DO YOU UNDERSTAND…

Acts 8:26-40

26 But an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert road. 27 And he rose and went. And behold, an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a minister of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of all her treasure, had come to Jerusalem to worship 28 and was returning; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah.
29 And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this chariot.”30 So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”31 And he said, “How can I, unless some one guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
32 Now the passage of the scripture which he was reading was this: “As a sheep led to the slaughter or a lamb before its shearer is dumb, so he opens not his mouth.
33 In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken up from the earth.”
34 And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, pray, does the prophet say this, about himself or about some one else?”
35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this scripture he told him the good news of Jesus.
36 And as they went along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What is to prevent my being baptized?” 37 * Other ancient authorities add all or most of: And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he replied, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
38 And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.39 And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught up Philip; and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. 40 But Philip was found at Azotus, and passing on he preached the gospel to all the towns till he came to Caesarea.

John 6:44-51

44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Every one who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. 46 Not that any one has seen the Father except him who is from God; he has seen the Father.
47 Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.48 I am the bread of life.49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.
50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die.
51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.”  

MEDITATION

THE FIRST READING: Philip, a disciple of Christ was sent to coach the Ethiopian eunuch who tried to reconcile the cruxifiction event that he witnessed with the prophecy of Isaiah. The eunuch humble admitted to Philip, that he need someone—a teacher—to guide him make sense of Isaiahs prophecy (Isa 53).

Philip catechised the eunuch, affirming that the Good Friday event whereby Christ offered up His life to save mankind, is indeed the fulfillment of Isaiahs prophecy. The eunuch believed the teaching when he so to speak connected the dots and asked Philip to baptize him when he saw a stream of water! Herein we again witness that baptism is a nessesary foundational Sacrament!

THE GOSPEL READING: The Gospel reading testify that the revealed Divine truths; Christ’s manifestation; life, teachings, death and ressurection has been handed down to us by the apostles of Christ, who witnessed these phenomenal events that transpired some two thousand years ago. 

The NT sacred book (bible) that we venerate, was borne out of the Church, meaning the living Church predates the written NT text, therefore we must read, study and understand its contents in the light of how the early Apostolic Church practiced and taught the faith. Central to the teachings of Christ (vv47-51) is the daily Eucharistic Sacrifice of the Mass whereby the catechised and baptised, are able to receive the “living bread” from those who has received the faith from the first century Apostolic witnesses.Since it is nessesary that we correctly understand Sacred Scripture, we do need an Apostolic teacher who can trace his catechetical roots back to the first century. 

LET US PRAY: Psalms 66:8-9,16-17,20
8 Bless our God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard, 9 who has kept us among the living, and has not let our feet slip.16 Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for me.
17 I cried aloud to him, and he was extolled with my tongue. 20 Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me!

Commentary. 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 days.