Twentieth Sunday of Ordinary Time/B
Massimo Palombella
In today’s Gospel (Jn 6:51-58) Jesus calls himself “Living Bread, come down from heaven” and states that “Whoever eats this bread will live forever”. To truly nourish ourselves with the Lord is a slow journey that gives meaning to our lives. To nourish ourselves with the Lord is to slowly remove from our existence everything that makes us full but does not nourish us, everything that somehow – and perhaps imperceptibly – weighs us down and prevents us from living as we should. To nourish ourselves with the Lord is to know ourselves, and the more we know ourselves, the more we name our sorrows, the more we understand our anger, and the more we draw closer to the Lord who dwells in our weakness so as to transform it into our greatest strength. Nourishing ourselves with the Lord is a slow and, at times, arduous journey where we learn to taste “life in abundance”, we learn to love others and to love ourselves, to forgive others and to forgive ourselves, to live with that aftertaste that has the flavour of eternity and that we can experience historically in the Eucharist, “pledge of future glory”.
The Communion antiphon for today’s celebration is taken from the sixth chapter of John’s Gospel (Jn 6:57) with the following text:
“Qui manducat carnem meam, et bibit sanguinem meum,
in me manet, et ego in eo, Dicit Dominus.”
(He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood,
abides in me, and I in him, says the Lord).
The attached music, in Gregorian Chant, is taken from the Graduale Triplex published in Solesmes in 1979. The interpretation is by the Nova Schola Gregoriana conducted by Alberto Turco. The music track can be found on the CD “Adorate Deum / Gregorian Chant From the Proper of the Mass” published by Naxox in 1993.
A blessed Sunday and heartfelt greetings.
