Being a good husband and father isn’t easy. My wife, Chai, and I subscribe to several child psychologists, preachers, experts, and other content creators for tips on how to be better spouses and parents. But it’s hard to keep up with the different approaches, research, and advice from all these sources. It’s challenging to filter unhelpful ones.

It’s the same with life in general. There’s a lot of things that try to influence how we live, and it’s easy to get confused. In those situations, our key verse helps me get perspective and guides me in the proper direction. It serves as a grounding principle to remind us that true nourishment comes from a deeper, more enduring source.

This doesn’t mean ignoring practical advice or dismissing the insights of experts. Rather, it’s about establishing a foundation of faith, a lens through which to filter the information we receive. By anchoring ourselves in this perspective, we gain the ability to discern what is truly valuable, and to act “grounded in love.” 

Patrick Gamo (charlespatrickgamo@gmail.com) 

reflect

How can you tune in to God’s Word today?

Father, help me listen to You and be guided by Your word in all things. Amen. 

St. Robert of Newminster, pray for us.

First Reading | Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14-16

One of the strongest messages in the Scriptures is the call: “Do not forget the work of the Lord in your life!” This message encourages us to remember everything that God has done for us. Meditating on these things helps affirm the truth of God’s love for us and removes our doubts.

² Moses said to the people: “Remember how for forty years now the Lord, your God, has directed all your journeying in the desert, so as to test you by affliction and find out whether or not it was your intention to keep his commandments. ³ He, therefore, let you be afflicted with hunger, and then fed you with manna, a food unknown to you and your fathers, in order to show you that not by bread alone does man live, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of the Lord. ¹⁴ “Do not forget the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery; ¹⁵ who guided you through the vast and terrible desert with its saraph serpents and scorpions, its parched and waterless ground; who brought forth water for you from the flinty rock ¹⁶ and fed you in the desert with manna, a food unknown to your fathers.”

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20

R: Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.

¹² Glorify the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion. ¹³ For he has strengthened the bars of your gates; he has blessed your children within you. (R) ¹⁴ He has granted peace in your borders; with the best of wheat he fills you. ¹⁵ He sends forth his command to the earth; swiftly runs his word! (R) ¹⁹ He has proclaimed his word to Jacob, his statutes and his ordinances to Israel. ²⁰ He has not done thus for any other nation; his ordinances he has not made known to them. Alleluia. (R) 

Second Reading | 1 Corinthians 10:16-17

The celebration of the Eucharist has been passed down through generations in traditional rituals. We continue to do what Christ did 2,000 years ago, embodying the essence of ritual and faith that defines Christianity. Jesus did not merely speak the truth to us. Through His actions, He taught us how to remember the most profound aspects of our faith.

¹⁶ Brothers and sisters: The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? ¹⁷ Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.

Gospel | John 6:51-58

The Eucharist is more than just a symbol. Through God’s power and grace, its sacramental nature makes present the sacrifice of Jesus on the altar. This belief is at the heart of our faith (see John 6). It is remarkable how fundamentalist Christian churches insist on a literal reading of Scripture, except for this passage.

Gospel Acclamation

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

⁵¹ Jesus said to the Jewish crowds: “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.” ⁵² The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” ⁵³ Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. ⁵⁴ Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. ⁵⁵ For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. ⁵⁶ Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. ⁵⁷ Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. ⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

Reflect

“The Eucharist is the sacrament of love: it signifies love, it produces love. 

The Eucharist is the consummation of the whole spiritual life.” (St. Thomas Aquinas)

Read the Bible in one year! Read 1 KING  9 - 11 today

Body. Sacrament. Food. Life.

Today, the Church extols the Body of Christ. This is the same body enshrined and preserved for posterity in art, religious or secular. When we behold the crucifix, we see a bloodied, broken body. When we look at the image of the Lord of Divine Mercy, we see a body glorified. When we look at the Santo Sepolcro image that we process on Good Friday, we see a deformed and lifeless body, beautiful in suffering and remarkable in glory as in the image of the Risen Christ.

Human as we are and wrapped in mortal flesh, we see, touch, and taste the glory of the Living God in and through what our senses can appropriate, in the exact same way we value the persons we love whose pictures we keep for posterity, post on walls, and place in our wallets. Said images do not take the place of the real person we love, but they remind us of the beloved in a special way. 

But today, the Church goes further and presents the Body of Christ, not just as an image but as a sacrament. As a sacrament, the image can assist us, but it leads to levels higher than what any material image can conjure—levels that make our capacity and power of seeing, touching, and tasting the goodness of the Lord in an eminently real, not merely symbolic, fashion.

The Body and Blood of Christ as gift is both real and sacramental. It is real food: “I am the living bread that come down from heaven.” It is sacramental pointing to an unfolding reality that goes far beyond the here and the now: “Whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is My flesh for the life of the world.” Lord, give us this bread always! 

Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

reflection question

How often do you partake of the gift of Jesus in the Eucharist? 

May I always be worthy to receive You in the Eucharist, Lord. Amen.

Today, I pray for: _______________________________