by Faith Central & Steve Welsh
“Jesus said …
* * *
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.'”
“Jesus said to Thomas, ‘I am the Way and the Truth and the Life.
No one comes to the Father except through Me.
If you know Me, then you will also know my Father.
From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.’
… The Words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own.
The Father who dwells in Me is doing His Works.
Believe Me that I AM in the Father and the Father is in Me,
or else, believe because of the Works themselves.
Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever believes in Me will do the Works that I do,
and will do greater ones than these,
because I AM going to the Father.
And whatever you ask in My Name, I will do,
so that the Father may be Glorified in the Son.
If you ask anything of Me in My Name, I will do it.'”
“… #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.”
“1. ‘Joseph did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took his wife’ (cf. Mt 1 :24).
Inspired by the Gospel, the Fathers of the Church from the earliest centuries stressed that just as St. Joseph took loving care of Mary and gladly dedicated himself to Jesus Christ’s upbringing,(1) he likewise watches over and protects Christ’s Mystical Body, that is, the Church, of which the Virgin Mary is the exemplar and model.
… I wish to offer for your consideration … some reflections concerning him ‘into whose custody God entrusted his most precious treasures.'[] I gladly fulfill this pastoral duty so that all may grow in devotion to the Patron of the Universal Church and in love for the Savior whom he served in such an exemplary manner.
In this way the whole Christian people not only will turn to St. Joseph with greater fervor and invoke his patronage with trust, but also will always keep before their eyes his humble, mature way of serving and of ‘taking part’ in the plan of salvation.[]
I am convinced that by reflection upon the way that Mary’s spouse shared in the divine mystery, the Church – on the road towards the future with all of humanity – will be enabled to discover ever anew her own identity within this redemptive plan, which is founded on the mystery of the Incarnation.
This is precisely the mystery in which Joseph of Nazareth ‘shared’ like no other human being except Mary, the Mother of the Incarnate Word. He shared in it with her; he was involved in the same salvific event; he was the guardian of the same love, through the power of which the eternal Father ‘destined us to be his sons through Jesus Christ (Eph 1:5). …”
“Exercising his paternal care over Jesus, Saint Joseph of Nazareth, set over the Lord’s family, marvelously fulfilled the office he received by grace. Adhering firmly to the mystery of God’s design of salvation in its very beginnings, he stands as an exemplary model of the kindness and humility that the Christian faith raises to a great destiny, and demonstrates the ordinary and simple virtues necessary for men to be good and genuine followers of Christ. Through these virtues, this Just man, caring most lovingly for the Mother of God and happily dedicating himself to the upbringing of Jesus Christ, was placed as guardian over God the Father’s most precious treasures. Therefore he has been the subject of assiduous devotion on the part of the People of God throughout the centuries, as the support of that mystical body, which is the Church.
The faithful in the Catholic Church have shown continuous devotion to Saint Joseph and have solemnly and constantly honored his memory as the most chaste spouse of the Mother of God and as the heavenly Patron of the universal Church. …”
“… Now, Venerable Brethren, you know the times in which we live; they are scarcely less deplorable for the Christian religion than the worst days, which in time past were most full of misery to the Church. We see faith, the root of all the Christian virtues, lessening in many souls; we see charity growing cold; the young generation daily growing in depravity of morals and views; the Church of Jesus Christ attacked on every side by open force or by craft; a relentless war waged against the Sovereign Pontiff; and the very foundations of religion undermined with a boldness which waxes daily in intensity. These things are, indeed, so much a matter of notoriety that it is needless for Us to expatiate on the depths to which society has sunk in these days, or on the designs which now agitate the minds of men. In circumstances so unhappy and troublous, human remedies are insufficient, and it becomes necessary, as a sole resource, to beg for assistance from the Divine power.”
“Stephen, filled with Grace and Power,
was working great wonders and signs among the people.
Certain members of the so-called Synagogue of Freedmen,
Cyreneans, and Alexandrians,
and people from Cilicia and Asia,
came forward and debated with Stephen,
but they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke.
… They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes,
accosted him, seized him,
and brought him before the Sanhedrin.
They presented false witnesses ….
All those who sat in the Sanhedrin looked intently at him
and saw that his face was like the face of an angel.”
“In today’s Gospel we encounter two discouraged and broken men making their way to Emmaus. The text describes them as ‘downcast.’ …. They are also moving in the wrong direction, West, away from Jerusalem, away form the resurrection. They have their backs to the Lord, rising in the East. The men cannot see or understand God’s Plan. They cannot ‘see’ that He must be alive, just as they were told. They are quite blind as to the glorious things that happened hours before. In this, they are much like us, who also struggle to see and understand that we have already won the victory. Too easily our eyes are cast downward in depression rather than upward in faith. …”
“How does #Jesus make himself known at #Emmaus? First, He interprets ‘all the Scriptures’ as referring to Him. In today’s First Reading and Epistle, Peter also opens the Scriptures to proclaim the meaning of Christ’s death according to the Father’s ‘set plan’ — foreknown before the foundation of the world. … In every Eucharist, we reenact that Easter Sunday at Emmaus. Jesus reveals Himself to us in our journey. He speaks to our hearts in the Scriptures. Then at the table of the altar, in the person of the Priest, He breaks the bread. The Disciples begged him, ‘Stay with us.’ So He does. Though He has vanished from our sight, in the Eucharist—as at Emmaus—we know Him in the breaking of the bread.”
“… The early Church realized that Jesus’ timing of the first two Masses (Eucharists) was very significant. Led by the Spirit (Jn 16:13), they devoted themselves to the breaking of the bread, that is, the Mass (Acts 2:42). Wherever the Church has emphasized devotion to the Mass throughout its history, it has seen the love, power, and glory of God. Therefore, let us fully enter into the Sunday celebration of the Mass. May it be the center of our Sunday and of our life. Let us pray the Mass daily or as often as possible. Let us visit the Blessed Sacrament frequently. A life eucharistically centered is a life centered on the crucified and risen Christ.”