DAILY MASS REFLECTIONS THURSDAY THIRD WEEK OF EASTER

Daily Mass Readings and Reflections for Thursday of the Third Week of Easter Season. Today’s first reading is from Acts of the Apostles 8:26-40 and the Gospel Reading is from John 6:44-51. 

Acts of the Apostles 8:26-40.

An angel of the Lord said to P
hilip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert road. And he rose and went. And behold, an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a minister of Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of all her treasure, had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet, Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this chariot.” So, Philip ran to him, and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 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 silent, so he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken up from the earth.” And the eunuch said to Philip, “Please, about whom does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news of Jesus. 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?” And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. 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. But Philip was found at Azotus, and passing on he preached the gospel to all the towns till he came to Caesarea.

Responsorial Psalm.

R.  Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
Bless our God, you peoples,
    loudly sound his praise;
He has given life to our souls,
    and has not let our feet slip.
R.    Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
Hear now, all you who fear God, while I declare
    what he has done for me.
When I appealed to him in words,
    praise was on the tip of my tongue.
R.    Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
Blessed be God who refused me not
    my prayer or his kindness!
R.    Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.

Gospel Acclamation.

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

John 6:44-51.

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

Mass Reflection.

Dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, in today’s first reading we heard about the conversion of the Ethiopian Eunuch through the instrumentality of Philip. It is very visible that, how the Holy Spirit guided the early Christians in their ministries. The Eunuch’s visit to Jerusalem signifies that he was very much attracted to the Jewish religion. However, the Jewish laws prevented him to accept the religion because of his physical incapability of being circumcised. But, God has a different plan for him. His inner conviction led him to the path of Jesus' way. Holy Spirit inspired Philip to explain the scripture to him and Philip interprets the passage of the Suffering Servant Christologically; the prophecy of Isaiah as a preview of the suffering and sacrifice of Christ. Though the physical appearance became an impediment to the eunuch to have fellowship in Israel’s Old Covenant, there is a place to him in the Kingdom of the Messiah, in the New Covenant of Israel. So, Philip gave Baptism to the eunuch into the covenant family of God. And it is sure through this eunuch the faith will grow in Ethiopia.

The Gospel of the day continues the bread of life discourse. In the same line with the first reading, Jesus says: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.” Though Philip is the one baptized the eunuch there is someone who sends him to preach the word. It is clear that our salvation comes from Christ but all are not able to accept that. The seed of faith is very much required to understand and grasp the spiritual facts. With our reasoning, we can understand the truth of Christianity but an open heart is required to accept it. Often people understand it but reject the Gospel messages because they don’t want to change their way of life.

Here we see Jesus explain the bread of life, that is his body. He shed his blood for humanity by believing in him only one can enjoy the fruit of it, the eternal life. The manna was a prefigurement of the eternal food of Jesus' body. In their journey through the desert, God fed them with the manna, in our time we have the eternal Jesus Christ. The bread comes down from heaven to give us eternal life. In our earthly journey, this bread is the power to be strengthened. Unlike the manna, this bread will give us eternal life. Jesus explicitly says that: “the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.” 

Here Jesus uses the future tense points to the Cross, where Jesus surrenders his life for human sins, and to the eucharistic liturgy, where Jesus offers himself as living bread to a starving world. Receiving his body and blood in the eucharistic liturgy will strengthen us to move forward in this earthly journey. The faith in the Eucharistic Lord will help us to accept this heavenly manna. Let us ask for that gift of faith. Like the Ethiopian Eunuch let us also be ready to listen to the word of God and receive him into our hearts daily.