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Here is the study for 6:30 am, Saturday morning, August 12th, 2006 in the Hearth Room at Epiphany.

Receiving Jesus, the Bread of Life, in the Eucharist

Sunday, August 13, 2006
Jeremiah 23:1-6
Psalm 23:1-6
Ephesians 2:13-18
Mark 6:30-34

Click here for readings  (For quick review only; bring your Bible)

I am the bread that came down from heaven. (John 6:41)

Can’t you just imagine the people’s murmurings? “Hold on, Jesus! We know who you are and where you came from. What do you mean, you came down from heaven?” How sad that they had such a limited vision of him! This is probably what St. Paul meant when he cautioned the Ephesians against grieving the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30). Surely the Spirit was urging these people, “Don’t minimize what you’ve seen Jesus do. He really is the bread of life. Believe, and you will have eternal life.”

How privileged we are to receive that same bread of life every time we receive the Eucharist! And how hard it can be at times to believe that we can experience miracles! God wants to work within each one of us at every Mass, filling us with courage, strength, and faith. But it can be so easy to “grieve” the Spirit by having much lower expectations than God himself has.

Several years ago, a priest and his bishop agreed to meet for lunch in a restaurant in their hometown. As the priest was waiting, the hostess asked if he needed help. The priest replied, “No thank you, I’m just waiting for my boss to show up.” The hostess looked at him with a strange expression and finally said, “Do you mean that God’s going to walk through this door?” An unrealistic response, perhaps, but still an admirable sense of expectation!

Don’t minimize what Jesus can do when he comes to us in Communion. Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit. Inner healing, newfound courage, deeper revelation, more abiding wisdom—all this and more is ours for the asking. Yes, at Mass we have the opportunity of becoming one in the Spirit with none other than the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 6:17)!

“Jesus, I love you. I want to grow closer to you. I believe you are truly present in the Eucharist. Fill me with a new light, a deeper longing, and a clearer belief as I receive you in this special way today.”

Questions for Reflection/Discussion by Catholic Men

1. In the first reading, God responded to Elijah's despair by providing sleep and food. Have you ever been in a situation where, like Elijah, you were worn out or overwhelmed by your circumstances? When you are discouraged where do you look for relief? How were you affected when you turned to the Lord? How about when you turned elsewhere?
2. In the Responsorial Psalm, we are invited to focus on the fact that it is not just human food that God provides us. He also gives us the opportunity to taste and see his very goodness - through prayer, Scripture, and the Sacraments. How have you used prayer, Scripture, and the Sacraments to be delivered from "fears", "shame" and "distress"? Share with the men in your group some times when the Lord "answered", "saved", and "delivered" you.
3. We are also asked by St. Paul to be "imitators" of God and "live in love" by being “kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another, as God has forgiven you in Christ.” With the Holy Spirit's promptings, what specific steps can you take to show God's kindness, compassion, and forgiveness in your family, your neighborhood, your parish, and your work environment?
4. In the Gospel reading, Jesus offers his “flesh for the life of the world” (John 6:51), a foreshadowing of the Eucharist. This Sunday in the Eucharist the God of the Universe will offer himself, "body and blood, soul and divinity" to you. Jesus wants to draw near to you as your food, your rest, your strength, your peace, your refuge, your healer and deliverer, your promise of eternal life! What steps can you take at Mass to make this more of a reality in your life?
5. In the meditation, we hear these words: “Don’t minimize what Jesus can do when he comes to us in Communion. Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit. Inner healing, newfound courage, deeper revelation, more abiding wisdom—all this and more is ours for the asking.” What do these words mean to you? How have you experienced the graces mentioned through receiving the Eucharist?

Come Holy Spirit!  ~  Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and en kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your spirit and they are created, and you renew the face of the earth. Let us pray: O God, you taught the hearts of your faithful by sending them the light of your Holy Spirit. In that same spirit give us your right judgment and the joy of your consolation. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen

Prayer to St. Joseph  ~  Glorious St. Joseph, guide and protector of the Holy Family, we ask that you obtain for us from your son, Jesus, the strength and wisdom to lead our families to their Father in heaven. Most Chaste spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, may we imitate your obedience to the will of God and be ever mindful of the vocation to which we have been called. Amen