21st Sunday (Ordinary Time)

Gospel Bullet Points (John 6:6-69)

• In today’s Gospel passage, St John tells us that the Lord’s followers found His teachings so difficult, so horrifying that many refused to accept them. It was not acceptable for them to eat His flesh and drink His blood. Recall that earlier in the discourse (Jn 6), Jesus tells them about the Eucharist, about his plan to become truly present under the appearances of bread and wine so that His divine life will become our nourishment. So, they dissociated from Jesus and returned to their former way of life.
• Jesus did not offer them some easy and pleasant explanation of the Eucharist to convince them to believe and to remain with him. Rather, he challenged his disciples asking, do you also want to leave?
• The Twelve did not completely understand the mysterious doctrine of the Eucharist any more than everybody else did. But they continued to follow the Lord! Why? Because they trusted in and put their faith in the person of Jesus Christ than in their limited ability to understand God.
• Many times, we do not understand what the Lord asks of us. But we must trust Him because we know He has the words of eternal life and, no one else does—Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life!