POPE FRANCIS ON THE 21ST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR B

ANGELUS
Saint Peter’s Square
Sunday, 25 August 2024

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Dear brothers and sisters, happy Sunday!

Today the Gospel of the liturgy (Jn 6:60-69) relates to us the famous response of Saint Peter, who says to Jesus: “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.” (Jn 6:68). It is a very beautiful expression that gives witness to the friendship and manifests the trust that bind him to Christ, along with the other disciples. “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Beautiful.

Peter speaks these words at a critical moment. Jesus has just finished a discourse in which he said he was the “bread come down from heaven” (cf. Jn 6:41). It is a difficult language for people to understand and many, even disciples who were following Him, abandon Him because they did not understand.

The Twelve, however, remained with Him. They stayed because in Him they found “words of eternal life.” They heard Him preach, they saw the miracles He performed, and they continue to share with Him public moments and the intimacy of daily life (cf. Mk 3:7-19).

The disciples do not always understand what the Master says and does. At times they struggle to accept the paradoxes of His love (cf. Mt 5:38-48), the extreme demands of His mercy (cf. Mt 18:21-22), the radical nature of His way of giving Himself to all. It is not easy for them to understand, but they are faithful. Jesus’ choices often go beyond common thinking, beyond the very canons of institutional religion and traditions to the point of creating provocative and embarrassing situations (cf. Mt 15:12). It is not easy to follow Him.

Yet, among the many teachers of that time, Peter and the other apostles found only in Him the answer to the thirst for life, for joy, for love that animates them. Only thanks to Him did they experience the fullness of life they seek, beyond the limits of sin and even death. Therefore, they do not leave. Indeed, all but one, even amidst many falls and times of repentance will remain with Him to the end (cf. Jn 17:12).

And, brothers and sisters, this also concerns us. Even for us it is not easy to follow the Lord, to understand His way of acting, to make His criteria and His example our own. It is not easy for us. However, the closer we are to Him – the more we adhere to His Gospel, receive His grace in the Sacraments, stay in His company in prayer, imitate Him in humility and charity – the more we experience the beauty of having Him as our Friend and realise that He alone has the “words of eternal life.”

Then we can ask ourselves: how much is Jesus present in my life? How much do I let myself be touched and moved by His words? Can I say that they are also “words of eternal life” for me? To you, my brother, my sister, I ask: Are the words of Jesus, for you – also for me – words of eternal life?

May Mary, who received Jesus, the Word of God, in her flesh, help us to listen to Him and never leave Him.

Source: https://vatican.va/content/francesco/en/angelus/2024/documents/20240825-angelus.html

POPE FRANCIS
ANGELUS
Saint Peter’s Square
21st Sunday in Ordinary time year B, 22 August 2021

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Dear brothers and sisters, buongiorno!

The Gospel for today’s liturgy (Jn 6:60-69) shows us the reaction of the crowd and the disciples to Jesus’ discourse following the multiplication of the loaves. Jesus invited them to interpret that sign and believe in him, who is the true bread come down from heaven, the bread of life; and he revealed that the bread he will give is his body and blood. These words sound harsh and incomprehensible to the ears of the people, so much so that, from that moment, the Gospel says, many of his disciples turn back; that is, they stop following the Master (vv. 60, 66). Then Jesus asks the Twelve: “Do you also wish to go away?” (v. 67), and Peter, on behalf of the whole group, confirms their decision to stay with Him: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life; and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God” (Jn 6:68-69). And it is a beautiful confession of faith.

Let us look briefly at the attitude of those who withdrew and decided not to follow Jesus any more. Where does this disbelief come from? What is the reason for this rejection?

Jesus’ words enkindled great scandal: he was saying that God decided to manifest himself and accomplish salvation in the weakness of human flesh. It is the mystery of the incarnation. The incarnation of God is what provoked scandal and presented an obstacle for those people — but often for us too. Indeed, Jesus affirms that the true bread of salvation, which transmits eternal life, is his very flesh; that to enter into communion with God, before observing the laws or satisfying religious precepts, it is necessary to live out a real and concrete relationship with him. Because salvation came from him, in his incarnation. This means that one must not pursue God in dreams and in images of grandeur and power, but he must be recognized in the humanity of Jesus and, as a consequence, in that of the brothers and sisters we meet on the path of life. God made himself flesh. And when we say this, in the Creed, on Christmas Day, on the day of the Annunciation, we kneel to worship this mystery of the incarnation. God made himself flesh and blood; he lowered himself to the point of becoming a man like us. He humbled himself to the extent of burdening himself with our sufferings and sin, and therefore he asks us to seek him not outside of life and history, but in relationship with Christ and with our brothers and sisters. Seeking him in life, in history, in our daily life. And this, brothers and sisters, is the road to the encounter with God: the relationship with Christ and our brothers and sisters.

Even today, God’s revelation in Jesus’ humanity can cause scandal and is not easy to accept. This is what Saint Paul calls the “folly” of the Gospel in the face of those who seek miracles or worldly wisdom (cf. 1 Cor 1:18-25). And this “scandalousness” is well represented by the sacrament of the Eucharist: what sense can there be, in the eyes of the world, in kneeling before a piece of bread? Why on earth should someone be nourished assiduously with this bread? The world is scandalized.

Faced with this prodigious deed of Jesus, who with five loaves and two fish fed thousands of people, everyone acclaimed him and wanted to lift him up in triumph, to make him king. But when he himself explains that the gesture is a sign of his sacrifice, that is, of the gift of his life, his flesh and blood, and that those who want to follow him must resemble him, His humanity given for God and for others, then no, this is not pleasing, this Jesus throws us into crisis. Rather, we should be worried if he does not throw us into crisis, because we might have watered down his message! And we ask for the grace to let ourselves be provoked and converted by his “words of eternal life”. And may Mary Most Holy, who bore her Son Jesus in the flesh and joined herself to his sacrifice, help us to always bear witness to our faith in our real lives.

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Source: https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/angelus/2021/documents/papa-francesco_angelus_20210822.html
EMPHASIS MINE

HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
“You have the words of eternal life!” (Jn 6:68)
World Meeting of Families, Dublin (Ireland) August 26, 2018

At the end of this World Meeting of Families, we gather as a family around the table of the Lord. We thank God for the many blessings we have received in our families. And we want to commit ourselves to living fully our vocation to be, in the touching words of Saint Therese, “love in the heart of the Church”.

In this precious moment of communion with one another and with the Lord, it is good to pause and consider the source of all the good things we have received. Jesus reveals the origin of these blessings in today’s Gospel, when he speaks to his disciples. Many of them were upset, confused or even angry, struggling to accept his “hard sayings”, so contrary to the wisdom of this world. In response, the Lord tells them directly: “The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (Jn 6:63).

[…]

How much our world needs this encouragement that is God’s gift and promise! As one of the fruits of this celebration of family life, may you go back to your homes and become a source of encouragement to others, to share with them Jesus’ “words of eternal life”. For your families are both a privileged place for, and an important means of, spreading those words as “Good News” for everyone, especially those who long to leave behind the desert and the “house of bondage” (cf. Jos 24:17) for the promised land of hope and freedom.

In today’s second reading, Saint Paul tells us that marriage is a sharing in the mystery of Christ’s undying fidelity to his bride, the Church (cf. Eph 5:32). Yet this teaching, as magnificent as it is, can appear to some as a “hard saying”. Because living in love, even as Christ loved us (cf. Eph 5:2), entails imitating his own self-sacrifice, dying to ourselves in order to be reborn to a greater and more enduring love. The love that alone can save our world from its bondage to sin, selfishness, greed and indifference to the needs of the less fortunate. That is the love we have come to know in Christ Jesus. It became incarnate in our world through a family, and through the witness of Christian families in every age it has the power to break down every barrier in order to reconcile the world to God and to make us what we were always meant to be: a single human family dwelling together in justice, holiness and peace.

The task of bearing witness to this Good News is not easy. Yet the challenges that Christians face today are, in their own way, no less difficult than those faced by the earliest Irish missionaries. I think of Saint Columbanus, who with his small band of companions brought the light of the Gospel to the lands of Europe in an age of darkness and cultural dissolution. Their extraordinary missionary success was not based on tactical methods or strategic plans, no, but on a humble and liberating docility to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. It was their daily witness of fidelity to Christ and to each other that won hearts yearning for a word of grace and helped give birth to the culture of Europe. That witness remains a perennial source of spiritual and missionary renewal for God’s holy and faithful people.

Of course, there will always be people who resist the Good News, who “murmur” at its “hard words”. Yet like Saint Columbanus and his companions, who faced icy waters and stormy seas to follow Jesus, may we never be swayed or discouraged by the icy stare of indifference or the stormy winds of hostility.

But let us also humbly acknowledge that, if we are honest with ourselves, we too can find the teachings of Jesus hard. How difficult it is always to forgive those who hurt us; how challenging always to welcome the migrant and the stranger; how painful joyfully to bear disappointment, rejection, betrayal; how inconvenient to protect the rights of the most vulnerable, the unborn or the elderly, who seem to impinge upon our own sense of freedom.

Yet it is precisely at those times that the Lord asks us: “What about you, do you want to go away too?” (Jn 6:67). With the strength of the Spirit to “encourage” us and with the Lord always at our side, we can answer: “We believe; we know that you are the Holy One of God” (v. 69). With the people of Israel, we can repeat: “We too will serve the Lord, for he is our God” (Jos 24:18).

Through the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, each Christian is sent forth to be a missionary, “a missionary disciple” (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 120). The Church as a whole is called to “go forth” to bring the words of eternal life to all the peripheries of our world. May our celebration today confirm each of you, parents and grandparents, children and young people, men and women, religious brothers and sisters, contemplatives and missionaries, deacons, priests and bishops, to share the joy of the Gospel! Share the Gospel of the family as joy for the world!

As we now prepare to go our separate ways, let us renew our fidelity to the Lord and to the vocation he has given to each of us. Taking up the prayer of Saint Patrick, let each of us repeat with joy: “Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me” [repeated in Irish]. With the joy and strength given by the Holy Spirit, let us say to him with confidence: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (Jn 6:68).

Source: https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/homilies/2018/documents/papa-francesco_20180826_omelia-dublino.html#HOMILY_
EMPHASIS MINE

ANGELUS
Saint Peter’s Square
Sunday, 23 August 2015

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning!

Today the Sixth Chapter of the Gospel of John concludes with the discourse on the Bread of Life, which Jesus gave the day after the multiplication of the loaves and fish.

At the end of that discourse, the great enthusiasm of previous day had dissipated, for Jesus said that he was the Bread which came down from heaven, and that he would give his flesh as food and his blood as drink, thereby clearly alluding to the sacrifice of his life. Those words gave rise to dismay in the people, who deemed such words unworthy of the Messiah, not “winning” words. Thus, several regarded Jesus as a messiah who should have spoken and acted in such a way as to bring success to his mission, straight away. But they were mistaken precisely in this: in the way of understanding the mission of the Messiah! Not even the disciples managed to accept the unsettling words of the Teacher. And today’s passage refers to their discomfort: “This is a hard saying”, they commented, “who can listen to it?” (Jn 6:60).

In reality, they had certainly understood Jesus’ discourse. So well that they did not want to heed it, because it was a discourse which threw their mind-set into crisis. Jesus’ words always throw us into crisis, for example, the worldly spirit, worldliness. But Jesus offers the key for overcoming this difficulty; a key consisting of three elements. First, his divine origin: he came down from heaven and will ascend again to “where he was before” (v. 62). Second: his words can be understood only through the action of the Holy Spirit. The One who “gives life” (v. 63) is precisely the Holy Spirit who enables us to understand Jesus properly. Third: the true cause of incomprehension of his words is the lack of faith: “there are some of you that do not believe” (v. 64), Jesus says. In fact from that time, the Gospel says, “many of his disciples drew back” (v. 66). In the face of these desertions, Jesus does not compromise and does not mince words, indeed he demands that a precise choice be made: either to stay with him or leave him, and he says to the Twelve: “Will you also go away?” (v. 67).

At this point Peter makes his confession of faith on behalf of the other Apostles: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (v. 68). He does not say “where shall we go?”, but “to whom shall we go?”. The underlying problem is not about leaving and abandoning the work undertaken, but to whom to go. From Peter’s question we understand that fidelity to God is a question of fidelity to a person, to whom we bind ourselves to walk together on the same road. And this person is Jesus. All that we have in the world does not satisfy our infinite hunger. We need Jesus, to be with him, to be nourished at his table, on his words of eternal life! Believing in Jesus means making him the centre, the meaning of our life. Christ is not an optional element: he is the “Living Bread”, the essential nourishment. Binding oneself to him, in a true relationship of faith and love, does not mean being tied down, but being profoundly free, always on the journey. Each one of us can ask him- or herself: who is Jesus for me? Is he a name, an idea, simply an historical figure? Or is he truly that person who loves me and gave his life for me and walks with me? Who is Jesus for you? Are you with Jesus? Do you try to comprehend him in his word? Do you read the Gospel, each day a passage from the Gospel to learn to know Jesus? Do you carry a small Gospel in your pocket, handbag, to read it, in whatever place? Because the more we are with him the more the desire to be with him grows. Now I ask you, please, let us have a moment of silence and let each one of us silently, in our hearts, ask ourselves the question: “Who is Jesus for me?”. Silently, each one, answer in your heart.

May the Virgin Mary help us to always “go” to Jesus to experience the freedom he offers us, allowing it to cleanse our choices from worldly incrustations and fears.

Source: https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/angelus/2015/documents/papa-francesco_angelus_20150823.html
EMPHASIS MINE

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Thanks and God bless you and your loved ones! Fr. Rolly Arjonillo.