GOSPEL POWER |APRIL 20, 2021

TUESDAY |3rd Week of Easter | Gospel: Jn 6: 30 – 35

The crowd said to Jesus, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who 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, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

REFLECTION

Jesus’ labored dialogue with his contemporary Jews shows  how the mind constitutes perhaps the greatest block to  spiritual awakening. The mind tends to cling to categories  familiar to it and to obstruct any new revelation that calls it forth  from its comfort zone. The stubbornness of the mind must be the  reason why the New Testament term for “conversion” is metanoia,  which literally means “beyond the mind.” The space of encounter with  the divine is beyond the mind, where one is willing to risk by letting  go of old, familiar categories in order to welcome the unexpected,  unpredictable and total otherness of God. Despite the mental  stubbornness of his fellow Jews, Jesus continues to reveal himself as  the only One who can satisfy the existential hunger of humanity. We,  readers of this Gospel today, are also invited to metanoia so that we  can accept this revelation.

PRAYER

Lord Jesus, help us to let go of old mental categories that prevent us from  opening our hearts to an encounter with you. Amen.