GIVE US THIS BREAD ALWAYS…

Acts 7:51-60;8:1

51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 

52 Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered,53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.” 

54 Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth against him.55 But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; 

56 and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God.” 

57 But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together upon him.58 Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him; and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.59 And as they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”60 And he knelt down and cried with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

1 And Saul was consenting to his death. And on that day a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the region of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 

John 6:30-35

30 So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see, and believe you? What work do you perform? 

31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'”32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.33 For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world.” 

34 They said to him, “Lord, give us this bread always.”35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.

MEDITATION

THE BOOK OF ACTS describes the martyrdom of the first ordained deacon who refused to hide or be silent about the revelation that the promised Messiah has come and was rejected and crucified by the very people he was addressing. Stephen proceeded to make known the revelation that Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father which Infuriated the naysayers to the extent that their intransigent animus and the tacit approval of Saul gave way to them commiting a murder!It would be remiss of us to overlook the act of love,grace,charity and forgiveness that prevailed in the heart of this saintly deacon who offered a prayer seeking God’s indulgence to forgive his enemies at the hour of his death! 

Catec 1777 Moral conscience, present at the heart of the person, enjoins him at the appropriate moment to do good and to avoid evil. It also judges particular choices, approving those that are good and denouncing those that are evil…When he listens to his conscience, the prudent man can hear God speaking…[Conscience] is a messenger of him, who, both in nature and in grace, speaks to us behind a veil, and teaches and rules us by his representatives. Conscience is the aboriginal Vicar of Christ.” 

THE GOSPEL OF St JOHN sees a crowd demanding evidence in the form of a “sign” to believe that He is the Christ. It is with interest that we notice the crowd reference their ancestral journey when God supplied manna as a sign of His love, care and ever presence! Our Lord build upon the proposition of the crowd, by revealing to them that He shall comport with the sign that their ancestors received with the distinction that ‘His flesh’ shall be the bread of life; “true bread” that will sustain them in their daily walk with Him.

The “Reformation” that occurred some five hundred years ago begun by a Catholic priest Fr Martin Luther who deformed Christs actual words (Jn 6:54,55) and Church’s teaching when he relegated the ” sign” of Christ’s ever presence to a mere “symbol.” Regrettably, since then other splinter groups have bought into this lie in ignorance of the teachings and observances of first century Catholic Christians and sacred scripture and Sacred Tradition, thus starving themselves from real grace and forgiveness in receiving “real food,” the  body blood soul and divinity of Christ Jesus!!

St. Ignatius of Antioch (c. 110 A.D.)

“I have no taste for corruptible food nor for the pleasures of this life. I desire the Bread of God, WHICH IS THE FLESH OF JESUS CHRIST, who was of the seed of David; and for drink I DESIRE HIS BLOOD, which is love incorruptible. (Letter to the Romans 7:3)

Take care, then, to use one Eucharist, so that whatever you do, you do according to God: FOR THERE IS ONE FLESH OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, and one cup IN THE UNION OF HIS BLOOD; one ALTAR, as there is one bishop with the presbytery… (Letter to the  Philadelphians 4:1)

They [i.e. the Gnostics] abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they do not confess that THE EUCHARIST IS THE FLESH OF OUR SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST, flesh which suffered for our sins and which the Father, in his goodness, raised up again. (Letter to Smyrnians 7:1″

LET US PRAY:LET US PRAY: Psalms 31:3-4,6-8,17,21

3 Yea, thou art my rock and my fortress; for thy name’s sake lead me and guide me, 4 take me out of the net which is hidden for me, for thou art my refuge. 

6 Thou hatest those who pay regard to vain idols; but I trust in the LORD. 

7 I will rejoice and be glad for thy steadfast love, because thou hast seen my affliction, thou hast taken heed of my adversities, 

8 and hast not delivered me into the hand of the enemy; thou hast set my feet in a broad place.17 Let me not be put to shame, O LORD, for I call on thee; let the wicked be put to shame, let them go dumbfounded to Sheol.21 Blessed be the LORD, for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me when I was beset as in a besieged city. 

catholicwitnessct@gmail.com    Henry R SYLVESTER              

Note: The daily scripture readings are taken from the Roman Missal which the Catholic Church use in the daily Celebration of the Holy Eucharist throughout the world.Some weekly readings may differ because of the celebration of local feast