R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven, says the Lord;
whoever eats this bread will live forever.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

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.”

You are invited! You are invited … to a life of Faith … to a life in the Holy Eucharist. You are invited.

For several Sundays now we have heard the 6^th chapter of St. John’s Gospel. Beginning with just 5 barley loaves of bread and two fish, we have been miraculously fed along with the 5000+.  We bore witness alongside the Apostles at the Sea of Tiberius as Jesus  approached, walking across the water as the Apostles trembled with fear.  John’s Sixth Chapter then unfolds before us the promise of Jesus as The Bread of Life: to change our way of life — and to nourish us, now in our need, and again with the bread of heaven in ways that this earthly world cannot.

Then comes the teaching on the gift of the Holy Eucharist: His flesh is real food.

His blood is real drink.  Unless you eat and drink of me you cannot have eternal life.

You are invited! We have all been invited, then, to have total Faith in the Lord! You have been invited to have faith that there will be enough to feed us all, to have faith in the Lord Who calms the storms of the sea and all of our storms. Be not afraid, little ones! We are invited to have Faith in the very Bread of Life itself: His very Body and Blood. He will change our lives to ways that are more wholesome, more loving, more holy, more alive.

  

Cling, then, with profound Faith to His real presence in the most Holy Eucharist. You are invited! He is here! He is really here, not a mere symbol, but it is our Lord, Who comes.  We need only to approach our reception of Holy Communion for the salvation of our souls, with utmost reverence, with utmost humility unworthy as we are, and with the utmost desire to live truly with the Will of God each day, conforming our lives as we are taught to do.  This Sunday Mass is essential for the salvation of the soul. And that is why the Church reminds us all that we are seriously bound to come to Mass each Sunday, because it is truly essential — to your salvation, to your very life.

The Sixth chapter of John, in the end, tells us that some walked away from Jesus.  They found His teaching hard. They did not accept His profound invitation.  But I think that St. Peter says it all for us when he confesses to his Lord and ours following today’s gospel: “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.”

Monsignor Michael J. Cariglio, Jr., Rector, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Basilica and Saint Anthony Parish.

Elijah went a day’s journey into the desert,
until he came to a broom tree and sat beneath it.
He prayed for death saying:
“This is enough, O LORD!
Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”
He lay down and fell asleep under the broom tree,
but then an angel touched him and ordered him to get up and eat.
Elijah looked and there at his head was a hearth cake
and a jug of water.
After he ate and drank, he lay down again,
but the angel of the LORD came back a second time,
touched him, and ordered,
“Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!”
He got up, ate, and drank;
then strengthened by that food,
he walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb.

R. (9a) Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall be ever in my mouth.
Let my soul glory in the LORD;
the lowly will hear me and be glad.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Glorify the LORD with me,
Let us together extol his name.
I sought the LORD, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Look to him that you may be radiant with joy.
and your faces may not blush with shame.
When the afflicted man called out, the LORD heard,
and from all his distress he saved him.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
The angel of the LORD encamps
around those who fear him and delivers them.
Taste and see how good the LORD is;
blessed the man who takes refuge in him.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

Brothers and sisters:
Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,
with which you were sealed for the day of redemption.
All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling
must be removed from you, along with all malice.
And be kind to one another, compassionate,
forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.

So be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love,
as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us
as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma.

It has long been a Catholic understanding that when circumstances prevent one from receiving Holy Communion, it is possible to make an Act of Spiritual Communion, which is a source of grace. Spiritual Communion is an ardent desire to receive Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament and lovingly embrace him at a time or in circumstances when one cannot receive Him in sacramental Communion. The most common reason for making an Act of Spiritual Communion is when a person cannot attend Mass. Acts of Spiritual Communion increase our desire to receive sacramental Communion and help us avoid the sins that would make us unable to receive Holy Communion worthily.

Spiritual Communion Prayer

My Jesus, I believe that you are present in the Most Holy Sacrament.

I love you above all things and I desire to receive you in my soul.

Since I cannot at this moment receive you sacramentally,

Come at least spiritually into my heart.

I embrace you as if you were already there

And unite myself wholly to you.

Never permit me to be separated from you.

Amen.