First Reading
1 Kings 19:4-8
1. In this reading, sometimes we are Elijah and sometimes we are the hearth cake. Think of times in your life when you wanted to cry, “enough” and you could have used some help from somewhere. Did help come? How?
2. God sent help to Elijah in the form of an angel. What kind of help do you think God would send today? Name some ways you can be the “hearth cake” for a someone or something in need. For the environment, to recycle? A new energy source? For the needy, dinner? Helping to change the system? A kind word for the depressed?
Second Reading
Ephesians 4:30-5:2
1. Do you think you could get better at “being an imitator of God?” How? Is it more likely to happen all at once because you want it to, or a little at a time because you work at letting God into you? If you were going to try for this, where would you start?
2. Would you call people, as did Dorothy Day, Nelson Mandela, Daniel Berrigan, SJ, “imitators of God”? Do you know any people like that now? What kinds of things did/do they do? Do they transform the world in some small way?
Gospel
John 6:41-51
1. The crowd murmured when Jesus said he was the bread that came down from heaven. They knew his mother and father: how did this impact their willingness to believe him? Is it easy to accept a “prophet” [one who speaks for God] in your own circle of acquaintances? Explain.
2. “ … The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” Jesus says this because he loves us. According to Pope Francis’ homily below, how does Jesus continue to give his flesh for the life of the world and transform it now through us?
The Lord who does not demand sacrifices, but sacrifices himself. The Lord who asks nothing but gives everything. In celebrating and experiencing the Eucharist, we too are called to share in this love. For we cannot break bread on Sunday if our hearts are closed to our brothers and sisters. We cannot partake of that Bread if we do not give bread to the hungry. We cannot share that Bread unless we share the sufferings of our brothers and sisters in need. In the end, and the end of our solemn Eucharistic liturgies as well, only love will remain. Even now, our Eucharistic celebrations are transforming the world to the extent that we are allowing ourselves to be transformed and to become bread broken for others.
… We are called to go out and bring Jesus to others. To go out with enthusiasm, bringing Christ to those we meet in our daily lives. May we become a Church with pitcher in hand, a Church that reawakens thirst and brings water.
Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ
Pope Francis Homily
June 6, 2021
