Bible Study Recap: The Right to Choose

+JMJ+
Queenship of Our Lady

Howdy, Howdy, Howdy!

What a JOY, JOY, JOY tonight's session was!

It started out by praying this Sunday's Entrance Antiphon and Collect…

…and I thank Frank for so beautifully praying it for us. You know, the Collect — or "Opening Prayer" -- is well worth contemplating. We start our sessions every week with it.

And then…the poignant words of Jesus in the Gospel, beautifully read by Catherine…

As has become our custom, we started our readings with the Gospel, without comment…just listen, reflect, and pray. I admit I was close to tears when Jesus asked His apostles — His friends! -- "Do you also want to leave?" We meditated on that, and then turned to the First Reading.

"As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD!"

It always amuses me to think that the "right to choose" is some modern meme. Good grief, God gave us the "right to choose" -- AKA "free will" -- at the dawn of creation. This Sunday's First Reading has Joshua, in the Name of God, giving the Israelites the right to choose — and they chose the BEST! Yes, I know that this is just a brief moment in salvation history, and that not all choices made by mankind were the best, but I think we had the right to wallow in this beautiful passage…and wallow in it we did! We were filled with joy, and many thanks to the Liturgy Guys, Whoever You May Be, for choosing these exact verses!

'Course, then there was the Second Reading (or its sadly edited alternative…which we ignored, seeing it makes no sense)

I say "sadly edited" because the Liturgy Guys — alas — gave us the "benefit" of a butchered reading. I pray you won't have to endure it. Thanks to Liz, and ably abetted by Nick and Karen, for expounding on the joys of being the Bride of Christ…the members of the Family of the King…God's children! Add the mutual submission of family members here on earth and no wonder so many brides and grooms choose this passage for their Nuptial Masses. (Father Michael's homily on today's Feast helped me a lot with the help of Liz, Nick, and Karen.)

Once again? Psalm 34!

Russell led us in the Responsorial Psalm — beautiful — and quick as a whip, Liz opened her phone Bible to John 19:33-36 and read the verses out loud. How cool is it that the HUGE Old Testament testifies to Jesus! "He watches over all his bones; not one of them shall be broken."

Back to the Gospel…

Again, Catherine's beautifully read passage had us all on the edge of our seats. This time, we rollicked in joy and amazement…especially at Jesus' question: "What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?"

We gave ourselves the luxury of eating up — literally! -- this Gospel. And musing on the fact that John's 4-week Bread of Life discourse is so important that not only the Catholic Church, but the Episcopal and Lutheran churches as well, consider it well worth while to devote themselves to these four weeks every three years. "Father, that we may be one, as You, and Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are one! In Jesus' Name. Amen."

Tons of other great stuff — what a wonderful hour!

We prayed for you…please pray for us!

In Our Lady, Queen of the Universe, your humble scribe,

Kelly
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Extras!

"In the Eucharist we also receive the pledge of our bodily resurrection at the end of the world: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day” (Jn 6:54). This pledge of the resurrection comes from the fact that the flesh of the Son of Man, given as food, is his body in its glorious state after the resurrection. With the Eucharist we digest, as it were, the “secret” of the resurrection." (John Paul II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia no. 18)
Points to Ponder, by Doctor Scott Hahn

"A Choice to Make"

This Sunday’s Mass readings conclude a four-week meditation on the Eucharist.

The 12 apostles in today’s Gospel are asked to make a choice—either to believe and accept the new covenant He offers in His body and blood, or return to their former ways of life.

Their choice is prefigured by the decision Joshua asks the 12 tribes to make in today’s First Reading.

Joshua gathers them at Shechem—where God first appeared to their father Abraham, promising to make his descendants a great nation in a new land (see Genesis 12:1-9). And he issues a blunt challenge—either renew their covenant with God or serve the alien gods of the surrounding nations.

We too are being asked today to decide whom we will serve. For four weeks we have been presented in the liturgy with the mystery of the Eucharist—a daily miracle far greater than those performed by God in bringing the Israelites out of the land of Egypt.

He has promised us a new homeland, eternal life, and offered us bread from heaven to strengthen us on our journey. He has told us that unless we eat His flesh and drink His blood we will have no life in us.

It is a hard saying, as many murmur in today’s Gospel. Yet He has given us the words of eternal life.

We must believe, as Peter says today, that He is the Holy One of God, who handed himself over for us, gave His flesh for the life of the world.

As we hear in today’s Epistle, Jesus did this that we might be sanctified, made holy, through the water and word of baptism by which we enter into His new covenant. Through the Eucharist, He nourishes and cherishes us, making us His own flesh and blood, as husband and wife become one flesh.

Let us renew our covenant today, approaching the altar with confidence that, as we sing in today’s Psalm, the Lord will redeem the lives of His servant.