SO THEY said to him, "Then what sign do you do, that we may see, and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world." They said to him, "Lord, give us this bread always." Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. [Jn 6:30-35]
 
Artist: Victor Luciano Rebuffo
(1903 - 1983)
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Ordinary Time
(Wks 8-13) - Index

"SAKE OF BLESSING" (Week 8 Year A)
The Holy Scriptures tell us "we shall call, and the Lord will answer, we shall cry for help, and he will say: 'Here I am!'" The Lord asks us to take refuge in his name.

"HUMAN QUEST" (Week 8 Year B)
Arthurian legend narrates the story of the eucharistic cup used by Christ in the presence of his disciples at his last supper. In the latter centuries of the first millennium, it was believed that the last drops of Christ’s blood were carefully preserved.

"MORE THAN EDEN" (Week 8 Year C)
According to Greek legend, Pandora was the first mortal woman that ever lived. Among the many gifts she received from the gods was a beautiful box, a present from Zeus.

"TRINITY OF GIFTS" (Week 9 Year A)
An old superstition claims that things come in threes. As children, we heard this used when the deaths of two persons occurred close together. Someone else is going to die, we were told.

"PRIVILEGED SACRAMENT" (Week 9 Year B)
In the course of my conversion to the Catholic Church, I recall two experiences which remind me to this day that good intentions cannot be in conflict with the right practice of religion.

"PILLAR OF FAITH" (Week 9 Year C)
For thousands of years, human beings have had a love-affair with trees. To this day, man depends on timber and other lumber products to frame, build and finish his dwellings.

"MIRACLE OF FAITH" (Week 10 Year A)
The Vatican II Council (1962-1965) documents declare that "...the eucharistic sacrifice is the source and the summit of the whole of the Church's worship and of the Christian life".

"JESUS, NEW ADAM" (Week 10 Year B)
For our divine lesson today, Holy Scripture offers us a glimpse of an apocalyptic drama which had its world premiere in the Garden of Eden.

"WHO IS MAN TO BUILD?" (Week 10 Year C)
In the Introductory Rites of the Mass, the presiding priest greets the people of God in the name of the Church: "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you."

"LIGHT TO KEEP US TRUE" (Week 11 Year A)
In the beginning of Jesus' ministry, two disciples of John the Baptist ask him, "'Where are you staying?'" Jesus offers them an invitation. "He said to them, 'Come and see.'"

"TENDER SHOOTS" (Week 11 Year B)
In the days of the Hebrew slavery, God worked many signs and wonders through his servant Moses: "The Lord said to (Moses), 'What is that in your hand?' He said, 'A rod.'"

"SLOWLY, DELIBERATELY" (Week 11 Year C)
Nazareth is located about twenty miles due west from the southern tip of the Sea of Galilee. There, God's gospel plan of salvation emerges in the quiet and peaceful village.

"GREAT REASSURANCE" (Week 12 Year A)
The holy card called entitled "Footprints" (anonymous) tells the apocryphal story of a person enduring great trial and how Jesus remains faithful.

"TO CROSS A SEA" (Week 12 Year B)
While navigating across the Sea of Galilee one evening, the disciples sailing expertise is put to the test. The sky and sea, calm at the outset of the journey, combine to form a maelstrom which overwhelms the fishermen.

"INNOCENT AND HELPLESS" (Week 12 Year C)
Significantly, the "summa" (Lat. whole) of man's surpassing attributes is expressed as a variation of his own name. A person is regarded as humane if he is benevolent, merciful and just.

"HOLY GREETING" (Week 13 Year A)
Some years ago, a priest told me: "I dread going outside after Sunday Mass. The people walk right past me." More recently, I heard another priest remark about his parish, "I stopped going over to the day school at dismissal."

"BIRTHED INTO ETERNITY" (Week 13 Year B)
God is the author, creator, sustainer, and regenerator of life. God fashioned all creatures as an act of immeasurable, gratuitous love, so that they might have being.

"DAWN AND DUSK" (Week 13 Year C)
If you ever have navigated the frontiers between what is seen and unseen, tread the boundaries between victory and defeat, if once you seized the sunrise after a desolate night...