners. Here we verify whether the soil of the heart produces thorns and weeds or green shoots that produce ears and finally good corn in the ears.

b) An aid to the reading of the passage:

v. 60: Some disciples condemn the Word of the Lord, and therefore Jesus Himself, who is the Word of God. God is not seen as a good Father who speaks to His children, but as a hard master (Mt 25:24), with whom it is not possible to enter into dialogue.
vv. 61-65: Jesus unveils the incredulity and hardness of heart of His disciples and reveals His mysteries of salvation: His ascension into heaven, the gift of the Holy Spirit and our participation in the divine life. But these mysteries can only be understood and accepted by the wisdom of a docile heart, capable of listening, and not by means of physical intelligence.
v. 66: This verse reveals the first great betrayal by many disciples who have failed to understand the true teaching of Jesus. Instead of turning their gaze on the Master, they turn their backs on Him and thus break communion and no longer walk with Him.
vv. 67-69: Jesus now addresses Himself to the twelve, His most intimate friends, and places before them a final and absolute choice, whether to stay with Him or go away. Peter answers on behalf of all and proclaims the faith of the Church in Jesus as Son of God and in His Word, which is the true source of life.

c) The text:

Many of Jesus' disciples who were listening said, "This saying is hard; who can accept it?" Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, "Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe." Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him. And he said, "For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father." As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. Jesus then said to the Twelve, "Do you also want to leave?" Simon Peter answered him, "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God."

3. A moment of silent prayer

I have received the gift, the grace. I have listened to the Word of the Lord, now I do not wish to murmur (v. 61); I do not wish to be scandalized (v. 61); nor do I wish to yield to incredulity (v. 64). I do not wish to betray my Master (v. 64); I do not wish to withdraw and not walk with Him any longer (v. 66)… I wish to remain with the Lord at all times! In the silence of my heart, I repeat endlessly to Him: "Lord, to whom shall I go, if not to You??! Behold, Lord, I come…”

4. A few questions

to open my heart and plow my interior soil with a plow capable of pulling up the roots of hardness and incredulity.

a) What kind of disciple am I? Am I really willing every day to learn at the school of Jesus, to receive His teaching, which is not the doctrine of human beings but the wisdom of the Holy Spirit?
b) "This is a hard saying, who can listen to it?" Is it really the Word of the Lord that is hard or is it my heart that wants only to close itself and no longer listen?
c) "Jesus knowing in Himself…". He knows my heart and knows what is in each person (Jn 1:48; 2:25; 4:29; 10:15). How do I react to His gaze, to His voice that calls my name, to His coming into my life, to His constant knocking (Rev 3:20)? What choices do I make?
d) "It is the Spirit that gives life.” However, do I allow myself to be led like Mary (Lk 1:38) and Simeon (Lk 2:27), do I allow the Lord to take me where He wills, where He waits for me, or do I always want to decide for myself the direction of my life?
e) Do I answer Jesus' personal invitation "Come to Me! Come and follow Me!" every day, every moment, in the most diverse situations of my life, in various circumstances, in the presence of others? To whom do I go? Where do I turn to? Whose footsteps am I following?

5. A key to the reading

I ask the Scriptures to be my guide, to enlighten each step, each movement, because I wish to go to Jesus. I use the verbs He uses, the expressions He repeats, the silence of the unsaid words, to reveal to me the way… to find Him and not someone else.

• The Word of the Lord and the love relationship with it

In this passage, John presents the Word of the Lord as a meeting point, the holy place for an encounter with Him. I realize that this is the place of my decision, of ever deeper separations in my heart and in my conscience. I realize also that the Word is a person, it is the Lord Himself, present before me, given to me, open to me. The whole of the bible, page after page, is an invitation, sweet, yet at the same time strong, to meet the Word, to get to know the Promised One, the Bride who is really the Word that comes from the kiss of love from the mouth of the Lord. The meeting accorded is not superficial, empty, nor is it fleeting or sporadic, but intense, full, constant, uninterrupted, because it is like the meeting between the bride and groom. Thus does the Lord love me and give Himself to me. It is, therefore, important to listen carefully and lovingly so that not one word may be in vain (1 Sam 3:19); it is important to listen with the heart, with the soul (Ps 94:8; Bar 2:31); it is important to obey in practice for a lifetime (Mt 7:24-27; Jas 1:22-25); it is important to make a true and final decision that will choose the Word of the Lord even to making it my sister (Prov 7:1-4) or my bride to be taken into my home (Wis 8:2).

• Murmuring is closing one's heart

The theme of murmuring, of rebelling, shakes me up and creates a crisis in me; when I read the bible, even when I just recall it, I realize that murmuring against the Lord and His actions in our lives is the most terrible and destructive thing that could possibly live in my heart, because it takes me away from Him, it separates me strongly and makes me blind, deaf and insensitive. It makes me say that He does not exist while all the time He is very near; that He hates me when He loves me with an eternal and faithful love (Deut 1:27)! It is the greatest and most profound foolishness! In Exodus, Numbers and the Psalms, I come across a people of God that weeps, complains, gets angry, murmurs, closes itself, rebels, turns away (Ex 16:7ff; Num 14:2; 17:20ff; Ps 105:25); a hopeless, lifeless people. I understand that this kind of situation comes about when there is no longer dialogue with the Lord, when the contract with Him is broken, when, instead of listening to Him and asking questions of Him, there is only murmuring, a kind of continuous droning in the soul, in the mind, that makes me say, "Can God supply food in the desert?" (Ps 77:19). If I murmur against my Father, if I stop believing in His love for me, in His tenderness, that He showers me with every good thing, I am lifeless, I am without nourishment for the everyday journey. Or if I get angry, if I become jealous because He is good and gives His love to all, without reserve, and I act like the Pharisees (Lk 15:2; 19:7), then I am entirely alone and besides no longer being His child I am no longer even brother or sister of anyone. In fact, there is a close relationship between murmuring against God and murmuring against brothers and sisters (Phil 2:14; 1 Pt 4:9). I learn all this when I follow the trail of this word…

• The Gift of the Son of Man: the Holy Spirit

It seems that I see a road full of light, traced by the Lord Jesus and almost hidden in these verses that are so compact and overflowing in spiritual richness. The starting point lies in a true and deep listening to His words and in welcoming them. From here we pass on to the purification of the heart, which from a heart of stone, hard and closed, becomes, through the tenderness of the Father, a heart of flesh, soft, a heart that He can hurt, mold, take into His hands and hold tight, as a gift. Yes, all this is accomplished by the words of Jesus when they come to me and enter into me. It is only thus that I can continue on my journey, overcoming murmurings and scandal, until I am able to see Jesus with new eyes, eyes renewed by the Word, eyes that do not rest on superficial things, on the hardness of the rind, but eyes that learn, every day a little more, to go beyond and to look on high. "Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending where He was before?" (v. 62). This is the welcoming of the Spirit, gift of the Risen One, gift of the One who ascended at the right hand of the Father, gift from on high, perfect gift (Jas 1:17). He had said, "When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to Me" (Jn 12:32) and He draws me with the Spirit, He makes me His own with the Spirit, He sends me in the Spirit (Jn 20:21), He strengthens me thanks to the Spirit (Acts 1:8). If I take a long look at the pages of the Gospels, I can see how the Spirit of the Lord is the strength that dwells in each person, each reality, because He is the eternal love of the Father, the very life of God in us. I pay attention and dwell on the verbs and the expressions used, on the words that follow and enlighten each other, enriching each other. I feel that I am really immersed in living waters that gush and gurgle. I feel that I receive a new baptism and I thank the Lord with my whole heart. "He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire" (Mt 3:11), so cries John and, as I read, this Word comes true in me, inside me, in my whole being. I feel the Spirit speaking in me (Mt 10:20); who, with His power, drives away from me the spirit of evil (Mt 12:28); who fills me, as He did Jesus (Lk 4:1), John the Baptist (Lk 1:15), the Virgin Mary (Lk 1:28,35), Elizabeth (Lk 1:41), Zachary (Lk 1:67), Simeon (Lk 2:26), the disciples (Acts 2:4), Peter (Acts 4: 8) and so many others. I feel and meet the Spirit who teaches me what to say (Lk 12:10); who really gives new birth to me so that I may never die (Jn 3:5); who teaches me all things and reminds me of all that Jesus said (Jn 14:26); who guides me towards truth (Jn 16:13); who gives me strength to witness to the Lord Jesus (Acts 1:8), to His love for me and for everyone.

• The struggle of faith: in the Father or in the evil one?

This passage of John's Gospel challenges us to a great struggle, a hand-to-hand fight between the spirit and the flesh, between the wisdom of God and human reason, between Jesus and the world. I can see that Job was right when he said that human life on earth is a time of temptation and a struggle (Job 7:1), because I too experience the Evil One who tries to discourage me by creating doubts concerning the divine promises and urging me to turn away from Jesus. He would like to send me away, tries by every means to harden my heart, to close me, to break my faith, my love. I hear him roaming around like a roaring lion seeking whom to devour (1 Pt 5:8), like a tempter, a creator of divisions, an accuser, like a scoffer mocking and repeating all the time: "Where is the promise of His coming?" (2 Pt 3:3f). I know that it is only with the arms of faith that I can win (Eph 6:10-20; 2 Cor 10:3-5), only in the strength that comes to me from the words of my Father; hence I choose them, love them, study them, scrutinize them, learn them by heart, repeat them and say, "Even if a whole army surrounds me, I will not be afraid; even if enemies attack me, I will still trust in God!" (Ps 26:3).

• Profession of faith in Jesus, Son of God

The appearance of Simon Peter at the end of this passage is like a pearl set on a precious jewel, because it is he who proclaims truth, light and salvation through his profession of faith. I gather other passages from the Gospels, other professions of faith that help my incredulity, because I too wish to believe and then know. I too wish to believe and be firm (Isa 7:9): Mt 16:16; Mk 8:29; Lk 9:20; Jn 11:27).

6. A moment of silent prayer: Psalm 18

A hymn of praise to the Word of the Lord,
who gives wisdom and joy to the heart

The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple;
the precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure,
enlightening the eyes.

Ref. Lord, You have the words of eternal life!

The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever;
the ordinances of the Lord are true
and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.
Moreover by them is thy servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.

Ref. Lord, You have the words of eternal life!

But who can discern his errors?
Cleanse me from hidden faults.
Keep back Thy servant also from presumptuous sins;
let them not have dominion over me!
Then I shall be blameless,
and innocent of great transgression.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord,
my Rock and my Redeemer.

Ref. Lord, You have the words of eternal life!

7. Closing prayer

Lord, thank You for Your words that have re-awakened in me spirit and life; thank You because You speak and creation goes on. You overwhelm me. You still print Your image in me, Your unique likeness. Thank You because, lovingly and patiently, You wait for me even when I murmur, when I allow myself to be scandalized, when I fall into incredulity or when I turn my back to You. Forgive me, Lord, for all these faults and continue to heal me, to make me strong and happy in following You, You alone! Lord, You ascended to where You were before, but You are still with us and do not cease to draw each one of us to You. Draw me, Lord, and I shall run, because I have truly believed and known that You are the Holy One of God! But, please Lord, when I run to You, let me not run alone, let me be always open to the companionship of my brothers and sisters; and together with them I shall find You and shall be Your disciple all the days of my life. Amen.

On the 25th of May, the Prior General led the celebration of the Eucharist for the feast of St. Mary Magdalen de’Pazzi at the Hermitage of Santa Maria degli Angeli, in Scandicci (Florence). This monastery was founded n 1987 in the hills opposite where Careggi is situated where the remains of the saint are kept. The Mass, and the banquet afterwards, took place in a festive and fraternal setting. Along with the Prior General, there was a number of Carmelites and three postulants from the Italian province present.

What is pure and what is impure
Jesus fulfills people’s desires: to live in peace with God
Mark 7:1-8,14-15,21-23

1. Opening prayer

Lord Jesus, send Your Spirit to help us to read the Scriptures with the same mind that You read them to the disciples on the way to Emmaus. In the light of the Word, written in the Bible, You helped them to discover the presence of God in the disturbing events of Your sentence and death. Thus, the cross that seemed to be the end of all hope became for them the source of life and of resurrection.
Create in us silence so that we may listen to Your voice in creation and in the scriptures, in events and in people, above all in the poor and suffering. May Your word guide us so that we too, like the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, may experience the force of Your resurrection and witness to others that You are alive in our midst as source of fraternity, justice and peace. We ask this of You, Jesus, son of Mary, who revealed to us the Father and sent us Your Spirit. Amen.

2. Reading

a) A key to the reading:

● The Gospel of the 22^nd Sunday of Ordinary Time describes the religious customs of Jesus’ time, speaks of the Pharisees who taught the people these practices and customs and of Jesus’ teaching concerning this matter. Many of these practices and customs had lost their meaning and made people’s lives difficult. The Pharisees saw sin in everything and threatened with punishment in hell! For instance, to eat without washing one’s hands was considered a sin. But these practices and customs continued to be passed down and taught from fear or from superstition. Do you know of any present religious practice that has lost its meaning but which is still being taught? In our reading of the text we shall try to look at Jesus’ attitude concerning what He says about the Pharisees and what He teaches concerning the religious practices taught by the Pharisees.

● The text of this Sunday’s liturgy presents some verses and leaves out other verses to shorten the text and make it more understandable. For the sake of completeness, we use the whole text and offer comments also on the verses omitted from the liturgy. The parts omitted in the liturgy are in italics.

b) A division of the text to help with the reading:

Mark 7:1-2: The attack of the Pharisees and the freedom of the disciples
Mark 7:3-4: Mark’s explanation of the Tradition of the Elders
Mark 7:5: The Scribes and Pharisees criticize the behavior of the disciples of Jesus
Mark 7:6-8: Jesus’ strong reply concerning the incoherence of the Pharisees
Mark 7:9-13: A concrete example of how the Pharisees empty God’s commandment of any meaning
Mark 7:14-16: Jesus’ explanation to the people: a new way to God
Mark 7:17-23: Jesus’ explanation to his disciples

3. Text:

Now when the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands. (For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews, do not eat without carefully washing their hands, keeping the tradition of the elders. And on coming from the marketplace they do not eat without purifying themselves. And there are many other things that they have traditionally observed, the purification of cups and jugs and kettles (and beds).) So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him, "Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?" He responded, "Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written: 'This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts.'  You disregard God's commandment but cling to human tradition."  He went on to say, "How well you have set aside the commandment of God in order to uphold your tradition!  For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and 'Whoever curses father or mother shall die.'  Yet you say, 'If a person says to father or mother, "Any support you might have had from me is qorban"' (meaning, dedicated to God),  you allow him to do nothing more for his father or mother. You nullify the word of God in favor of your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many such things."  He summoned the crowd again and said to them, "Hear me, all of you, and understand.  Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile." )  When he got home away from the crowd his disciples questioned him about the parable.  He said to them, "Are even you likewise without understanding? Do you not realize that everything that goes into a person from outside cannot defile,  since it enters not the heart but the stomach and passes out into the latrine?" (Thus he declared all foods clean.) "But what comes out of a person, that is what defiles. From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder,  adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.  All these evils come from within and they defile."

3. A moment of prayerful silence

so that the Word of God may penetrate and enlighten our life.

4. Some questions

to help us in our personal reflection.

a) What pleased or touched you most in this text? Why?
b) According to the text, what were the practices that the Pharisees taught the people? For what does Jesus criticize the Pharisees?
c) In this text, what is the new way that Jesus shows the people to reach God?
d) In the name of the “tradition of the elders” they do not observe the Commandment of God. Does this happen today? Where? When?
e) The Pharisees were practicing Jews, but their faith was divorced from the lives of the people. Jesus criticizes them for this. Would Jesus criticize us today? Why?

5. For those who wish to go deeper into the theme

a) The context of then and of today:

i) In this lectio let us take a close look at Jesus’ attitude concerning the question of purity. Mark had already mentioned this matter. In Mk 1:23-28, Jesus drives an impure devil away. In Mk 1:40-45, He heals a leper. In Mk 5:25-34, He heals a woman considered impure. On many other occasions, Jesus touches those physically sick without fear of becoming impure. Here, in chapter 7, Jesus helps people and His disciples to deepen the idea of purity and the laws on purity.

ii) For centuries, in order for the Jews not to contract impurity, contact with pagans and eating with them was forbidden. In the 70’s, when Mark was writing his Gospel, some converted Jews said, “Now that we are Christians we must leave behind old practices that keep us apart from converted pagans!” But other converted Jews thought they had to continue to observe the laws concerning purity. Jesus’ attitude, as described in today’s Gospel, helps to overcome this problem.

b) A commentary on the text:

Mark 7:1-2: The control of the Pharisees and the freedom of the disciples
The Pharisees and some Scribes who were in Jerusalem watch Jesus’ disciples eating bread with impure hands. There are three points worth noting: (i) The Scribes are from Jerusalem, the capital! This means that they had come to observe and control Jesus’ actions. (ii) The disciples do not wash their hands before eating! This means that their living with Jesus gives them the courage to transgress the norms imposed by tradition and that they had a feeling for life. (iii) The practice of washing hands, which to this day is an important hygienic matter, had acquired a religious meaning that served to control and discriminate against people.

Mark 7:3-4: Mark’s explanation concerning the tradition of the elders
“The tradition of the elders” passed on the norms to be observed by people so as to achieve the purity required by law. The observance of purity was considered a very serious matter. They thought that an impure person could not receive the blessing promised by God to Abraham. The norms concerning purity were taught in such a way that when people observed them, they could follow the road to God, source of peace. However, rather than being a source of peace, these norms were chains, a form of slavery. It was practically impossible for the poor to observe these norms and laws. Thus, the poor were despised and considered ignorant and cursed people who did not know the law (Jn 7:49).

Mark 7:5: The Scribes and Pharisees criticize the behavior of Jesus’ disciples
The Scribes and Pharisees ask Jesus, “Why do your disciples not respect the tradition of the elders but eat their food with unclean hands?” They pretend to be interested in knowing the reason for the behavior of the disciples. In fact, they are criticizing Jesus for allowing His disciples to transgress the norms concerning purity. The scribes and doctors of the law were the guardians of doctrine. They dedicated their lives to the study of the Law of God and taught people how to observe completely the Law of God, especially the norms concerning purity. The Pharisees were a kind of fraternity, whose main preoccupation was to observe all the laws concerning purity. The word Pharisee means set apart. They endeavored  that, by the perfect observance of the laws concerning purity, people would become pure, set apart and holy as the Laws of the tradition required! Because of the exemplary witness of their lives in following the laws of the times, they wielded great authority in the villages of Galilee.

Mark 7:6-8: Jesus’ strong reply concerning the Pharisees’ lack of consistence
Jesus replies quoting Isaiah: This people honors me only with lip-service, while their hearts are far from me. Their reverence of me is worthless; the lessons they teach are nothing but human commandments. You put aside the commandment of God to observe human traditions (Is 29:13). By insisting on the norms concerning purity, the Pharisees had emptied the commandments of the law of God of all relevance. Jesus immediately gives a concrete example of how they render the commandment of God insignificant.

Mark 7:9-13: A concrete example of how the Pharisees render the commandment of God inconsistent
The “tradition of the elders” taught that a son who dedicates his possessions to the temple, may not use these possessions to help his parents in need. Thus, in the name of tradition, they rendered negligible the fourth commandment to love father and mother. There still are such people today. They seem to be observant, but only externally. Internally, their heart is far from God! As one of our hymns says, “His name is Jesus Christ and He is hungry, He lives by the side of the road. And when people see Him, they move on to get to church quickly!” In Jesus’ days, people, in their wisdom, did not agree with all that they were taught. They hoped that one day the Messiah would come to show them some other way to be pure. This hope comes to pass in Jesus.

Mark 7:14-16: Jesus explains to the people: a new way to reach God
Jesus says to the crowd, “Nothing that goes into someone from outside can make that person unclean!” (Mk 7:15). Jesus reverses things: that which is impure does not come from the outside to the inside, as the doctors of the law taught, but from the inside to the outside. Thus, no one need ask any more whether this food or this drink is pure or not. Jesus places the question of purity and impurity on a higher level, on the level of ethical behavior. He shows a way to God and, thus, fulfills the deepest desire of the crowd. Jesus ends His explanation with an expression that He likes to use: Anyone who has ears for listening should listen! Or: “That’s it! You have heard Me! Now try to understand!” In other words, use your heads and common sense and look at things through your experience of life.

Mark 7:17-23: Jesus’ explanation to His disciples
The disciples did not understand what Jesus meant. When they went home they asked Him for an explanation. Jesus was astounded. He thought that they had understood. In His explanation He goes deep into the question concerning purity. He declares all food pure! No food that goes into a human being from the outside can make him impure, because it does not enter the heart but only the stomach and then goes into the sewer. That which makes a person impure, says Jesus, is what comes from the inside, from the heart, and that poisons human relationships. Then He mentions “fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, pride, folly.” Thus, in many ways, by means of word, action or living together, Jesus helped people to be pure. By means of the word, He healed lepers (Mk 1:40-44), drove out impure spirits (Mk 1:26,39; 3:15,22; etc.) and overcame death, source of all impurity. By means of action, the woman excluded and considered impure is healed (Mk 5:25-34). By means of living with Jesus, the disciples have the courage to imitate Jesus who, without any fear of contamination, ate with people who were considered impure (Mk 2:15-17).

c) Further information:

The laws concerning purity and impurity in Jesus’ days

The people then were greatly concerned with purity. The norms concerning purity pointed to the necessary conditions for coming into the presence of God and for feeling right before Him. One could not go before God in any old way. Because God is Holy! The Law said: “Be holy, for I, Yahweh your God, am holy!” (Lev 19:2). Anyone who was not pure could not appear before God to receive the blessing promised to Abraham.
For us to understand the seriousness of these laws concerning purity, we may remember what used to happen in our Church fifty years ago. Before the Second Vatican Council, to go to communion in the morning, people had to fast from midnight. Anyone who went to communion without fasting committed a mortal sin called sacrilege. We thought that a little food or drink made us impure to receive the consecrated host.
In Jesus’ times too there were many matters and activities that made a person impure and therefore not possible to come before God: touching a leper, eating with a publican, eating without washing one’s hands, touching blood or a dead body and many other things. All these things made a person impure, and any contact with that person contaminated others. That is why “impure” people had to be avoided. People lived apart, always threatened by so many impure things that threatened their lives. All were afraid of everyone and everything.
Now, with the coming of Jesus, suddenly everything changes! By believing in Jesus, it was possible to achieve purity and feel good before God without having to observe all the laws and norms of the “tradition of the elders.” It was a real and personal liberation! The Good News proclaimed by Jesus released people from a defensive attitude and restored to them the taste for life, the joy of being children of God, without fear of being happy!

6. Praying Psalm 24 (23)

Who can climb the mountain of God!

To Yahweh belong the earth and all it contains,
the world and all who live there;
it is He who laid its foundations on the seas,
on the flowing waters fixed it firm.

Who shall go up to the mountain of Yahweh?
Who shall take a stand in His holy place?
The clean of hands and pure of heart,
whose heart is not set on vanities,
who does not swear an oath in order to deceive.
Such a one will receive blessing from Yahweh,
saving justice from the God of His salvation.
Such is the people that seeks Him,
that seeks Your presence, God of Jacob.

Gates, lift high your heads,
raise high the ancient gateways,
and the king of glory shall enter!
Who is He, this king of glory?
It is Yahweh, strong and valiant,
Yahweh valiant in battle.
Gates, lift high your heads,
raise high the ancient gateways,
and the king of glory shall enter!
Who is He, this king of glory?
Yahweh Sabaoth, He is the king of glory.

7. Final Prayer

Lord Jesus, we thank You for the word that has enabled us to understand better the will of the Father. May Your Spirit enlighten our actions and grant us the strength to practice that which Your Word has revealed to us. May we, like Mary, Your mother, not only listen to but also practice the Word. You who live and reign with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.

by Sr. Mary Theodore Therese, O.Carm.

When Our Lord, Jesus Christ, turned water into wine at the wedding feast at Cana, the headwaiter said, "...you have kept the best wine until now." That's how I feel about my life here in Carmel at Our Lady of Grace Monastery. God has blessed us exceedingly with his merciful love, grace and compassion to be able to live lives of consecrated devotion to Christ and our Blessed Virgin Mary in service of the Church and all humanity.

Simply, it's a miracle that I am here! It is the realization of the grace God planted in me at the moment of my childhood conversion at the Billy Graham Crusade in Indianapolis, Indiana, when my devout parents took my older sister and me along with them to hear Billy Graham preach. I was about seven years old and was so deeply moved by what I heard that I was ready, "to do whatever He tells you."

I will always be extremely grateful and indebted to my parents, Ralph and Catherine McWilliams, for their great love for God and the conscious living of their Christian faith. Their witness in sacrifice and love still lives on in my heart, shaping and influencing my path. In hindsight, I can now see how each twist and turn in my life was creating an important piece of this sacred puzzle that is still continuing to be shaped, formed and fitted together according to God's will and grace.

One such turn was becoming the caregiver of my mom which meant moving back to Indianapolis, and leaving my job in New York. I was taking a huge, frightful leap into the unknown. As it turned out, it became the most important "leap" that paved the way to the Catholic Church and to Carmel. By being in Indianapolis, I ended up with a firm which on a long-term project brought me to Austin, Texas.

One huge factor in my Catholic conversion was my love for Blessed John Paul II and his insistent call to holiness. In the spring of 2005 when Pope John Paul became ill for the last time, I was devastated and daily watched, prayed and cried along with the rest of the world
out of gratitude for all he meant to us.

I entered Austin's Saint Mary Cathedral for the first time to attend the Pope's funeral via satellite TV immediately it seems that a connection was made between me and the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, shrouded in darkness nearby. At first, I thought it was my imagination yet the feeling of her warmth and compassion was very real. I found myself returning often to the Cathedral for Mass services. Within the year, I began attending their RCIA class and came into the Church Easter, 2006. Several weeks later, I saw a flyer for a vocation retreat. Calling to get information, I found out about the First Profession of Vows for a Carmelite Nun that was to take place in Christoval, Texas. I was invited to attend. Rounding that corner and seeing the beautiful steeple of this holy place rise up out of God's earth as if it had been hidden for all time, I instantaneously knew that this was the place I have been searching for all my life!

Bishop Michael Pfeifer, O.M.I., was there. After the ceremony, he greeted me with such joyful liveliness, I felt right at home. Shortly thereafter, I visited again and to my surprise, the Bishop had come for a visit as well. I felt it was a confirmation from God that this is where he wanted me to be.

Still, it took a lot of discernment and questions to myself like "Have you completely lost your mind? After all you've worked for in life, you're going to give it up to become a nun?" Then the childhood memories came flooding back. The times when I told my Dad that I wanted to be a nun—and we weren't even Catholic! Where did that thought come from? How God works his wonders in us from the very beginning without our being aware!
Since I was a new convert, I was asked to wait at least two years and I am thankful I did. The Catholic faith is such a rich and deep treasure that those few years gave me more time to develop a greater hunger for the Word of God and to experience life as a Catholic.

Carmel! The Garden of God—the deep well of refreshment in His Presence, the challenge to open one's heart and surrender to his will and design.

Carmel, the desert—often barren and arid where only faith and hope provide deep roots as one waits to see his face.

Carmel, the wellspring of the great saints who tell us to trust, to trust and to wait, that God is ever-present beyond our deepest sensing and closer to us than our own breath.

Carmel, the place of true community and service so that not only we but all humanity can feed from the love of God that "has been poured into our souls by the Holy Spirit that has been given to us."

In summary, I am becoming a cloistered Carmelite nun so that, in poverty, I can become rich in grace; in obedience, attain true freedom; and in chastity, perfect purity of heart so that I can try to show God with this great love that he has given me how much I love him by living for him alone and serving and loving his people and his Church!

* Carmelite Preview  Fall 2011/Winter 2012

The healing of the deaf and dumb.
Jesus gives back to the people the gift of speech.
Mark 7:31-37

1. Opening prayer

Lord Jesus, send Your Spirit to help us to read the Scriptures with the same mind that You read them to the disciples on the way to Emmaus. In the light of the Word, written in the Bible, You helped them to discover the presence of God in the disturbing events of Your sentence and death. Thus, the cross that seemed to be the end of all hope became for them the source of life and of resurrection.
Create in us silence so that we may listen to Your voice in Creation and in the Scriptures, in events and in people, above all in the poor and suffering. May Your word guide us so that we too, like the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, may experience the force of Your resurrection and witness to others that You are alive in our midst as source of fraternity, justice and peace. We ask this of You, Jesus, son of Mary, who revealed to us the Father and sent us Your Spirit. Amen.

2. Reading

a) A key to the reading:

This Sunday’s liturgy shows us Jesus healing a deaf and dumb person in the land of the Decapolis and praised by the people thus: “He has done all things well; He even makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak!“ This praise is inspired by some passages in Isaiah (Is 29:8-19; 35:5-6; 42:7) and shows that the people saw in Jesus the coming of the messianic times. Jesus Himself had used this same expression in reply to the disciples of John: “Go back and tell John what you hear and see: the blind see again, and … the deaf hear” (Mt 11:4-5).
The early Christians used the bible to clarify and interpret the actions and attitudes of Jesus. They did this in order to express their faith that Jesus was the Messiah, the One who was to fulfill the promise, and so as to be able to understand better what Jesus did and said during those few years that He spent in their midst in Palestine.

b) A division of the text as an aid to the reading:

Mark 7:31:
a geographical description: Jesus is somewhere outside Judea.
Mark 7:32:
the man’s condition: deaf and dumb.
Mark 7:33-34: Jesus’ movements in healing the man.
Mark 7:35: the result of the healing action of Jesus.
Mark 7:36: the recommendation of silence is not obeyed.
Mark 7:37: the praise of the people.

c) The text:

Again Jesus left the district of Tyre and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, into the district of the Decapolis. And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him off by himself away from the crowd. He put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, “Ephphatha!”— that is, “Be opened!” — And immediately the man’s ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly. He ordered them not to tell anyone. But the more he ordered them not to, the more they proclaimed it. They were exceedingly astonished and they said, “He has done all things well. He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

3. A moment of prayerful silence

so that the Word of God may penetrate and enlighten our life.

4. Some questions

to help us in our personal reflection.

a) What is the attitude of Jesus towards the deaf and dumb person and towards the people? How do you understand the actions of Jesus: He places His finger in the man’s ears and with His saliva touches the man’s tongue, then, looking up to heaven, he sighs and says, “Ephphatha”?
b) How can we understand Jesus’ concern for taking the man away from the crowd?
c) Why does Jesus forbid the spreading of the news? How do we understand the people’s disobedience of Jesus’ command?
d) What other New Testament and Old Testament texts are connoted or form the basis of this text?

5. Further information on Mark’s Gospel

Mark 7:31: Jesus in the land of the Decapolis
The episode of the healing of the deaf and dumb man is little known. Mark does not state clearly where Jesus is. It is understood that He is somewhere outside Palestine, in the land of the pagans, across a region called Decapolis. Decapolis literally means Ten Cities. This was, in fact, a region of ten cities, southeast of Galilee, where people were pagan and influenced by Greek culture.

Mark 7:32: They brought Him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech.
Even though He is not in His native land, Jesus is known as someone who heals the sick. Thus, the people bring Him a deaf man who has difficulty with his speech. This is someone who cannot communicate with others. He reflects many who today live as a mass in large cities in complete solitude, without the possibility of any communication.

Mark 7:33-34: A different kind of healing
The manner of healing is different. The people thought that Jesus would simply place His hands on the sick person. But Jesus goes beyond their request and takes the man away from the crowd, places His finger in the man’s ears and with His spittle touches the man’s tongue, then looking up to heaven sighs deeply and says, “Ephphatha,” which means “Be opened!” The finger in the ear recalls the magicians’ exclamation in Egypt: “This is the finger of God!”(Ex 8:15) and also the expression of the Psalmist: “You…opened my ear!” (Ps 40:7). The touching of the tongue with spittle gives back the faculty of speech. In those days, people thought that spittle had medicinal value. Looking up to heaven says that the healing is from God. The sigh is an attitude of supplication.

Mark 7:35: The result of the healing
All at once, the deaf man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosed, and the man began to speak correctly. Jesus desires that people might open their ears and loosen their tongues! Today too! In many places, because of an authoritarian attitude on the part of religious powers, people have been silenced and do not speak. It is very important that people regain the power of speech within the Church in order to express their experience of God and thus enrich all, including the clergy.

Mark 7:36: Jesus does not want any publicity
Jesus commands that no one talk about what took place. However, there is an exaggerated importance attached to Mark’s Gospel’s prohibition to spread the news of the healing, as if Jesus had a secret that had to be kept. In fact, sometimes Jesus tells people not to spread news of a healing (Mk 1:44; 5:43; 7:36; 8:26). He asks for silence, but gets the opposite effect. The more He forbids, the more the Good News is spread (Mk 1:28.45; 3:7-8; 7:36-37). On the other hand,  in most cases Jesus did not ask for silence concerning a miracle. Once He even asked for publicity (Mk 5:19). 

Mark 7:37: The praise of the people
All were in admiration and said, “He has done all things well!” (Mk 7:37). This statement recalls the creation: “God saw all He had made, and indeed it was very good!” (Gen 1:31). In spite of the prohibition, those who had witnessed the healing began to proclaim what they had seen, expressing the Good News in the brief form: “He has done all things well!” It is useless to prohibit them from talking. The inner power of the Good News is such that it spreads itself! Whoever has experienced Jesus has to tell others, whether s/he likes it or not!

ii) Information on the internal divisions of Mark’s Gospel

1st Key: Mark’s Gospel was written to be read and listened to in community.
When one reads a book alone, one can always stop and go back so as to connect one thing with another. But when one is in community and someone else out in front is reading the Gospel, one cannot shout, “Stop! Read that again! I did not understand it well!” For a book to be listened to in community celebrations, it must be divided differently from other books meant for personal reading.

2nd Key: Mark’s Gospel is a narrative.
A narrative is like a river. Going down a river in a boat, one is not aware of divisions in the water. The river has no divisions. It is a single flow, from beginning to end. The divisions are made on the banks, not in the river. For instance, one may say, “The beautiful part of the river that goes from that house on the bend up to the palm tree three bends down river.” But one does not see any division in the water itself. Mark’s narration flows like a river. Listeners come across divisions along its banks, that is, in the places where Jesus goes, in the people He meets, in the streets He walks down. These marginal indications help listeners not to get lost in the midst of so many words and actions of Jesus and concerning Jesus. The geographical setting helps the reader to walk along with Jesus, step by step, from Galilee to Jerusalem, from the lake to Calvary.

3rd Key: Mark’s Gospel was written in order to be read all in one go.
That is how the Jews read the small books of the Old Testament. For instance, on the eve of Easter, they read the complete Canticle of Canticles. Some scholars are of the opinion that Mark’s Gospel was written to be read in its entirety on the eve of Easter. Now, so that the listeners might not get tired, the reading has to have divisions, pauses. When a narrative is long, such as is Mark’s Gospel, the reading needs to be interrupted from time to time. There must be some pauses. Otherwise, the listeners get lost. The author of the narrative provided for these pauses. These were marked by summaries between one long reading and the next. These summaries were like hinges that gathered what was read before and opened the way to what was to come. They allow the narrator to stop and start again without interrupting the flow of the narrative. They help the listeners to take their bearing within the river of the flowing narrative. Mark’s Gospel has several of these pauses that allow us to discover and follow the course of the Good News of God that Jesus revealed and that Mark narrates. In all there are six longer blocks of readings, interspersed with summaries or hinges, where it is possible to take a small pause.
Base on these three keys, we now present a division of Mark’s Gospel. Others divide this Gospel in different ways. Each way has its distinctive character and its value. The value of any division is that it opens several ways of going into the text, of helping us to discover something about the Good News of God and to discern how Jesus opens a way for us to God and neighbor.

Introduction: Mk 1:1-13: Beginning of the Good News
Preparing the proclamation
Summary: 1:14-15

1^st reading: Mk 1:16-3:16: Growth of the Good News
Conflict appears
Summary: 3:7-12

2^nd reading: Mk 3:13-6:6: Growth of the conflict
The Mystery appears
Summary: 6:7-13

3^rd reading: Mk 6:14-8:21: Growth of the Mystery
Misunderstanding appears
Summary: 8:22-26

4th reading: Mk 8:27-10:45: Growth of the misunderstanding
The dark light of the Cross appears
Summary: 10:46-52

5^th reading: Mk 11:1-13:32: Growth of the dark light of the Cross
Appearance of rupture and death
Summary: 13:33-37

6^th reading: Mk 14:1-15:39: Growth of the rupture and death
Victory over death appears
Summary: 15:40-41

Conclusion: Mk 15:42-16:20: Growth of the victory over death
Reappearance of the Good News.

In this division the headings are important. They point to where the Spirit is blowing, to the inspiration that runs through the whole Gospel. When an artist feels inspired, he tries to express this inspiration in a work of art. The poem or image that is the result carries within it this inspiration. Inspiration is like the electric power that runs invisibly through the wires and lights the lamps in our houses. So also, inspiration runs invisibly in the words of the poem or in the form of the image to reveal and light up within us a light equal or almost equal to that which shone in the artist. That is why works of art attract us so much. The same occurs when we read and meditate the Gospel of Mark. The same Spirit or Inspiration that moved Mark to write his text remains present in the thread of the words of his Gospel. By our attentive and prayerful reading of his Gospel, this Spirit begins to act and operate within us. Thus, gradually, we discover the face of God revealed in Jesus and that Mark communicates to us in his book.

6. Psalm 131

Filial surrender

O Lord, my heart is not lifted up,
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things too
great and too marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a child quieted at its mother's breast;
like a child that is quieted is my soul.
O Israel, hope in the Lord from this
time forth and forevermore.

7. Final Prayer

Lord Jesus, we thank You for the word that has enabled us to understand better the will of the Father. May Your Spirit enlighten our actions and grant us the strength to practice what Your Word has revealed to us. May we, like Mary, Your mother, not only listen to but also practice the Word, You who live and reign with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.

We invite you to share your experience when you visit this website. This could be an inspiration from Our Lady of Mount Carmel, The Scapular, Our Saints of Carmel, a Carmelite friar, cloistered nun or sister that you may know, or an article in this website. We also welcome your comment and suggestion so that this website can serve you better.

God bless

Carmelite Communication Office

www.ocarm.org

How to follow Jesus
Care of the Disciples, healing of the Blind
Mark 8: 27-35

1. Opening prayer

Lord Jesus, send Your Spirit to help us to read the Scriptures with the same mind that you read them to the disciples on the way to Emmaus. In the light of the Word, written in the Bible, You helped them to discover the presence of God in the disturbing events of Your sentence and death. Thus, the cross that seemed to be the end of all hope became for them the source of life and of resurrection.
Create in us silence so that we may listen to Your voice in Creation and in the Scriptures, in events and in people, above all in the poor and suffering. May Your word guide us so that we too, like the two disciples from Emmaus, may experience the force of Your resurrection and witness to others that You are alive in our midst as source of fraternity, justice and peace. We ask this of You, Jesus, son of Mary, who revealed to us the Father and sent us Your Spirit. Amen.

2. Reading

a) A key to the reading:

The text of the Gospel of this 24^th Sunday of ordinary time presents the first announcement of the Passion and death of Jesus, to the disciples, Peter trying to eliminate the Cross and the teaching of Jesus concerning the consequences of the Cross for those who wish to be His disciples. Peter does not understand the proposal of Jesus concerning the Cross and suffering. He accepted Jesus as Messiah, not as a suffering Messiah. Peter was conditioned by the propaganda of the government of that time which spoke of the Messiah only in terms of a glorious king. Peter seemed to be blind. He could not see anything and wished that Jesus could be like him, Peter desired and imagined. Today we all believe in Jesus. But all of us do not understand him in the same way. Who is Jesus for me? Today, which is the most common image of Jesus that people have? Today, is there a propaganda that tries to interfere in our way of seeing Jesus? Who am I for Jesus?

b) A division of the text to help in the reading:

Mark 8:27-28: The question of Jesus concerning the opinion of the people and the response of the Disciples
Mark 8:29-30: The question of Jesus and the opinion of his Disciples
Mark 8:31-32ª: The first announcement of the Passion and death
Mark 8:32b-33: The conversation between Jesus and Peter
Mark 8:34-35: The conditions to follow Jesus

c) The text:

Jesus and his disciples set out for the villages of Caesarea Philippi. Along the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" They said in reply, "John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others one of the prophets." And he asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter said to him in reply, "You are the Christ." Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him. He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days. He spoke this openly. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples, rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do." He summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them, "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it."

3. A moment of prayerful silence

so that the Word of God may penetrate and enlighten our life.

4. Some questions

to help us in our personal reflection.

a) Which point in this text pleased you the most or what struck you the most? Why?
b) What is the opinion of the people and of Peter on Jesus? Why do Peter and the people think in this way?
c) What is the relationship between the healing of the blind man, described before (Mk 8:22-26) and the conversation of Jesus with Peter and the other Disciples?
d) What does Jesus ask from those who want to follow Him?
e) What prevents us today from recognizing and assuming the work of Jesus?

5. For those who wish to deepen more on the theme

a) Context of yesterday and of today:

i) In the text of Mark 8:27 the long instruction of Jesus to His disciples begins, and this goes on until the passage of Mark 10:45. At the beginning of this instruction as well as at the end of it, Mark places the healing of the blind man: Mark 8:22-26 and Mark 10:46-52. At the beginning the healing of the blind man was not easy and Jesus had to heal him in two stages. The healing of the blindness of the disciples was also difficult. Jesus had to give them a long explanation concerning the significance of the Cross in order to help them to see the reality, because it was the cross which brought about the blindness in them. At the end, the healing of the blind man Bartimaeus is the fruit of faith in Jesus. It suggests the ideal of the disciple: to believe in Jesus and to accept Him as He is, and not as I want or imagine.

ii) In the year 70, when Mark wrote, the situation of the communities was not easy. There was much suffering, many were the crosses. Six years before, in 64, Nero, the emperor had decreed the first great persecution, killing many Christians. In the year 70, in Palestine, Jerusalem, was about to be destroyed by the Romans. In other countries, a great tension between the converted Jews and the non converted was beginning. The greatest difficulty was the Cross of Jesus. The Jews thought that a crucified person could not be the Messiah greatly expected by the people, because the Law affirmed that anyone who had been crucified had to be considered as cursed by God (Dt 21:22-23).

b) Commentary on the text:

Mark 8:27-30. TO SEE: the discovery of reality
Jesus asks: “Whom do people say that I am?” They answer indicating the diverse opinions of the people: “John the Baptist”, “Elijah or one of the prophets”. After having heard the opinions of others , Jesus asks: “And you, whom do you say that I am?” Peter answers: “You are the Christ, the Messiah!” That is: “The Lord is the one whom the people are expecting!” Jesus agrees with Peter, but forbids to speak about this with the people. Why does Jesus forbid them this? Then, everyone was waiting for the coming of the Messiah, but each one in his own way, according to the class and the social position which he had: some expected Him to come as King, others as Priest. Doctor, Warrior, Judge or Prophet! Nobody seemed to wait for the Messiah as Servant, as announced by Isaiah (Is 42:1-9).

Mark 8:31-33. TO JUDGE: clarification of the situation: first announcement of the Passion
Jesus begins to teach that He is the Messiah Servant announced by Isaiah, and will be taken prisoner and be killed during the exercise of His mission of justice (Is 49:4-9; 53:1-12). Peter is filled with fear, he takes Jesus aside and tries to rebuke Him.
And Jesus responds to Peter: “Get behind Me, Satan! You are thinking not as God thinks, but as human beings do!” Peter thought he had given the right answer. And, in fact he says the just word: “You are the Christ!” But he does not give this word the right significance. Peter does not understand Jesus. He is like the blind man of Bethsaida. He interchanged the people with the trees! Jesus’ answer was very hard. He calls Peter Satan! Satan is a Hebrew word which means accuser, the one who withdraws others from the path of God. Jesus does not allow anyone to draw Him away from His mission. Literally, Jesus says: “Get behind Me!” That is, Peter has to go behind Jesus, has to follow Jesus and accept the way or direction which Jesus indicates. Peter wanted to be the first one and to indicate the direction. He wanted a Messiah according to his measure and according to his desire.

Mark 8:34-35. TO ACT: conditions to follow
Jesus draws conclusions which are still valid today: He who wants to follow Me, let him take up his cross and follow Me! At that time, the cross was the death sentence which the Roman Empire imposed to the marginalized. To take up the cross and to carry it following Jesus meant, then, to accept to be marginalized by the unjust system which legitimized injustice. It indicated a radical and total rupture. As Saint Paul says in the Letter to the Galatians: “But as for me, it is out of the question that I should boast at all, except of the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal 6:14). The Cross is not fatalism, nor is it an exigency from the Father. The Cross is the consequence of the commitment, freely assumed by Jesus to reveal the Good News that Jesus is Father and that, therefore, all have to be accepted and treated as brothers and sisters. Because of this revolutionary announcement, He was persecuted and He was not afraid to surrender His life. There is no proof of a greater love than to give one’s life for the brother.

c) Extending the information:

The instruction of Jesus to the Disciples

Between the two healings of the blind men (Mk 8:22-26 and Mark 10:46-52), is found the long instruction of Jesus to His Disciples, to help them to understand the significance of the Cross and its consequences for life (Mark 8:27 to 10:45). It seems to be a document, a certain type of catechism, made by Jesus Himself. It speaks about the cross in the life of the Disciple. It is a type of a schema of instruction:
Mk 8:22-26: Healing of a blind man
         Mk 8:277-38: 1^st announcement of the Passion
                   Mk 9:1-29: Instruction on the Messiah Servant
         Mk 9:30-37: 2^nd Announcement of the Passion
                   Mk 9:38 to 10, 31: Instructions on conversation
         Mk 10:32-45: 3^rd Announcement of the Passion
Mk 10:46-52: Healing of a blind man.

As we can see, the instruction is formed by three announcements of the Passion. The first one is in Mark 8:27-38, the second one in Mark 9:30-37 and the third one in Mark 10:32-45. Between the first one and the second one, there are a series of instructions to help them to understand that Jesus is the Messiah Servant (Mk 9:1-29). Between the second and the third one, a series of instructions which clarify the conversion which has to take place in the life of those who accept Jesus as Messiah Servant (Mk 9:38 to 10:31).

The background of the whole instruction is the road from Galilee to Jerusalem, from the lake to the cross. Jesus is on the way toward Jerusalem, where He will be put to death. From the beginning and up to the end of this instruction, Mark informs that Jesus is on the way toward Jerusalem (Mk 8:27; 9, 30.33; 10, 1, 17.32), where He will find the cross.

In each one of these three announcements, Jesus speaks about His Passion, Death and Resurrection as part of the project of Jesus: “The Son of man has to suffer grievously, and to be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and to be put to death, and after three days to rise again” (Mk 8:31; 9:31; 10:33). The expression has indicates that the cross had already been announced in the prophecies (cfr. Lk 24:26).

Each one of these three announcements of the Passion is accompanied by gestures or words of misunderstanding on the part of the disciples. In the first one, Peter does not want the cross and criticizes Jesus (Mk 8:32). In the second one, the disciples do not understand Jesus, they are afraid and wish to be greater (Mk 9:32-34). In the third one, they are afraid, they are apprehensive (Mk 10:32), and they seek promotions (Mk 10:35-37). And this because in the communities for which Mark writes his Gospel there were many persons like Peter: they did not want the cross! They were like the disciples: they did not understand the cross, they were afraid and wanted to be the greatest; they lived in fear and desired promotions. Each one of these three announcements gives them a word of orientation on the part of Jesus, criticizing the lack of understanding of the disciples and teaching how their behavior should be. Thus, in the first announcement, Jesus demands from those who wish to follow Him to carry the cross behind Him, to lose their life out of love for Him and for His Gospel, not to be ashamed of Him and of His word (Mk 8:34-38). In the second one He demands: to become the servant of all, to receive the children, the little ones, as if they were Jesus Himself (Mk 9:35-37). In the third one He demands: to drink the cup that He will drink, not to imitate the powerful who exploit the others, but to imitate the Son of Man who has not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life for the redemption of many (Mk 10:35-45).

The total understanding of the following of Jesus is not obtained from the theoretical instruction, but from the practical commitment, walking with Him along the way of service, from Galilee to Jerusalem. Those who insist in maintaining the idea of Peter, that is, of the glorious Messiah without the cross, will not understand and will not succeed in assuming an attitude of the true disciple. They will continue to be blind, interchanging people for trees (Mk 8:24). Because without the cross it is impossible to understand who Jesus is and what it means to follow Jesus.

The road of the following is the way of dedication, of abandonment, of service, of availability, of acceptance of conflict, knowing that there will be the resurrection. The cross is not an accident on the way, but forms part of the road. Because in the world, organized beginning with egoism, love and service can exist only in the crucified! The one who gives his life in the service of others, disturbs those who live attached to privileges and he suffers.

6. Prayer of Psalm 25 (24)

Show me Lord, Your ways!

Adoration I offer, Yahweh,
to You, my God.
But in my trust in You do not put me to shame,
let not my enemies gloat over me.
Calling to You, none shall ever be put to shame,
but shame is theirs who groundlessly break faith.
Direct me in Your ways,

Yahweh, and teach me Your paths.
Encourage me to walk in Your truth
and teach me since You are the God who saves me.
For my hope is in You all day long
-- such is Your generosity, Yahweh.

Goodness and faithful love have been Yours for ever, Yahweh,
do not forget them.
Hold not my youthful sins against me,
but remember me as Your faithful love dictates.

Integrity and generosity are marks of Yahweh
for He brings sinners back to the path.
Judiciously He guides the humble,
instructing the poor in His way.

Kindness unfailing and constancy mark all Yahweh's paths,
for those who keep His covenant and His decrees.
Let my sin, great though it is, be forgiven,
Yahweh, for the sake of Your name.

Men who respect Yahweh, what of them?
He teaches them the way they must choose.
Neighbors to happiness will they live,
and their children inherit the land.

Only those who fear Yahweh have His secret
and His covenant, for their understanding.
Permanently my eyes are on Yahweh,
for He will free my feet from the snare.

Quick, turn to me, pity me,
alone and wretched as I am!
Relieve the distress of my heart,
bring me out of my constraint.

Spake a glance for my misery and pain,
take all my sins away.
Take note how countless are my enemies,
how violent their hatred for me.

Unless You guard me and rescue me I shall be put to shame,
for You are my refuge.
Virtue and integrity be my protection,
for my hope, Yahweh, is in You.
Ransom Israel, O God,
from all its troubles.

7. Final Prayer

Lord Jesus, we thank You for the word that has enabled us to understand better the will of the Father. May Your Spirit enlighten our actions and grant us the strength to practice that which Your Word has revealed to us. May we, like Mary, Your mother, not only listen to but also practice the Word. You who live and reign with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.

The greatest in the Kingdom
Mark 9:30-41

1. Opening prayer

Lord Jesus, send Your Spirit to help us to read the Scriptures with the same mind that You read them to the disciples on the way to Emmaus. In the light of the Word, written in the Bible, You helped them to discover the presence of God in the disturbing events of Your sentence and death. Thus, the cross that seemed to be the end of all hope became for them the source of life and of resurrection.
Create in us silence so that we may listen to Your voice in Creation and in the Scriptures, in events and in people, above all in the poor and suffering. May Your word guide us so that we too, like the two disciples from Emmaus, may experience the force of Your resurrection and witness to others that You are alive in our midst as source of fraternity, justice and peace. We ask this of You, Jesus, son of Mary, who revealed to us the Father and sent us Your Spirit. Amen.

2. Reading

a) A key to the reading:

The text of the Gospel for the liturgy of this Sunday presents us with the second foretelling of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus. As in the first foretelling (Mk 8:31-33), the disciples are scared and overcome by fear. They do not understand anything about the cross, because they are not capable of understanding nor of accepting a Messiah who becomes the servant of His brethren. They still dream of a glorious messiah (Mt 16:21-22). There is a great discrepancy among the disciples. While Jesus proclaims His Passion and Death, they discuss who will be the greatest among them (Mk 9:34). Jesus wishes to serve, but they only think of ruling! Ambition makes them want to take a place next to Jesus. What is it that stands out in my life: competitiveness and the desire to rule or the desire to serve and encourage others?
Jesus’ reaction to the demands of the disciples helps us understand a little concerning the fraternal pedagogy used by him to form His disciples. It shows us how He helped them to overcome “the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod” (Mk 8:15). Such leaven has deep roots. It springs up again and again! But Jesus does not give up! He constantly fights against and criticizes the wrong kind of “leaven”. Today, too, we have a leaven of the ideologies:  liberalism,  commerce,  consumerism,  novels,  games, all deeply influencing our way of thinking and acting. Like the disciples of Jesus, we too are not always capable of keeping up a critical attitude towards the invasion of this leaven. Jesus’ attitude of formator continues to help us.

b) A division of the text to help us in our reading:

Mark 9:30-32: the proclamation of the Passion
Mark 9:33-37: a discussion on who is the greatest
Mark 9:38-40: the use of the name of Jesus
Mark 9:41: the reward for a cup of water

c) The text:

Jesus and his disciples left from there and began a journey through Galilee, but he did not wish anyone to know about it. He was teaching his disciples and telling them, “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men and they will kill him, and three days after his death the Son of Man will rise.” But they did not understand the saying, and they were afraid to question him. They came to Capernaum and, once inside the house, he began to ask them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” But they remained silent. They had been discussing among themselves on the way who was the greatest. Then he sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.” Taking a child, he placed it in their midst, and putting his arms around it, he said to them, “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me.”

3. A moment of prayerful silence

so that the Word of God may penetrate and enlighten our life.

4. Some questions

to help us in our personal reflection.

a) Which words pleased you most or drew your attention?
b) What attitude did the disciples take in each of the passages: vv 30-32; vv 33-37; vv 38-40? Is it the same attitude in the three passages?
c) What is Jesus’ teaching in each episode?
d) What does the phrase “Anyone who is not against us is for us” mean for us today?

5. A key to the reading

for those who wish to go deeper into the text.

a) Comment

Mark 9:30-32: The proclamation of the Cross.
Jesus was going across Galilee, but He did not want the people to know this, because He was concerned with the formation of His disciples. He talks to them about “The Son of Man” who must be handed over. Jesus draws His teaching from the prophecies. In the formation of His disciples He uses the bible. The disciples listen, but they do not understand. Yet they do not ask for explanations. Perhaps they are afraid to show their ignorance!

Mark 9:33-34: A competitive mentality.
When they return home, Jesus asks: What were you arguing about on the road? They do not reply. It is the silence of those who feel guilty, because they had been arguing which of them was the greatest. The “leaven” of competitiveness and prestige, which characterized the society of the Roman Empire, had infiltrated among the small community still in its beginnings! Here we see the contrast! While Jesus is thinking of being the Messiah-Servant, they were thinking about which of them was the greatest. Jesus tries to descend while they try to ascend!

Mark 9:35-37: To serve and not to rule.
Jesus’ reply is a resume of the witness He has given from the very beginning: If anyone wants to be first, he must make himself last of all and servant of all! And the last gains nothing. He is a useless servant (cf. Lk 17:10). The use of power is not to ascend or rule, but to descend and serve. This is the point that Jesus stresses most and on which He bases His witness (cf. Mk 10:45; Mt 20:28; Jn 13:1-16).
Jesus takes a little child. Someone who only thinks of ascending and ruling has no time for the little ones, for children. But Jesus turns everything upside down! He says: Anyone who welcomes one of these little children in My name welcomes Me; and anyone who welcomes Me welcomes not Me but the one who sent Me! He identifies Himself with the children. Anyone who welcomes the little ones in the name of Jesus welcomes God Himself!

Mark 9:38-40: A restricted mentality.
Someone who did not belong to the community was using the name of Jesus to cast out devils. John, the disciple, sees him and stops him: Because he was not one of us we tried to stop him. John stops a good action in the name of the community. He thought he owned Jesus and wanted to stop others from using Jesus’ name to do good. This was the restricted and old mentality of the “Elect”, “the separate people!” Jesus replies: You must not stop him! Anyone who is not against us is for us! (Mk 9:40). What is important for Jesus is not whether the person is or is not part of the community, but whether the person does or does not do the good deeds that the community should be doing.

Mark 9:41: A cup of water deserves a reward.
Here we have an inserted phrase used by Jesus: If anyone gives you a cup of water to drink just because you belong to Christ, then I tell you solemnly, he will most certainly not lose his reward. Let us consider two thoughts: 1) If anyone gives you a cup of water: Jesus is on the way to Jerusalem to give His life. The gesture of a grand gift! But He does not despise small gestures of gifts in daily life: a cup of water, a welcome, a word, so many other gestures. Even the smallest gesture is appreciated. 2) Just because you belong to Christ: Jesus identifies Himself with us who wish to belong to Him. This means that for Him we are of great worth.

b) Further explanations in order to better understand the text

• Jesus, the “Son of Man”

This is Jesus’ favorite name. It appears quite frequently in the Gospel of Mark (Mk 2:10-28; 8:31-38; 9:9-12.31; 10:33-45; 13:26; 14:21.41.62). This title comes from the Old Testament. In the book of Ezekiel, he presents the human condition of the prophet (Ez 3:1.10.17; 4:1 etc.). In the book of Daniel, the same title appears in an apocalyptic vision (Dn 7:1-28), where Daniel describes the empires of the Babylonians, the Medes, the Persians and the Greeks. In the prophet’s vision, these four empires appear as “monstrous animals” (cf. Dn 7:3-8). They are beastly empires, brutal, inhuman, that persecute and kill (Dn 7:21-25). In the prophet’s vision, after two inhuman reigns the Kingdom of God appears in the form not of an animal but that of a human figure, the Son of Man. It is a kingdom with the appearance of people, a human kingdom, that promotes life and that humanizes (Dn 7:13-14).
In Daniel’s prophecy, the figure of the Son of Man represents, not an individual, but as he says, the “people of the Saints of the Most High” (Dn 7:27; cf Dn 7:18). It is the people of God that will not allow itself to be cheated or manipulated by the dominant ideology of the beastly empires. The mission of the Son of Man, that is, of the people of God, consists in realizing the Kingdom of God as a human kingdom. A kingdom that does not destroy life, but rather builds it up! It humanizes people.
When Jesus presents Himself to His disciples as the Son of Man, He assumes as His the mission that is the mission of the whole People of God. It is as though He were saying to them and to us: “Come with Me! This mission is not only Mine, but of all of us! Together, let us accomplish the mission that God has entrusted to us: to build the human and humanizing Kingdom of His dream! Let us do what He did and lived throughout His life, above all, in the last three years of His life. Pope Leo the Great used to say: “Jesus was so human, so human, as only God can be!” The more human it is, the more divine it becomes. The more we are “son of man” so much more will we be “son of God”. Everything that makes people less human draws people away from God, even in religious life, even in Carmelite life! This is what Jesus condemned and He placed the good of the human person above the law and the Sabbath (Mk 2:27).

• Jesus, the Formator

“To follow” was a term that was part of the system of education at that time. It was used to indicate the relationship between disciple and master. The relationship between disciple and master is different from that of teacher and student. Students follow the lessons of the teacher on some particular subject. Disciples “follow” the master and live with Him all the time.
It is during this period of “living together” for three years that the disciples will receive their formation. A formation in the “following of Jesus” was not just the passing on of some decorative truths, but the communication of a new experience of God and of the life that shone from Jesus for the disciples. The very community that grew around Jesus was the expression of this new experience. This formation led people to see things differently, to different attitudes. It created in them a new awareness concerning the mission and respect for self. It made them take the side of the excluded. It produced a “conversion”, the consequence of having accepted the Good News (Mk 1:15).
Jesus is the axle, the center, the model, the point of reference of the community. He shows the road to follow, He is “the way, the truth and the life” (Jn 14:6). His attitude is proof and an exposition of the Kingdom: He makes the love of the Father transparent and incarnates and reveals it (Mk 6:31; Mt 10:30; Lk 15:11-32). Jesus is a “meaningful person” for them, who will leave on them a permanent mark. Many small gestures mirror this witness of life that Jesus gave by His presence in the life of the disciples. It was His way of giving human form to the experience He had of the Father. In this way of being and sharing, of relating to people, of leading the people and of listening to those who came to Him, Jesus is seen:
* as the person of peace, who inspires and reconciles: “Peace be with you!” (Jn. 20:19; Mt 10:26-33; Mt 18:22; Jn 20:23; Mt 16:19; Mt 18:18);
* as a free person and one who liberates, who awakens freedom and liberation: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mk 2:27; 2:18-23);
* as a person of prayer, whom we see praying at all important moments of His life and who inspires others to prayer: “Lord, teach us to pray!” (Lk 11:1-4; Lk 4:1-13; 6:12-13; Jn 11:41-42; Mt 11:25; Jn 17:1-26; Lk 23:46; Mk 15:34);
* as a loving person who arouses reactions full of love (Lk 7:37-38; 8:2-3; Jn 21:15-17; Mk 14:3-9; Jn 13:1);
*as a welcoming person who is always present in the lives of the disciples and who welcomes them when they come back from the mission (Lk 10:7);
* as a realistic and observing person who arouses the attention of the disciples in matters of life by teaching them in Parables (Lk 8:4-8);
* as a caring person always paying attention to the disciples (Jn 21:9), who looks after their rest and who wishes to stay with them so that the may rest (Mk 6:31);
* as someone preoccupied with the situation even to forgetting that His tiredness and His rest when He sees people who are looking for Him (Mt 9:36-38);
* as a friend who shares everything, even the secrets of His Father (Jn 15:15);
* as an understanding person who accepts the disciples just as they are, even when they flee from Him, in spite of their denial and their betrayal of Him, without ever breaking with them (Mk 14:27-28; Jn 6:67);
* as a committed person who defends His friends when they are criticized by their adversaries (Mk 2:18-19; 7:5-13);
* as a wise person who knows the fragility of human beings, knows what happens in the heart of a person, and thus insists on vigilance and teaches them to pray (Lk 11:1-13; Mt 6:5-15).
In a word, Jesus shows Himself to be a human person, very human, so human as only God can know to be human! Son of Man.

6. Psalm 30 (29)

Thanksgiving after some mortal danger

I will extol Thee, O Lord,
for thou hast drawn me up,
and hast not let my foes rejoice over me.
O Lord my God, I cried to Thee for help,
and Thou hast healed me.
O Lord, Thou hast brought up my soul from Sheol,
restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit.

Sing praises to the Lord, O You His saints,
and give thanks to His holy name.
For His anger is but for a moment,
and His favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may tarry for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.

As for me, I said in my prosperity,
"I shall never be moved."
By thy favor, O Lord,  Thou hadst established me as a strong mountain;  Thou didst hide thy face, I was dismayed.

To Thee, O Lord,
I cried; and to the Lord I made supplication:
"What profit is there in my death,
if I go down to the pit?
Will the dust praise Thee?
Will it tell of Thy faithfulness?
Hear, O Lord, and be gracious to me!
O Lord, be Thou my helper!"

Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing;
Thou hast loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness,
that my soul may praise Thee and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to Thee for ever.

7. Final Prayer

Lord Jesus, we thank You for the word that has enabled us to understand better the will of the Father. May Your Spirit enlighten our actions and grant us the strength to practice that which Your Word has revealed to us. May we, like Mary, Your mother, not only listen to but also practice the Word. You who live and reign with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.

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Welcoming the little ones and the marginalized
No one owns Jesus
Mark 9:38-43,45,47-48

1. Opening prayer

Lord Jesus, send Your Spirit to help us to read the Scriptures with the same mind that You read them to the disciples on the way to Emmaus. In the light of the Word, written in the Bible, You helped them to discover the presence of God in the disturbing events of Your sentence and death. Thus, the cross that seemed to be the end of all hope became for them the source of life and of resurrection.
Create in us silence so that we may listen to Your voice in Creation and in the Scriptures, in events and in people, above all in the poor and suffering. May Your word guide us so that we too, like the two disciples from Emmaus, may experience the force of Your resurrection and witness to others that You are alive in our midst as source of fraternity, justice and peace. We ask this of You, Jesus, son of Mary, who revealed to us the Father and sent us Your Spirit. Amen.

2. Reading

a) A key to the reading:

The Gospel text of the 26^th Sunday of ordinary time recounts part of a long instruction that Jesus addressed to His disciples (Mc 8:22 a 10:52). (See the commentary on the Gospel of 24^th Sunday). This Gospel especially sets down three conditions necessary for the conversion of someone who wishes to follow him: (i) it corrects the wrong idea of those who think they own Jesus (Mk 9:38-40); (ii) it insists on welcoming little ones (Mk 9:41-42) and (iii) it demands a radical commitment to the Gospel (Mk 9:43-48).

b) A division of the text as a help to the reading:

Mark 9:38-40: Jesus corrects the closed mentality of John the Apostle.
Mark 9:41: Anyone who offers a cup of water to one of Jesus’ disciples will be rewarded.
Mark 9:42: Avoid scandalizing little ones.
Mark 9:43-48: A radical commitment to the Gospel.

c) Text:

At that time, John said to Jesus, "Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us." Jesus replied, "Do not prevent him. There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me. For whoever is not against us is for us. Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward. "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed than with two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut if off. It is better for you to enter into life crippled than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. Better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna, where 'their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.'"

3. A moment of prayerful silence

so that the Word of God may penetrate and enlighten our life.

4. Some questions

to help us in our personal reflection.

a) What pleased or struck you most in this text? Why?
b) What does Jesus’ statement mean for us today when He says: “Anyone who is not against us is for us”?
c) What does the “cup of water” mentioned by Jesus mean for us today?
d) Who were the “little ones”? What does “anyone who is the downfall of one of these little ones” mean” (v. 42)?
e) “Millstone around His neck”, “Cut the hand or foot”, “Tear out the eye”: Can these statements be taken literally? What is Jesus saying through these statements?
f) In our society and community, who are the little ones and the marginalized? How do we welcome them and what is the quality of our welcome?

5. For those who wish to go deeper into the theme

a) Yesterdays’ and today’s context:

● As we said above, this Sunday’s Gospel presents three important requirements for the conversion of anyone who wishes to be Jesus’ disciple: (i) Not to have a closed mentality like that of John the disciple who thought he owned Jesus, but to be open and ecumenical, able to recognise good in others, even though they may belong to another religion. (ii) To overcome the mentality of those who considered themselves superior to others and who, thus, despised the little ones and the poor and drew apart from the community. According to Jesus, such a person deserves to have a millstone tied round his neck and to be thrown into the depths of the sea. (iii) Jesus asks us not to let routine enter our living out of the Gospel, but that we may be able to break the ties that prevent us from living it fully.
● These three pointers are very real for us today. Many members of the Catholic Church tend to be anti-ecumenical and have a closed mentality as if we Christians are better than others. In today’s world, dominated by a liberal system of thought, many despise the little ones and everywhere poverty, hunger, refugees and those abandoned are on the increase. We Christians are often not committed to live the Gospel. If we, millions of Christians, were to really live the Gospel, the world would be a different place.

b) A commentary on the text:

Mark 9:38-40: A closed mentality.
One who did not belong to the community used Jesus’ name to drive out devils. John, the disciple, sees this and forbids it: Because he was not one of us, we tried to stop him. In the name of the community, John tries to stop someone else from doing good! He thought that to be a good disciple he had to monopolize Jesus and, thus, wanted to stop others from using the name of Jesus in doing good. This was the closed and old mind of the “Chosen people, a people set apart!” Jesus replies: You must not stop him! Anyone who is not against us is for us! (Mk 9:40). For Jesus, what is important is not whether the person is or is not a member of the community, but whether this person does or does not do the good that the community should be doing. Jesus had an ecumenical mind.

Mark 9:41: Anyone who offers a cup of water will be rewarded.
One of Jesus’ sayings was inserted here: If anyone gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, then in truth I tell you, he will most certainly not lose his reward. Two thoughts to comment on this saying: i) “If anyone gives you a cup of water”: Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem to give His life. The sign of a great offering! But He does not forget little offerings in daily life: a cup of water, a sign of welcome, an act of charity, and so many other signs to show our love. Anyone who despises the brick will never build a house! ii) “Because you belong to Christ”: Jesus identifies Himself with us who wish to belong to Him. This means that, for Him, we are of great worth. Thus we must always ask ourselves: “Who is Jesus for me?” and also ask ourselves: “Who am I for Jesus?” This verse gives us an answer that is encouraging and full of hope.

Mark 9:42: A scandal to little ones.
A scandal is something that makes a person deviate from the straight path. To scandalize little ones is to cause little ones to deviate from the path and lose faith in God. Anyone who does so, is condemned to be: “thrown into the sea with a great millstone hung round his neck!” Why such harshness? Because Jesus identifies Himself with the little ones (Mt 25:40.45). Anyone who hurts them, hurts Jesus! Today, in many places, the little ones, the poor, leave the Catholic Church and go to other churches. They can no longer believe in the Church! Why? Before we point the finger at the other churches, it is good to ask ourselves: why do they leave our house? If they leave it is because they do not feel at home with us. There must be something missing in us. How far are we to blame? Do we deserve the millstone around our necks?

Mark 9:43-48: Cutting off the hand and foot.
Jesus tells us to cut the hand or foot, to pluck out the eye, if these are the cause of scandal. He says: “It is better for you to enter into life crippled (maimed, with one eye), than to have two hands (feet, eyes) and go to hell”. These sayings cannot be taken literally. They are saying that we must be radical in our choice for God and for the Gospel. The expression, “Gehenna (hell), where their worm will never die nor their fire be put out”, is an image that depicts the situation of one without God. Gehenna was the name of a valley near Jerusalem, where the rubbish of the city was thrown and where there was a constant fire to burn the rubbish. This malodorous place was used by the people to symbolize the situation of one who had no part in the Kingdom of God.

c) Further information:

Jesus welcomes and defends the little ones

Many times, Jesus insists on welcoming little ones. “Anyone who welcomes a little child such as this in My name, welcomes Me” (Mk 9:37). “If anyone gives so much as a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is My disciple, then in truth I tell you, he will most certainly not go without his reward” (Mt 10:42). He asks that we do not despise the little ones (Mt 18:10). At the final judgment, the just will be welcomed because they gave food to “one of the least of these brothers of Mine” (Mt 25:40).

If Jesus insists so much on welcoming little ones, it is because many little ones were not made welcome! In fact, women and children did not count (Mt 14:21; 15:38), they were despised (Mt 18:10) and bound to silence (Mt 21:15-16). Even the apostles forbade them to go near Jesus (Mt 19:13; Mk 10:13-14). In the name of God’s law, badly interpreted by the religious authorities, many good people were excluded. Rather than welcoming the excluded, the law was used to legitimize exclusion.

In the Gospels, the expression “little ones” (in Greek elachistoi, mikroi or nepioi), sometimes means “children”, at other times it means those excluded from society. It is not easy to distinguish. Sometimes what is “little” in the Gospel, means “children” because children belonged to the category of “little ones”, of the excluded. Also, it is not easy to distinguish between what comes from the time of Jesus and what from the time of the communities for whom the Gospels were written. In any case, what is clear is the context of exclusion in practice at the time, and the image that the first communities had of Jesus: Jesus places Himself on the side of the little ones and defends them. What Jesus does in defense of the life of children, of little ones, is striking:
● Welcomes and forbids scandalizing them. One of Jesus’ hardest sayings is against those who give scandal to little ones, that is, who by their attitude deprive children of their faith in God. For such as these, it would be better to have a millstone tied round their necks and be thrown into the sea (Mk 9:42; Lk 17:2; Mt 18:6).
● Welcomes and touches. When children come to Jesus to get His blessing, the apostles are upset and want to send them away. According to the customs of those days, mothers and little children lived practically in a permanent state of legal impurity. To touch them meant incurring impurity! But Jesus corrects the disciples and welcomes the mothers and children. He embraces the children. “Let the little children come to Me, do not stop them!” (Mk 10:13-16; Mt 19:13-15).
● Identifies with the little ones. Jesus embraces the children and identifies with them. Anyone who welcomes them “welcomes Me” (Mk 9:37). “In so far as you did this to one of the least of My brothers, you did it to Me” (Mt 25:40).
● Asks the disciples to become like children. Jesus wants the disciples to become like children who receive the Kingdom like children. Otherwise it is not possible to enter the Kingdom (Mk 10:15; Mt 18:3; Lk 9:46-48). He says that children are the teachers of adults! This was not normal. We want to do the opposite.
● Defends their right to shout. When Jesus enters the city of Jerusalem, it is the children who shout the loudest: “Hosanna to the son of David!” (Mt 21:15). Children were criticized by the chief priests and Scribes, but Jesus defends them and even quotes Scripture in their defense (Mt 21:16).
● Is grateful for the Kingdom present in little ones. Jesus greatly rejoices when He realizes that the little ones understand the matters concerning the Kingdom that He proclaimed to the people. “Father, I thank You!” (Mt 11:25-26) Jesus sees that the little ones understand the things concerning the Kingdom better than the doctors!
● Welcomes and heals. Jesus welcomes, heals or raises from the dead many children and young people: Jairus’ twelve-year-old daughter (Mk 5:41-42), the Canaanites’ daughter (Mk 7:29-30), the widow from Naim’s son (Lk 7: 14-15), the epileptic child (Mk 9:25-26), the Centurion’s son (Lk 7:9-10), the public servant’s son (Jn 4:50), the child with five loaves and two fishes (Jn 6:9).

6. Praying Psalm 34 (33)

A poor man shares his faith with us

I will bless Yahweh at all times,
his praise continually on my lips.
I will praise Yahweh from my heart;
let the humble hear and rejoice.
Proclaim with me the greatness of Yahweh,
let us acclaim His name together.

I seek Yahweh and He answers me,
frees me from all my fears.
Fix your gaze on Yahweh and your face will grow bright,
you will never hang your head in shame.
A pauper calls out and Yahweh hears,
saves Him from all His troubles.
The angel of Yahweh encamps around
those who fear Him, and rescues them.

Taste and see that Yahweh is good.
How blessed are those who take refuge in Him.
Fear Yahweh, you His holy ones;
those who fear Him lack for nothing. Young lions may go needy and hungry,
but those who seek Yahweh lack nothing good.

Come, my children, listen to me,
I will teach you the fear of Yahweh.
Who among you delights in life,
longs for time to enjoy prosperity?

Guard your tongue from evil,
your lips from any breath of deceit.
Turn away from evil and do good,
seek peace and pursue it.

The eyes of Yahweh are on the upright,
His ear turned to their cry.
But Yahweh's face is set against those who do evil,
to cut off the memory of them from the earth.

They cry in anguish and Yahweh hears,
and rescues them from all their troubles.
Yahweh is near to the broken-hearted,
He helps those whose spirit is crushed.

Though hardships without number beset the upright,
Yahweh brings rescue from them all.
Yahweh takes care of all their bones,
not one of them will be broken.

But to the wicked evil brings death,
those who hate the upright will pay the penalty.
Yahweh ransoms the lives of those who serve Him,
and there will be no penalty for those who take refuge in Him.

7. Final Prayer

Lord Jesus, we thank You for the word that has enabled us to understand better the will of the Father. May Your Spirit enlighten our actions and grant us the strength to practice that which Your Word has revealed to us. May we, like Mary, Your mother, not only listen to but also practice the Word. You who live and reign with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.

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MALTA

※

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Triq it-Torri

TAS-SLIEMA, SLM 1600

MALTA

※

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Dar tal- Formazzjoni

Triq it-Torri

TAS-SLIEMA, SLM 1600

MALTA

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Triq il-Parrocca

SANTA VENERA, SVR 1261

MALTA

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Misrah Santa Venera

SANTA VENERA, SVR1681

MALTA

※

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Triq il-Punent

VALLETTA, VLT 1535

MALTA

※

• V.R.Fr. Provincial, O.Carm.

Kunvent tal-Karmnu

Triq it-Torri

TAS-SLIEMA, SLM 1600

MALTA

※

• Patrijiet Karmelitani

Dar tat-Talb "Lunzjata"

RABAT, RBT 14

MALTA

※

• Carmelite Institute Malta

Kunvent tal-Karmnu

Triq Villegaignon

L'IMDINA, MDN 1190

MALTA

※

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• Karmel

Stommeerweg 15

AALSMEER,

NETHERLANDS

※

• Eerw. Pater Provinciaal

Provincialaat Ned. Karmelieten

Postbus 297

ALMELO,

NETHERLANDS

※

• Attn.: Mr. A. Kallenberg

Nederlandse Carmelitaans Instituut

Steenstraat 39

BOXMEER,

NETHERLANDS

※

• Karmel

Steenstraat 39

BOXMEER,

NETHERLANDS

※

• Karmel

Postbus 297

ALMELO,

NETHERLANDS

※

• Karmel

Nolensweg 8

DORDRECHT,

NETHERLANDS

※

• Karmel Titus Brandsma

Sloetstraat 2

NIJMEGEN,

NETHERLANDS

※

• Karmel

Van Mookstraat, 5-7

OSS,

NETHERLANDS

※

• Karmel

Groesbeekseweg 97

NIJMEGEN,

NETHERLANDS

※

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Westelijk Halfrond 3A

AMSTELVEEN,

NETHERLANDS

※

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Hertmerweg 46

ZENDEREN,

NETHERLANDS

※

• Karmel Sint Jozef

Stijn Buijsstraat 11

NIJMEGEN,

NETHERLANDS

※

• Karmel De Grundel

De Wetstraat 76

HENGELO,

NETHERLANDS

※

• Titus Brandsma Instituut

Erasmusplein, 1

NIJMEGEN,

NETHERLANDS

※

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• Klasztor OO. Karmelitów

Wola Gulowska

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POLAND

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Obory 38

ZBÓJNO,

POLAND

※

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ul. Profesorska 3

GDANSK,

POLAND

※

• A.R.P. Provinciale, O.Carm.

Klasztor OO. Karmelitów

ul. Karmelicka, 19

KRAKÓW,

POLAND

※

• Klasztor OO. Karmelitów

ul. Karmelicka, 19

KRAKÓW,

POLAND

※

• Klasztor OO. Karmelitów

Lipiny 60

PILZNO,

POLAND

※

• Klasztor OO. Karmelitów

ul. Karmelicka 3

PILZNO,

POLAND

※

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Trutowo

WOLA K/LIPNA,

POLAND

※

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Chizne 157

CHYZNE, 157

POLAND

※

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ul. Kosciuszki 2

BABORÓW,

POLAND

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ul. Biernackiego 9A

LUBLIN,

POLAND

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• Comunidade Carmelita

Paróquia do Salvador

Largo do Salvador, 3

BEJA, - ALENTEJO

PORTUGAL

※

• Comunidade Carmelita

Casa Parroquial

ERVIDEL, - B. ALENTEJO

PORTUGAL

※

• Comunidade Carmelita

Casa Beato Nuno

Avda. Beato Nuno, 271 - Apdo. 4

FATIMA,

PORTUGAL

※

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Rua de Santa Isabel, 128

LISBOA,

PORTUGAL

※

• Padres Carmelitas

Santo António dos Cavaleiros

Rua Vitorino Froes 1 - R/C

LOURES,

PORTUGAL

※

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Seminário Missionário Carmelita

Sameiro

BRAGA, - BRAGA

PORTUGAL

※

• M.R.P. Provincial, O.Carm. 

Casa Beato Nuno

Avda. Beato Nuno, 271 - Apdo. 4

FATIMA,

PORTUGAL

※

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Noviciado Carmelita

Quinta da Mata

LORDELO, FLG

PORTUGAL

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Com. Margineni, Jud. Bacau

Str. Slatina

LUNCANI,

ROMANIA

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• Padres Carmelitas

C/ El Molino, 2 - Apdo 15

CAUDETE, - ALBACETE

SPAIN

※

• Padres Carmelitas

C/ Timoteo Domingo, 38, 1º

MADRID,

SPAIN

※

• Padres Carmelitas

C/ Ayala, 35

MADRID,

SPAIN

※

• Padres Carmelitas

El Carmen

ONDA, - CASTELLÓN

SPAIN

※

• Padres Carmelitas

Colegio Virgen del Carmen

Avda. Montendre, 18

ONDA, - CASTELLÓN

SPAIN

※

• Padres Carmelitas

Paseo Estación 61-69,Bl.C,Bj.A,B,C

SALAMANCA,

SPAIN

※

• M.R.P. Provincial, O.Carm. 

Padres Carmelitas

C/ la Ermita, 172

VILA-REAL, - CASTELLÓN

SPAIN

※

• Padres Carmelitas

Parroquia San Isidoro

C/ El Bachiller, 3

VALENCIA,

SPAIN

※

• Padres Carmelitas

C/ La Ermita, 172

VILA-REAL, - CASTELLÓN

SPAIN

※

• Padres Carmelitas

Parroquia N. Sra. del Carmen

Paseo María Agustín, 8

ZARAGOZA,

SPAIN

※

• Padres Carmelitas

C/ Cuesta de Barbacanas, 1

ANTEQUERA, - MALAGA

SPAIN

※

• Padres Carmelitas

Parroquia N. Sra. del Carmen

Ronda de Andújar, 23 - Puerta Nueva

CORDOBA,

SPAIN

※

• R.M. Presidenta Federal, O.Carm.

Monasterio S.Corazón y B.T.Brandsma

C. Ortega y Munilla, 21

CORDOBA,

SPAIN

※

• Padres Carmelitas

C/ Martínez de la Rosa, 11

GRANADA,

SPAIN

※

• Padres Carmelitas

Parroquia S. Sebastián

C/ Corredera, 66

HINOJOSA DEL DUQUE, - CORDOBA

SPAIN

※

• Padres Carmelitas

Basilica del Carmen

Plaza del Carmen, 1

JEREZ DE LA FRONTERA, - CADIZ

SPAIN

※

• Padres Carmelitas

Parroquia N. Sra. de Begoña

C/ Marcos de Orueta, 15 B

MADRID,

SPAIN

※

• Padres Carmelitas

Parroquia Smo. Cristo de la Esperanza

C/ de los Misterios, 38

MADRID,

SPAIN 

※

• Padres Carmelitas

Ntra. Señora del Carmen

C/ Carmen, 4

OSUNA, - SEVILLA

SPAIN

※

• Secretaría Provincial

Biblioteca Provincial

Plaza Buen Suceso, 5

SEVILLA,

SPAIN

※

• P. Bibliotecario

Padres Carmelitas

Plaza Buen Suceso, 5

SEVILLA,

SPAIN

※

• Padres Carmelitas

Santuario Ntra. Sra. del Henar

CUELLAR, - SEGOVIA

SPAIN

※

• Padres Carmelitas

Casa Vocacional

C. Pintor Ribera, 9

MADRID,

SPAIN

※

• M.R.P. Provincial, O.Carm. 

Padres Carmelitas

Avda. Ferrol, 49

MADRID,

SPAIN

※

• Padres Carmelitas

Residencia Universitaria

Paseo Rector Esperabé, 49-65

SALAMANCA,

SPAIN

※

• Padres Carmelitas

Parroquia N. Sra. "Flor del Carmelo"

Ave. Ferrol, 49

MADRID,

SPAIN

※

• M.R.P. Provincial, O.Carm. 

Pares Carmelites

C/ San Hermenegild, 13

BARCELONA,

SPAIN

※

• Pares Carmelites

C/ San Hermenegild, 13

BARCELONA,

SPAIN

※

• R.M. Presidenta Federal, O.Carm.

Monestir de l'Encarnació

C. Panamá, 12.

BARCELONA,

SPAIN

※

• Pares Carmelites

C/ Verge del Portal, 10

OLOT, - GIRONA

SPAIN

※

• Pares Carmelites

Plaça del Carme, 12

TARREGA, - LLEIDA

SPAIN

※

• Pares Carmelites

Francesc Salvans, 62

TERRASSA, - BARCELONA

SPAIN

※

• R.M. Presidenta Federal, O.Carm.

Monasterio de Carmelitas

Avda. César Augusto, 1

ZARAGOZA,

SPAIN

※

• M.R.M. General, HCSCJ

Hermanas Carmelitas

C/ Gral. Asensio Cabanillas, 41

MADRID,

SPAIN

※

• M.R.M. General, HVMMC

Hermanas Carmelitas

C/ Pradillo, 63

MADRID,

SPAIN

※

• Padres Carmelitas

C/ José del Hierro, 51, 1º B-C-D

MADRID,

SPAIN

※

• Padres Carmelitas

Parroquia N. Sra. de El Henar

Calle Trilla, 1

VALLADOLID,

SPAIN

※

• Padres Carmelitas

Colegio N. Sra. del Carmen

Plaza de las Descalzas, 5

ANTEQUERA, - MALAGA

SPAIN

※

• Noviciado Carmelitano

Basilica del Carmen

Plaza del Carmen, 1

JEREZ DE LA FRONTERA, - CADIZ

SPAIN

※

• Rev. P. Antonio Ruiz, O.Carm.

Colegio San José de Begoña

Calle Marcos de Orueta, s/n

MADRID,

SPAIN

※

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• Klasztor OO. Karmelitów

ul. Kowelska 1

WLODZIMIERZ WOLYNSKI,

UKRAINA

※

Donald Buggert, O. Carm.

As Cicconetti notes, the phrase “in obsequio Jesu Christi,” drawn from 2 Cor. 10:5, takes on somewhat different meanings in differing situations. Valabek summarizes the Pauline meaning of this obsequium. A disciple of Christ is a doulos, a slave or servant who totally hands over one’s self, one’s thoughts, will, wishes to Christ, who becomes the most important person in one’s life. In turn the disciple shares in the very life of Christ and becomes a new self created in God’s way.

This Pauline notion of obsequium took on specific connotations in feudal times. What images or overtones did this Pauline expression evoke in the Hermits of Carmel during this feudal period?

The basic feudal meaning of “in obsequio” was that of service, the service which a vassal rendered to a sovereign. Cicconetti notes:

Following of or allegiance to another (obsequium) implied duties on the part of master and subject. Those living in the patrimony of a feudal lord promised good and faithful service, assistance in time of war and participation in resolution of problems or questions. In return the lord promised protection . . . to his subjects.

This secular meaning of “in obsequio” was transferred in the religious realm to service owed to God or (especially) Christ.

In the XII and XIII centuries, relationship with Christ was judged in similar terms; traditional feudal values of service . . . , of fidelity . . . , of allegiance or following (obsequium), of being bound to . . ., of dedication . . . , governed a man’s responsibilities to Christ with a pervading influence that colored every aspect of daily life.

All Christians were bound to this obsequium Christi. But during the period of the Crusades, the concept took on even greater specificity. Christ had been expelled from his own patrimony and had suffered an injustice. Hence popes evoked the concept to induce Christians to support the liberation of the Holy Land. Hence, the obsequium Jesu Christi had a very pregnant sense for Crusaders and others, such as the hermits on Mount Carmel, who pilgrima¬ged to or resided in the land of Christ. All such Christians became Christ’s special subjects, were especially dedicated to his service (obsequium) and were to be completely faithful to him.

Of course the patrimony of Christ was to be regained not only through military efforts. Since the fall of Jerusalem was attributed to the infidelity and sins of Christians, true interior conversion to Christ and spiritual arms (prayer, penance, fasting) were more important than the earthly weapons of the Crusader. The soldier of Christ had to arm himself with the disarming attitude of Christ. This was a spirituality founded on the passion of Christ and realized only by taking up the Cross, through which Christ himself had acquired the land. The obsequium Jesu Christi was, therefore, very much a following of the crucified Christ. .

In the case of the hermits of Carmel, therefore, their particular allegiance (obsequium) to Christ was very much defined by the then current theology of reconquering the land of Christ through spiritual combat in imitation of the suffering and Crucified Christ. They were to embrace poverty, penance, silence, solitude, prayer and fasting, “to follow Christ’s law, be available to do all things in his name, to vest themselves in spiritual armor” to disarm the forces of evil and above all to meditate upon the law of the Lord. In all of this, but especially through meditat¬ing upon the law of the Lord and the recitation of the psalms, they were to be transformed into Christ. It is this specific form of “walking in the footsteps of Jesus” which is signalled in the Prologue and further specified in their “formula of life.”

How the Obsequium Informs the Rule

I do not intend to analyze or comment upon each reference to Christ in the Rule. I merely wish first to make some general observations and then show how the very structuring of the rule is Christocentric.

From the above, one can see how the basic project of walking in the footsteps of Jesus, signalled in the Prologue, is then articulated in the Rule itself: faithful following of Christ through obedience to his represen¬tative, the prior (chapters I, XVII, XVIII), solitude (chapter III), meditating upon the law of Lord, vigilance in prayer, reciting psalms (chapters VII, VIII, X), poverty (chapter IX), penance as fasting and abstinence (chapters XII, XIII), vesting in spiritual armor for spiritual warfare (chapter XIV), doing all in the Word of the Lord (chapter XIV), willingness to undergo persecution (chapter XIV), silence (chapter XVI). In all of this Christ is present to the hermit community as model, teacher, savior and eschatological judge (chapter XVIII and Epi¬logue). Within this Christocentric perspective, Elijah and Mary, present only implicitly in the Rule, become subordinate models or symbols who serve to con-cretize the obsequium Jesu Christi.

Even more important than seeing how the various elements of the obse¬quium Jesu Christi are taken up in the chapters of the Rule is the Chris¬tocentric structuring of the Rule. And here we discover the role which the ideal Christian community of the Acts played for those first Carmelites in their walking in the footsteps of Jesus.

We saw above that the hermits on Carmel were part of a larger spiritual movement which espoused a return to the scriptures and the life of the Jerusalem community. Their walking in the footsteps of Jesus was not to be done in a solitary way but as a community. “Reechoing the insights of Luke, Albert enjoins on the hermits a following of Christ by following the ideals and values of the apostolic Christian community.” Hence it is no surprise that chapters VII-XI of the Rule parallel Acts 2:42-47;4:32-35 (fidelity to the Word, perseverance in prayer, sharing in goods, fraternal unity, the centrality of daily worship). Within the Rule, daily Eucharist is structurally central, i.e. it lies at the very center of the text (chapter X). This textual centrality reflects the spatial centrality of the Eucharis¬tic oratory in the midst of the cells. This textual and spatial centrality in turn indicate the theological center of the Rule, the Eucharist.

This structural approach to the Rule, with the Eucharist as its textual center, reveals that the center of this hermit community is, as it was for the Jerusalem community, Christ. The Rule now appears visually as an arc. At the two ends of the arc are the following of Christ (Prologue) and the awaiting of the return of the Lord (Epilogue). At its apex is the presence of Christ in the Eucharist. “Between these three reference points all the rest of the Rule rotates, either as a consequent actualization or as a dynamic referent.” Structurally the Rule is saying that the whole Chris¬tocentric project of the Rule, namely to walk in the footsteps of Jesus (Prologue) in anticipa¬tion of his return (Epilogue), is focused upon, celebrated in and subsumed into the Eucharist (Chapter X), in which Christ himself is sacramen¬tally present to the community and which itself anticipates his return.

In concluding this first part dealing with the Chris¬tocentricity of the Rule and by way of introducing the second part of this paper, I cite the words of Secondin:

In the Rule, then, we find a Christology which esteems dis¬cipleship and revolves around a “life in Christ,” prayerful listening to the Word, celebra¬tion of the Mystery, a vision of meditation as a way of imprinting Christ into one’s life . . . , and the awaiting of his return. The same way-of-life . . . as a dedication to the Lord in the Holy Land . . . is now transformed into an open journey to be under-taken in any place or time.

Jesus the bread of life. 

1. Opening prayer

Lord Jesus, send Your Spirit to help us to read the Scriptures with the same mind that You read them to the disciples on the way to Emmaus. In the light of the Word, written in the Bible, You helped them to discover the presence of God in the disturbing events of Your sentence and death. Thus, the cross that seemed to be the end of all hope became for them the source of life and of resurrection.

Create in us silence so that we may listen to Your voice in Creation and in the Scriptures, in events and in people, above all in the poor and suffering. May Your word guide us so that we too, like the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, may experience the force of Your resurrection and witness to others that You are alive in our midst as source of fraternity, justice and peace. We ask this of You, Jesus, Son of Mary, who revealed the Father to us and sent us Your Spirit. Amen.

2. Reading

a) A key to the reading:

 

The discourse on the Bread of Life is not a text to be discussed and dissected, but rather, it should be meditated on and pondered. This is why, even if it is not fully understood, we should not be worried. This text of the Bread of Life demands a whole lifetime to meditate on it and deepen it. People have to read such a text, meditate on it, pray it, think about it, read it again, repeat it and ponder it, as one does with a good sweet in the mouth. We turn it and turn it in the mouth until it is finished. One who reads the fourth Gospel superficially may have the impression that John constantly repeats the same thing. Reading it more attentively, one becomes aware that it is not a question of repetition. The author of the fourth Gospel has his own way of repeating the same theme, but always at a higher and more profound level. It seems to be like a winding staircase. By turning, one reaches the same place, but always at a higher level or a deeper one.

 

b) A division of chapter six:

 

It is good to keep in mind the division of the chapter in order to better understand its significance:

John 6:1-15: the great multiplication of the loaves.

John 6:16-21: the crossing of the lake, and Jesus who walks on the water.

John 6:22-71: the dialogue of Jesus with the people, with the Jews and with the disciples.

1st dialogue: 6:22-27 with the people: the people seek Jesus and find Him in Capernaum.

2nd dialogue: 6:28-34 with the people: faith as the work of God and the manna of the desert.

3rd dialogue: 6:35-40 with the people: the true bread is to do God’s will.

4th dialogue: 6:41-51 with the Jews: the complaining of the Jews.

5th dialogue: 6:52-58 with the Jews: Jesus and the Jews.

6th dialogue: 6:59-66 with the disciples: reaction of the disciples.

7th dialogue: 6:67-71 with the disciples: Peter’s confession.

 

c) The text: John 6:24-35

  When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus. And when they found him across the sea they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you get here?" Jesus answered them and said, "Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal." So they said to him, "What can we do to accomplish the works of God?" Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent." So they said to him, "What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do? Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written: He gave them bread from heaven to eat." So Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." So they said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always." Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst."

3. A moment of prayerful silence

that the Word of God may penetrate and enlighten our life.

4. Some questions

to help us in our personal reflection.

a) The people were hungry; they eat the bread and they look for more bread. They seek a miracle and do not seek the sign of God who was hidden in that. What do I seek more in my life: the miracle or the sign?

b) Hungry for bread, hungry for God. Which of these two predominates in me?

c) Jesus says: “I am the bread of life.” He takes away hunger and thirst. What experience of this do I have in my life?

d) Keep silence within you for a moment and ask yourself, “To believe in Jesus: What does this mean for me concretely in my daily life?”

5. For those who wish to enter more deeply into the theme

a) Context:

 

In today’s Gospel we begin the discourse on the Bread of Life (Jn 6:22-71). After the multiplication of the loaves, the people follow Jesus. They had seen the miracle; they had eaten and were satiated and wanted more! They were not concerned about looking for the sign or the call of God that was contained in all of this. When the people found Jesus in the synagogue at Capernaum, He had a long conversation with them, called the discourse on the Bread of Life. It is not really a discourse, but is a series of seven brief dialogues which explain the meaning of the multiplication of the bread, symbol of the new Exodus and of the Eucharistic Supper.

Jesus’ conversation with the people, with the Jews, and with the disciples, is a beautiful dialogue as well as a demanding one. Jesus tries to open the eyes of the people in a way that they will learn to read the events and discover in them the turning point that life should take. It is not enough to follow behind miraculous signs which multiply bread for the body. Man does not live by bread alone. The struggle for life without mysticism does not reach the roots. The people, when speaking with Jesus, always remain annoyed or upset by His words. But Jesus does not give in, and neither does He change the requirements. The discourse seems to be a funnel. As the conversation advances, less people remain with Jesus. At the end, only the twelve remain there, but Jesus cannot trust them either! Today the same thing happens. When the Gospel begins to demand commitment, many people  go away.

b) Commentary on the text

John 6:24-27: People look for Jesus because they want more bread. The people follow Jesus. They see that He did not go into the boat with the disciples and, because of this, they do not understand what He did to reach Capernaum. They did not even understand the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves. People see what has happened, but they cannot understand all this as a sign of something more profound. They stop only on the surface; in being satisfied with the food. They look for bread and life, but only for the body. According to the people, Jesus does what Moses had done in the past: to feed all the people in the desert. According to Jesus, they wanted the past to be repeated. But Jesus asks the people to take a step more and advance. Besides working for the bread that perishes, they should work for the imperishable food. This new food will be given by the Son of Man, indicated by God Himself. He brings life which lasts forever. He opens for us a new horizon on the meaning of life and on God.

John 6:28-29: “What is God’s work?” The people ask: what should we do to carry out this work of God? Jesus answers that the great work of God asks us to “believe in the one sent by God,”  that is, to believe in Jesus!

John 6:30-33: “What sign will You Yourself do, the sign which will make us believe in You?” People had asked, “What should we do to carry out the work of God?” Jesus responded, “The work of God is to believe in the One whom He has sent,” that is, to believe in Jesus. This is why people formulate the new question: “Which sign do You do so that we can see and can believe? Which work do You do?” This means that they did not understand the multiplication of the loaves as a sign from God to legitimize Jesus before the people, as the One sent by God! They continue to argue: In the past our fathers ate the manna which Moses gave them! They called it “bread from Heaven” (Wis 16:20), that is, “bread of God.” Moses continues to be the great leader in whom to believe. If Jesus wants the people to believe in Him, He should work a greater sign than Moses. “What work do You do?”

Jesus responds that the bread given by Moses was not the true bread from heaven. Coming from on high, yes, but it was not the bread of God, because it did not guarantee life to any one. All of them died in the desert (Jn 6:49). The true bread of heaven, the bread of God, is the one which conquers death and gives life! It is the one which descends from Heaven and gives life to the world. It is Jesus Himself! Jesus tries to help the people liberate themselves from the way of thinking of the past. For Him, fidelity to the past does not mean to close oneself up in the ancient things and not accept renewal. Fidelity to the past means to accept the newness which comes as the fruit of the seed which was planted in the past.

John 6:34-35: “Lord, gives us always that bread!” Jesus answers clearly: “I am the bread of life!” To eat the bread of heaven is the same as to believe in Jesus and accept to follow the road that He teaches us, that is, “My food is to do the will of the One who has sent Me and to complete His work!” (Jn 4:34). This is the true food which nourishes the person, which transforms life and gives new life.

6. Prayer of Psalm 111

Alleluia! I give thanks to Yahweh with all my heart,

in the meeting-place of honest people, in the assembly.

Great are the deeds of Yahweh,

to be pondered by all who delight in them.

Full of splendor and majesty His work,

His saving justice stands firm for ever.

He gives us a memorial of His great deeds;

Yahweh is mercy and tenderness.

He gives food to those who fear Him,

He keeps His covenant ever in mind.

His works show His people His power

in giving them the birthright of the nations.

The works of His hands are fidelity and justice,

all His precepts are trustworthy,

established for ever and ever,

accomplished in fidelity and honesty.

Deliverance He sends to His people,

His covenant He imposes for ever;

holy and awesome His name.

The root of wisdom is fear of Yahweh;

those who attain it are wise.

His praise will continue for ever.

7. Final Prayer

Lord Jesus, we thank You for the word that has enabled us to understand better the will of the Father. May Your Spirit enlighten our actions and grant us the strength to practice what Your Word has revealed to us. May we, like Mary, Your mother, not only listen to but also practice the Word. You who live and reign with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.

Ordinary Time

1) Opening prayer

Almighty and ever-living God,

strengthen our faith, hope and love.

May we do with loving hearts

what you ask of us

and come to share the life you promise.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

2) Gospel Reading - Luke 13: 18-21

Jesus went on to say, 'What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it with? It is like a mustard seed which a man took and threw into his garden: it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air sheltered in its branches.'

Again He said, 'What shall I compare the kingdom of God with? It is like the yeast a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour till it was leavened all through.'

3) Reflection

• Context. Along the road that leads Him to Jerusalem, Jesus is surrounded by “thousands” of persons (11, 29) who crowd around him. The reason for such attraction from the crowds is the Word of Jesus. In chapter 12 one can notice how the people who listen to his Word alternate: the disciples (12: 1-12), the crowd (vv.13-21), the disciples (vv.22-53), the crowds (vv.54-59). IThe scandal of death is the dominating theme of Luke 13: 1-35. In the first part it is spoken about as the death of all (vv.1-9), in the second part, the death of Jesus (vv.31-35) and then to the death avoided by sinners because their conversion is expected. But there is another theme together with the dominant one: the salvation given to men. The cure of the woman who was bent, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan had held during eighteen years, is liberated by Jesus. And in the center of this chapter 13 we find two parables that constitute the overall theme: the Kingdom of God as compared to the “mustard seed” and to the “leaven or yeast”.

• The Kingdom of God is similar to a mustard seed. Such a seed is very common in Palestine and particularly close to the Lake of Galilee. It is especially known because it is particularly small. In Luke 17: 6, Jesus uses such an image to express the hope that He has for the disciples that they have a at least a small seed of faith: “If you had faith like a mustard seed...”. This parable, which is very simple, confronts two diverse moments in the story of the seed: the moment when it is sown in the earth (the modest beginnings) and when it becomes a tree (the final miracle). Therefore, the purpose of this account is to narrate the extraordinary growth of a seed that is thrown in one’s own garden, and to this follows an amazing growth as it becomes a tree. Like this seed, the Kingdom of God also has its story. The Kingdom of God is the seed thrown into the garden, the place that in the New Testament is the place of the agony and the burial of Jesus (Jn 18: 1.26; 19: 41). Then it follows the moment of growth and concludes with becoming a tree open to all.

• The Kingdom of God is similar to yeast. Yeast is put into three measures of flour. In the Hebrew culture yeast was considered a factor of corruption so much so that it was eliminated from their houses, in order not to contaminate the feast at Passover which begins with the week of the unleavened dough. In the ears of the Jews the use of this negative element, to describe the Kingdom of God, was a reason to be disturbed. But the reader is able to discover the convincing force: it is sufficient to put a very small quantity of yeast in three measures of flour in order to get a big amount of dough. Jesus announces that this yeast, hidden or that has disappeared in three measures of flour, after a certain amount of time, leavens the whole dough.

• The effects of the text on the reader. What do these two parables communicate to us? The Kingdom of God, compared by Jesus to a seed that becomes a tree, is  close to the story of God as a story of his Word: it is hidden in human history and it is growing; Luke thinks of the Word of God (the Kingdom of God in our midst) is already developing but it has not as yet become a tree. Jesus and the Holy Spirit are supporting this growth of the Word. The image of yeast completes the frame of the seed. The yeast is the Gospel that is working in the world, as in the ecclesial communities and in the individual believers.

4) Personal questions

• Are you aware that the Kingdom of God is present in our midst and that it grows mysteriously and extends itself in the history of every person, and in the Church?

• The Kingdom is a humble reality, hidden, poor and silent, immersed between the competition and pleasures of life. Have you understood from the two parables, that you will not be able to get a glimpse of the Kingdom if you do not have an attitude of humble and silent listening?

5) Concluding Prayer

How blessed are all who fear Yahweh,

who walk in his ways!

Your own labors will yield you a living,

happy and prosperous will you be. (Ps 128: 1-2)

CANADA | DOMINICA REP. | PUERTO RICO | U.S.A.

• Carmelites

St. John of the Cross Priory

6930 Barrisdale Dr.

MISSISSAUGA, ONT L5N 2H4

CANADA

※

• Carmelites

St. Patrick Priory

4673 Victoria Ave.

NIAGARA FALLS, ONT L2E 4B8

CANADA

※

CANADA | DOMINICA REP. | PUERTO RICO | U.S.A.

• Padres Carmelitas - Seminario

Carretera Sanchez, Km. 10

C/ Perimetral Este 70 - Apdo. 1229

SANTO DOMINGO,

DOMINICA REP.

※

• Padres Carmelitas

Parroquia San Pio X

Calle P. Billini, 601 - Apdo. 1229

SANTO DOMINGO,

DOMINICA REP.

※

• Padres Carmelitas

Apdo. 162

SABANETA, - LA VEGA

DOMINICA REP.

※

CANADA | DOMINICA REP. | PUERTO RICO | U.S.A.

• Padres Carmelitas

Parroquia N. Sra. del Rosario

C/ Ignacio Fernández, s.n.- Apdo.26

CIALES, 00638-0026

PUERTO RICO

※

• Padres Carmelitas

Parroquia N. Sra. del Carmen

Calle del Carmen, s.n. -  Apdo. 428

MOROVIS, 00687-0428

PUERTO RICO

※

• Padres Carmelitas

Parroquia Santa Teresita

Calle Loiza, 2059

SAN JUAN, PR 00911-1799

PUERTO RICO

※

• Padres Carmelitas

Parroquia S. Antonio Abad

Apartado 392

AÑASCO, 00610-0392

PUERTO RICO

※

CANADA | DOMINICA REP. | PUERTO RICO | U.S.A.

• Carmelites

Mt. Carmel Spiritual Centre

P.O. Box 767

NIAGARA FALLS, NY 14302-0767

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

St. Joseph Priory

115 E. Fort Lee Rd.

BOGOTA, NJ 07603-1301

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

St. Cyril Priory

6401 S. Harper Ave.

CHICAGO, IL  60637-3813

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

St. Therese Priory

120 Monroe Ave.

CRESSKILL, NJ 07626-1405

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

Carmelite Carefree Village

8419 Bailey Road

DARIEN, IL 60561-5361

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelite Spiritual Center

8433 Bailey Road

DARIEN, IL 60561-5305

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

St. Matthew Priory

1555 Glen Ellyn Road

GLENDALE HEIGHTS, IL 60139-2501

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Priory

4966 Alonzo Ave

ENCINO, CA 91316-3608

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

St. Bernadette Priory

15500 El Camino Real

HOUSTON, TX 77062-5793

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

St. Raphael Priory

770 Kilbourne Ave.

ENGLEWOOD, FL 34223-2651

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

Carmelite Priory

32320 N.E. Norton Road

GARNETT, KS 66032-9423

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish

8404 Cass Ave.

DARIEN, IL 60561-5349

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Priory

409 East Irving St.

JOLIET, IL 60432-1835

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

St. Cecilia Priory

55 W. Demarest Ave.

ENGLEWOOD, NJ 07631-3033

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Priory

698 Berkeley Way

FAIRFIELD, CA 94533-1317

U.S.A. 

※

• Carmelites

St. Elias Priory

3504 Lake Shore Drive

JOLIET, IL 60431-8819

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

Imm. Conception - St. Joseph Priory

300 North Broadway Street

LEAVENWORTH, KS 66048-1850

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

St. Raphael Priory

942 W. 70th St.

LOS ANGELES, CA 90044-5221

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

Carmel Retreat House

1071 Ramapo Valley Rd.

MAHWAH, NJ 07430-2406

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

Whitefriars Hall

1600 Webster St., N.E.

WASHINGTON, DC 20017-3145

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

St. Jane Frances de Chantal Priory

13001 Victory Blvd.

NORTH HOLLYWOOD, CA 91606-2992

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

St. Therese Priory

135 Gertrude Ave.

PARAMUS, NJ 07652-2515

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

Carmelite House

1717 West Flower St.

PHOENIX, AZ 85015-5855

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

St. Anastasia Priory

1095 Teaneck Road

TEANECK, NJ 07666-4899

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

St. Agnes Priory

1954 N. 24th St.

PHOENIX, AZ  85008-3556

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

Our Lady of Mt.Carmel Priory

10 County Rd.

TENAFLY, NJ 07670-2198

U.S.A. 

※

• Washington Theol. Union Library

6896 Laurel Street, NW

WASHINGTON, DC 20012-2016

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

Sacred Heart Priory

601 E. Fort Lowell Rd.

TUCSON, AZ 85705-3997

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

St. Paul the Apostle Priory

6401 Gages Lake Road

GURNEE, IL 60031-4752

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

Our Lady of the Scapular Priory

4 Wheatland St.

PEABODY, MA 01960-2806

U.S.A. 

※

• Carmelites

Our Lady of Carmel Priory

1540 E. Glenn St.

TUCSON, AZ 85719-2632

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

Carmel House

244 Harbor Drive, S.

VENICE, FL 34285-2218

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelitana Collection

Whitefriars Hall

1600 Webster St., N.E.

WASHINGTON, DC 20017-3145

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

Titus Brandsma Priory

999 East McKinley Ave.

MUNDELEIN, IL 60060-2416

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

St. Elias Priory

4934 Northwest - 107th Ave.

CORAL SPRINGS, FL 33076

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

Whitefriars Priory

625 Colebrook Dr.

ROCHESTER, NY 14617-2008

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelite Provincial Office

P.O. Box 3079 - 68 Carmelite Drive

MIDDLETOWN, NY 10940-0890

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

St. Jude Priory

21689 Toledo Road

BOCA RATON, FL 33433-7879

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

Transfiguration Priory

268 South Broadway

TARRYTOWN, NY 10591-5325

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

St. Joseph Priory

416 Third St.

TROY, NY 12180-5322

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

St. Simon Stock Priory

2191 Valentine Ave.

BRONX, NY 10457-2201

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Priory

Box 883 - 90 Euclid Ave.

MIDDLETOWN, NY 10940-0883

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelite Noviciate Library

Brandsma Priory

P.O. Box 2127 - 1 Carmelite Drive

MIDDLETOWN, NY 10940-0439

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelite Community

St.  John the Martyr Parish

259 East - 71st St.

NEW YORK, NY 10021-4596

U.S.A.

※

• V.R.M. General, CSAI

Saint Teresa's Motherhouse

Avila on Hudson - 600 Woods Rd.

GERMANTOWN, NY 12526

U.S.A. 

※

• V.R.M. General, COLMC

Carmel Generalate

P.O. Box 476

LACOMBE, LA 70445

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

St. Eliseus Priory

P.O. Box 462 - 324 Jersey St.

HARRISON, NJ 07029

U.S.A. 

※

• Carmelites

Carmelite Residence

1501 Winterberry Lane

DARIEN, IL 60561-5393

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

Mount Carmel Hermitage

244 Baileys Road

BOLIVAR, PA 15923-9668

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

St. Albert Priory

P.O. Box 908 - 72 Carmelite Drive

MIDDLETOWN, NY 10940-0908

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

St. Francis of Assisi Priory

5265 Placida Road

GROVE CITY, FL 34224-9566

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

Carmel at Mission Valley

955 Laurel Rd. E.

NOKOMIS, FL 34275-4507

U.S.A.

※

• Rev. Paul Robinson, O.Carm. 

127 Shawomet Avenue # 1

SOMERSET, MA 02726-4307

U.S.A. 

※

• Carmelite Provincial Archives

1317 Frontage Road

DARIEN, IL 60561

U.S.A.

※

• Hermits of Our Lady of Mount Carmel 

Carmel of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

80, Pleasant Hill Rd.

CHESTER, NJ 07930-2135

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

St. Therese Priory

75 East Mariposa St. - Apt. # 3

PHOENIX, AZ 85012-1631

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

23 Wellesley Road

BLOOMINGBURG, NY 12721

U.S.A.

※

• Mount Carmel Hermitage

P.O. Box 337

CHRISTOVAL, TX 76935-0337

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelite Hermitage

8249 De Montreville Trail

LAKE ELMO, MN 55042-9545

U.S.A.

※

• Rev. Michael A. Greenwell, O.Carm. 

St. Teresa of Avila Priory

390 Missouri St.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish

425 S. Tamiami Trail - P.O.Box 1097

OSPREY, FL 34229-9558

U.S.A. 

※

• Rev. John Russell, O.Carm. 

Immaculate Conception Seminary

400 S. Orange Ave. - Rm 118

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ 07079-2646

U.S.A. 

※

• Carmelites

St. Thomas the Apostle Parish

5472 S. Kimbark Ave.

CHICAGO, IL 60615-5297

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelite Community

St. Cyril of Alexandria Parish

4725 A. Pima St.

TUCSON, AZ 85712-3520

U.S.A.

※

• Carith

Carmelite Pre-Novitiate House

5498 S. Kimbark Ave.

CHICAGO, IL 60615

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelite Residence

554 Pine Ranch East Road

OSPREY, FL 34229-8973

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

St. Therese Chapel

Northshore Shopping Center

PEABODY, MA 01960-1600

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites

Our Lady of the Peace Parish

P.O. Box 1664

NIAGARA FALLS, NY 14302-1664

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelite Comunication Office

8501 Bailey Road

DARIEN, IL 60561-8418

U.S.A.

※

• Society of the Little Flower

1313 Frontage Road

DARIEN, IL 60561-5340

U.S.A.

※

• Carmelites od St. Joseph

Annunciation Hermitage

1009 Oakland Ave. E.

AUSTIN, MN 55912

U.S.A.

※

• Nat. Shrine of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel 

P.O. Box 2163 - 70 Carmelite Drive

MIDDLETOWN, NY 10940-0879

U.S.A.

※

TOP

ARGENTINA | BOLIVIA | BRAZIL | COLOMBIA | EL-SALVADOR | MEXICO | PERU | TRINIDAD–TOBAGO | VENEZUELA

• Padres Carmelitas

Parroquia  N. Sra. del Carmen

Cerrito, 1356

LOMAS DE ZAMORA, - BS. AS.

ARGENTINA

※

• Padres Carmelitas

Seminario Elías Profeta

C. Aconcagua, 3652-Monte Chingolo

LANUS ESTE, - BS. AS.

ARGENTINA

※

ARGENTINA | BOLIVIA | BRAZIL | COLOMBIA | EL-SALVADOR | MEXICO | PERU | TRINIDAD–TOBAGO | VENEZUELA

• Padres Carmelitas

Apartado 146

TARIJA,

BOLIVIA

※

• Padres Carmelitas

Casa de Formación

Casilla 9193

LA PAZ,

BOLIVIA

※

ARGENTINA | BOLIVIA | BRAZIL | COLOMBIA | EL-SALVADOR | MEXICO | PERU | TRINIDAD–TOBAGO | VENEZUELA

• M.R.M. General, ICDP

Casa Central

Rua Caraça, 648 - Serra

BELO HORIZONTE, MG

BRAZIL

※

• M.R.M. General, IMCJ

Casa Central

Rua Vicente Bezerra, 1 - C.P. 40

CAJAZEIRAS, PB

BRAZIL

※

• Convento do Carmo

Caixa Postal 73064

ANGRA DOS REIS, RJ

BRAZIL

※

• Convento do Carmo

Largo do Carmo, s/n

SALVADOR, BA

BRAZIL

※

• Convento do Carmo

Rua Grâo Mogol, 502 Carmo

BELO HORIZONTE, MG

BRAZIL

※

• Convento do Carmo

Praça Indipendência, 185 - C.P.17

ITU, SP

BRAZIL

※

• Convento do Carmo

Avda. W5-Sul SGAS 912, Lotes 50-52

BRASILIA, DF

BRAZIL

※

• Convento do Carmo

Caixa Postal 25

Rua Dr. A.C. Vieira, 620/674

MOGI DAS CRUZES, SP

BRAZIL

※

• Convento do Carmo

Rua Morais e Vale, 111 1º - Lapa

RIO DE JANEIRO, RJ

BRAZIL

※

• Convento do Carmo

Av. Vicente de Carvalho, 970

RIO DE JANEIRO, RJ

BRAZIL

※

• Rev. P. Bibliotecario, O.Carm.

Convento do Carmo - Bela Vista

Rua Martiniano de Carvalho, 114

SÃO PAULO, SP

BRAZIL

※

• Convento do Carmo

Parroquia Sta. Teresa de Jesus

Rua Clod. Amazonas, 50 - Itaim Bibi

SÃO PAULO, SP

BRAZIL

※

• Convento do Carmo

Rua Nossa Senhora do Carmo, 475

UNAÍ, MG

BRAZIL

※

• Convento do Carmo

Praça Barâo do Rio Branco, 16

Caixa Postal 327

SANTOS, SP

BRAZIL

※

• Convento do Carmo

Rua Omilio Monteiro Soares, 847

CURITIBA, PR

BRAZIL

※

• Seminario Imaculada Conceiçâo

Caixa Postal 611

GRACIOSA, PR

BRAZIL

※

• Convento do Carmo

Praça Joâo XXIII

Caixa Postal 611

PARANAVAI, PR

BRAZIL

※

• Convento do Carmo

Sítio N. Sra. Peregrina

CAMOCIM DE SÃO FELIX, PE

BRAZIL

※

• Convento do Carmo de Santo Alberto

Praça Frei Caneca, s/n

GOIANA, PE

BRAZIL

※

• Convento do Carmo de Sâo José

Patío do Carmo - Bairro S. Antonio

Av. Dantas Barreto, s/n

RECIFE, PE

BRAZIL

※

• Convento do Carmo de Sâo José

Rua Coronel Marcolino, s/n

PRINCESA ISABEL, PB

BRAZIL

※

• Convento do Carmo

Caixa Postal 31

ROLIM DE MOURA, RO

BRAZIL

※

• Convento do Carmo N. Sra. da Piedade

Caixa Postal 525

Av. Beira Mar, s/n - Piedade

JABOATÃO  GUARAPES, PE

BRAZIL

※

• Casa de Teologia N. Sra. Do Carmo

Bairro Novo A

Rua Dr. Pedro Darcy de Souza, 308

CURITIBA, PR

BRAZIL

※

• Postulantado Frei Tito Brandsma

Sitio Cercado - Bairro Novo B

Rua Otavio Afonso da Silva, 1909

CURITIBA, PR

BRAZIL

※

• Comunidade Santa Terezinha

Bairro Vila Eduardo

Rua Presidente Getúlio Vargas, 301

PETROLINA, PE

BRAZIL

※

• Irmâos Carmelitas

Paróquia S. Antônio de Pádua

Praça Castro Alves, s/n

JACOBINA, BA

BRAZIL

※

• Comunidade Carmelitana Frei Caneca

Bairro Suissa

Rua Porto da Folha, 1755

ARACAJU, SE

BRAZIL

※

• Convento do Carmo BeatoTito Brandsma

Largo do Monte Carmelo, s/n

CARMOPOLIS, SE

BRAZIL

※

• Inst. de Espirit. "B. Tito Brandsma" 

Convento do Carmo - Bairro S. Antonio

Av. Dantas Barreto, s/n

RECIFE, PE

BRAZIL

※

• Convento do Carmo

Rua Alfredo Guzela, 80 - Planalto

BELO HORIZONTE, MG

BRAZIL

※

• Comunidade Sâo Joâo da Cruz

Bairro do Espinheiro

Rua Conselheiro Portela, s/n

RECIFE, PE

BRAZIL

※

• Convento do Carmo

Praça Senhor dos Passos, s/n

SÃO CRISTOVÃO, SE

BRAZIL

※

• Comunidade Carmelitana

Casa de Formaçâo Planalto

Rua Iracema Souza Pinto, 695

BELO HORIZONTE, MG

BRAZIL

※

• Casa Paroquial

ARSE 23 - QIF - Lt. 26

Caixa Postal 214

PALMAS, TO

BRAZIL

※

• Mosteiro Monte Carmelo

Pinheirinho

Rua La Salle, 850

CURITIBA, PR

BRAZIL

※

• Comunidade Santo Alberto

Paróquia São Lázaro

Rua Epitácio Pessoa 9-B.São Lázaro

MANAUS, AM

BRAZIL

※

ARGENTINA | BOLIVIA | BRAZIL | COLOMBIA | EL-SALVADOR | MEXICO | PERU | TRINIDAD–TOBAGO | VENEZUELA

• Padres Carmelitas

Apartado Aéreo 18479

BOGOTA, D.E.

COLOMBIA

※

• Padres Carmelitas

Parroquia Sta. M. del Carmen

Apartado Aéreo 7342

MEDELLIN, - ANTIOQUIA

COLOMBIA

※

• Padres Carmelitas

Parroquia S. José Obrero

Apartado Aéreo 3607

CARTAGENA,

COLOMBIA

※

• Aspirantado Tito Brandsma

Barrio Nueva Colombia

Hermosura del Carmelo

TURBACO, BOLIVAR

COLOMBIA

※

• Padres Carmelitas

Parroquia Maria Auxiliadora

Calle 16  7-50

AGUACHICA, CESAR

COLOMBIA

※

ARGENTINA | BOLIVIA | BRAZIL | COLOMBIA | EL-SALVADOR | MEXICO | PERU | TRINIDAD–TOBAGO | VENEZUELA

• Frailes Carmelitas - N.Sra. de Lourdes 

Centro Teologico "Xiberta"

Km. 8,5 Troncal del Norte

CIUDAD DELGADO,

EL SALVADOR

※

ARGENTINA | BOLIVIA | BRAZIL | COLOMBIA | EL-SALVADOR | MEXICO | PERU | TRINIDAD–TOBAGO | VENEZUELA

• Los Carmelitas

Casa del Carmen

Apartado Postal 403

TORREON, - COAH

MEXICO

※

• Casa del Carmen

Col.Centro Historico de Tlalpan

C.Retama # 77-Col.Barrio Niño Jesus

TLALPAN, D.F.

MEXICO

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ARGENTINA | BOLIVIA | BRAZIL | COLOMBIA | EL-SALVADOR | MEXICO | PERU | TRINIDAD–TOBAGO | VENEZUELA

• Frailes Carmelitas

Convento del Carmen

Apartado 18-1036

MIRAFLORES, - LIMA 18

PERU

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• Frailes Carmelitas

Convento del Carmen de Jose Galvez

Apartado 18-1036

MIRAFLORES, - LIMA 18

PERU

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• Frailes Carmelitas

Monte Carmelo de Cieneguilla

Apartado 18-1036

MIRAFLORES, - LIMA 18

PERU

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• Frailes Carmelitas

Casa S. Elias

Apartado 18-1036

MIRAFLORES, - LIMA 18

PERU

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• Padres Carmelitas

Prelatura de Sicuani

Apartado 46

SICUANI, - VIA CUZCO

PERU

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• Madres Carmelitas

Monasterio de la Sma. Trinidad

Casilla 55

CAMANA, - VIA AREQUIPA

PERU

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• Frailes Carmelitas

Villa Carmelitas de Lurin

Apartado 18-1036

MIRAFLORES, -- LIMA 18

PERU

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• Noviciado Carmelitano de Lurin

Apartado 18-1036

MIRAFLORES, - LIMA 18

PERU

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ARGENTINA | BOLIVIA | BRAZIL | COLOMBIA | EL-SALVADOR | MEXICO | PERU | TRINIDAD–TOBAGO | VENEZUELA

• V.R.M. General, CCC

Generalate & Mt. Carmel Novitiate

St. John Road

TUNAPUNA,

TRINIDAD - TOBAGO

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• Carmelite Friars

St. Michael's Priory

Maracas Royal Road

MARACAS VALLEY, - ST. JOSEPH

TRINIDAD - TOBAGO

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ARGENTINA | BOLIVIA | BRAZIL | COLOMBIA | EL-SALVADOR | MEXICO | PERU | TRINIDAD–TOBAGO | VENEZUELA

• Padres Carmelitas

Parroquia Sta. Monica

Municipio Jesus E. Losada

LA CONCEPCION, - EDO. ZULIA

VENEZUELA

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• Padres Carmelitas

Parroquia N.Sra. del Carmen

Calle Colon 96 - Urb. Bolivar

LA VICTORIA, - EDO. ARAGUA

VENEZUELA

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• Padres Carmelitas

Parroquia N. Sra. del Carmen

Apartado 76.088 - El Marqués

PETARE, - CARACAS

VENEZUELA

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• M.R.P. Vicario Provincial, O.Carm.

Parroquia Monte Carmelo

Avda. El Paseo, 96 - Apdo. 40122

CARACAS, - LOS ROSALES

VENEZUELA

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• Padres Carmelitas

Parroquia Monte Carmelo

Ave. El Paseo, 96 - Apdo. 40122

CARACAS, - LOS ROSALES

VENEZUELA

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• Padres Carmelitas

Casa  Parroquial

COLONIA TOVAR, - EDO. ARAGUA

VENEZUELA

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• Padres Carmelitas

Parroquia San Nicolás

Igualdad, s/n

PORLAMAR, - EDO. N. ESPARTA

VENEZUELA

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• M.R.M. General, HCMC

Hermanas Carmelitas - Casa Madre

Avenida Mirador, 12-05

LA CAMPIÑA, - CARACAS

VENEZUELA

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• Padres Carmelitas

El Llanito - La Otra Banda

C/ Cumanacoa, Pje. 1º, Barrio Sucre

MERIDA, - EDO. MERIDA

VENEZUELA

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TOP

Carmelitae Sancti Eliae

In July 1985, three young men joined Fr. Yohannes Indrakusuma to live as hermits. After a year of discernment, the group decided to form a new religious community with the name Carmelitae Sancti Eliae. Weathering initial difficulties, the group has grown steadily.

The Congregation of Carmelitae Sancti Eliae was also affiliated to the Order on December 19, 2002.

The life of Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity, a Carmelite who lived her vocation to the fullest. She is my inspiration because of her great love for Christ. Even in suffering she grew to overcome herself and learn from her experience to grow closer to Jesus.

Ordinary Time

1) Opening prayer

Lord,

be merciful to Your people.

Fill us with Your gifts

and make us always eager to serve You

in faith, hope and love.

You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

2) Gospel Reading - Matthew 13:24-30

Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds. "The Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well. The slaves of the householder came to him and said, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?' He answered, 'An enemy has done this.' His slaves said to him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?' He replied, 'No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, "First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn."'"

3) Reflection

• Today’s Gospel speaks to us about the parable of the seed. Whether in society or in the community or in our family and personal life, there is a mixture of good qualities as well as inconsistencies, limitations and errors. People of various origins, each one with her own story, with her own lived experience, her own opinion, her own yearnings, her own differences, meet in community.  Some people do not know how to live with differences. They want to be the judges of others. They think that they are the only ones who are right, and that others are in error. The parable of the seed and the darnel helps us not to fall into the temptation to exclude from the community those who do not think like us.

•The background of the parable of the seed and the darnel. For centuries, because of the observance of the laws of purity, the Jews lived separated from other nations. This isolation had marked them. Even after being converted, some continued to follow this observance which separated them from others. They wanted total purity! Any sign of impurity had to be eradicated in the name of God. “Sin cannot be tolerated,” some would say. But others, for example Paul, taught that the new law which Jesus asked them to observe said the contrary! “Sin cannot be tolerated, but it is necessary to be tolerant with the sinner!”

• Matthews 13:24-26: The situation: the darnel and the wheat grain grow together. The Word of God causes communities to be formed and this is good seed, but within the communities there are always things which are contrary to the Word of God. From where do these come? This was the discussion or mystery which led to keeping the parable of the darnel and the wheat.

• Matthew 13:27-28a: The origin of the mixture which exists in life. The laborers asked the owner, the sower: “Sir, was it not good seed that you sowed in your field? If so, where does the darnel come from?” The owner responded, “Some enemy has done this.” Who is this enemy? The enemy, the adversary, Satan or the Devil (Mt 13:39) is the one who divides, who distracts from the right path. The tendency to division exists in the community and in each one of us. The desire to dominate, to take advantage of the community in order to be more important, and so many other interested desires divide. They are the enemy which sleeps in each one of us.

• Matthew 13:28b-30: The different reaction in the face of ambiguity. Faced with this mixture of good and of evil, the laborers want to eliminate the darnel. They thought, "If we leave everything in the community, we lose our reason for being! We lose our identity!” They wanted to send away those who they thought were different. But this is not the decision of the owner of the land. He says, “Let both the darnel and the wheat grow together till the harvest!” What is decisive is not what each one says, but what each one lives and does. God will judge us according to the fruit which we  produce (Mt 12:33). The force and the dynamism of the Kingdom will manifest themselves in the community. Even if it is small and full of contradictions, it is a sign of the Kingdom. But it is not the master or the owner of the Kingdom, neither can it consider itself totally just. The parable of the seed and of the darnel explains the way in which the force of the Kingdom acts in history. One must make a clear option for the justice of the Kingdom, and at the same time, fight together for justice, have patience and learn to live and to dialogue with differences and with contradictions. When harvest comes then there will be the division, the separation.

• Teaching in Parables. The parable is a pedagogical tool which uses daily life to indicate that life speaks to us of God. It becomes a reality and renders the people’s perspective contemplative. A parable deals with the things of life, and because of this it is an open teaching, because we all have some experience of things of life. The teaching in parables makes the person start from the experience that she has: seed, light, sheep, flowers, birds, father, net, little children, fish, etc. In this way daily life becomes transparent, revealing the presence and the action of God. Jesus did not usually explain the parables. He left the meaning open. He did not determine it. This was a sign that he believed in the capacity of the people to discover the meaning of the parable, beginning with their experience of life. Sometimes, at the request of the disciples, He would explain the meaning (Mt 13:10, 36). This is what He did with the parable of the seed and the darnel (Mt 13:36-43).

4) Personal questions

• How is the mixture of seed and darnel manifested in our community? What are the consequences of this for our life?

• Looking into the mirror of the parable, with whom do I feel more in agreement: with the laborers who want to cut away the darnel, or with the owner of the field who orders them to wait until the time of the harvest?

• This parable adequately describes both good and evil co-existing, and the darnel may impact the wheat exteriorly, but the wheat cannot become darnel. As humans, we can take on the habits and attributes of those around us, thereby losing our beginning character and taking on another. In many ways this is growth when it happens in a positive way. Can one, living in community and accepting differences and contradictions, continue to be “wheat” among “darnel”? How can this be done? What must one do?

5) Concluding Prayer

My whole being yearns and pines

for Yahweh's courts.

My heart and my body cry out

for joy to the living God. (Ps 84:2)

Carolyn Humphreys

In her brief twenty-six years, Elizabeth encapsulated the Carmelite attributes of reflective prayer, living in the present moment, loving God wholeheartedly and serving others with simplicity. She described her vision of a Carmelite as one "who has beheld the Crucified, who has seen him offering himself to the Father as a victim for souls and, meditating in the light of this great vision of Christ's charity, has understood the passion of love that filled his soul and has willed to give herself as he did." Her words were meant for each one of us. With the help of grace, we, too, can live in intimacy with God and in service to others. Elizabeth wanted everyone to be aware of the Trinitarian dwelling place — the "little heaven" within each person's soul, where our intimacy with God grows. She encourages us to quietly radiate the Trinitarian presence wherever we may be.

During childhood, Elizabeth's family moved frequently. She lived in the world most of her life and was comfortable with people of every class and circumstance. She lived simply and honestly, without concern about being the best or looking good. She treasured her friends and wrote or visited them often. Her warmth was authentic and came from her deep prayer life. There were no pious platitudes or "saintly" behaviors in her speech or demeanor. She exemplified the joy of being an authentic, beloved son or daughter of the Triune God of love.

The expression "praise of glory" was particularly dear to Elizabeth. It was the name she wanted in heaven. She found this phrase in St Paul's letter to the Ephesians and took it to heart. She glorified God by being aware of, and grateful for, his many blessings. She felt his glorified presence predominately in the center of her soul and found much peace in this presence. God's presence within her was a blessed refuge to which she escaped when she was out of sorts for one reason or another. We should do likewise when we are restless, tense, stressed or upset. At this still point, we can tell God our inmost secrets or that which bothers us. The indwelling three and the universal presence of God are the principal reasons why each Christian is a "praise of glory."

Elizabeth liked to dwell upon God finding rest in her soul. "I have found my heaven on earth," she said, "since heaven is God, and God is in my soul." She encourages us to reflect on that part of Mary's life between the annunciation and the nativity. This gives us concrete evidence in our understanding of the indwelling presence of God. Elizabeth's concept of God was eminently personal. He gently led her to an honest acceptance of herself. She loved and trusted God because she had the ability to love and trust herself and others. Her warmth and attentiveness to the joys and sufferings of people she met assisted her in experiencing the wonder of God within herself and within others. Her personal concept of God was contrary to the Jansenistic belief in God that was popular at the time. Elizabeth was neither overly concerned with the state of her soul, nor saw God as harsh and severely judgmental. When writing about God, her language was simple and affectionate. Love was experienced as a childlike, humble growing in God: "We shall not be purified by looking at our miseries, but by gazing on him who is all purity and holiness" she wrote. Her focus was quiet attention to an intimate God within her soul, rather than concentration on a distant God who is far away in heaven. She envisioned each incident and circumstance of life as a sacrament, which brought God to an individual and assisted an individual to become more aware of God's indwelling presence. "Every happening, every event, every suffering as also every joy, is a sacrament that gives God to the soul," she tells us. Without visions or miracles, in unsung daily activities, she located the pearl of great price. She found Jesus in rain or shine, pain or joy.

Even though reading the Bible personally was rare in her day, Elizabeth had an intense love for scripture. She shows us we need not be scholars to understand scripture. As she prayerfully and reflectively read the gospel, she grew in God's love. She loved scripture in a personal compassionate way, rather than in an academic theological way. She was quite intuitive about the teachings of St. Paul and saw a universality in the mysteries of Christ. Her response to God's word was manifest by a deep friendship with Jesus. She did not preach the gospel with words; she lived it with her life.

In Carmel, Elizabeth used two biblical texts as guides: "to pray . . . in secret" (Matt. 6:6) and ". . . on judgment day people will be held accountable for every unguarded word they speak . . . "(Matt. 12:36). The first quote identifies the heartbeat of Carmel: Prayer in secret. This type of prayer sustains our intimacy with God and keeps it alive and well. Our love for God is equally an ultimate encounter and an unfathomable mystery experienced primarily in prayer. "Prayer is a rest, a relaxation . . . We must look at him all the time; we must keep silent, it is so simple," Elizabeth wrote. The last words take us from the first quote to the second. Noting the popularity of talk shows, cell phones, e-mail and the commonness of rumors and gossip, we easily see its validity. Many of us find it hard to keep silent before God and with others. Yet this is necessary for spiritual growth. A good way to measure how silent we are before God is to measure how silent we are when we listen to others.

The good news Elizabeth shares with us radiates from the beauty of the kingdom of God within her and within each one of us. Experiencing this beauty liberates us from making idols of material goods and getting too involved with worldly pursuits. It repeatedly brings us back to our still point, nourishes life at a deep level, and sees humanity as the family of God. Elizabeth saw each person as a house of the triune God. At the hearth of our house of God, our faith burns like a great fire of love. Our faith brings others closer to the warmth of God's love and lightens the darkness of the world.

Elizabeth remained strong willed. Once her mind was made up, she could be unyielding. She used this trait to her advantage through loving loyalty to, and perseverance in, her Carmelite life. Her deep love helped her cope with the monotony and irritants in Carmel. She counsels us about pride. It cannot be destroyed with one bold stroke of a sword. Rather, we must die to it every day. We struggle with our egos and clash with others because of our pride. Our arrogance uses others for our own advantage. Elizabeth overcame her ego by seeing God in others. She advises us to go to his infinity and find each other there. What a lovely, thought provoking idea! We must go out of ourselves before we can plunge into the depths of God within ourselves. We become more open and receptive to his love through this often-repeated act. The deepest reality of our own being is the being of God. No words are said at this sacred place within. There is nothing save a union with the indwelling three in one.

Because Elizabeth wants to help us be aware of the intricate workings of God in our souls and in our lives, she is a true soul friend for our time. Elizabeth saw herself as a helpmate to all who wish to walk on the road of loving prayer. She teaches us to let go of what holds us back on this road. We take her hand, and with her, rest in the simple, silent presence of God as he rests in us. Because we have faithfully practiced daily prayer for a long time, we can let go of our work at prayer. Our reflective prayer is changed into silence. God has taken over. We retire to this place of quietness regularly. During this precious time we dwell in the peace of Christ. Our little haven is a refuge, an abiding place, where we find protection against the wiles of the world and ourselves. Our sacred meeting place with God surrounds us with stillness and deep silence, and here within we listen to the Word.

Elizabeth encourages us to live our Christian vocation to the full, by living every aspect of our day generously and with ardor. She challenges us to plunge deeper into our spiritual life, thus broadening our understanding of other aspects of our lives and the workings of the mysteries of God therein. She truly lived her faith by showing us it is only through faith that we can begin to grasp this paradox: God, who is transcendent, who is above and beyond anything we understand, loves us personally, and cares for the smallest details in our lives.

While in Carmel, Elizabeth penned her Act of Oblation. It shows her spiritual maturity and passion for God. She passes these words on to us: "O Eternal Word, Word of my God. I want to spend my life in listening to you, to become wholly teachable that I may learn all from you. Then, through all nights, all voids, all helplessness, I want to gaze on you always and remain in your great light . . . O my Three, my all, my Beatitude, infinite Solitude, immensity in which I lose myself, I surrender myself to you as your prey. Bury yourself in me that I may bury myself in you until I depart to contemplate in your light the abyss of your greatness."

Carolyn Humphreys, O.C.D.S., is a secular discalced Carmelite. She is the author of From Ash to Fire, an Odyssey in Prayer: A Contemporary Journey through the Interior Castle of Teresa of Avila (New City press). Her articles have appeared in Carmelite Digest and Review for Religious. Her last article in HPR appeared in July 1999. Her website is www. catholic-forum.com/members/contemplative.