I
am the Bread of Life
John 6:49
The way to achieve
a true spiritual life, a life of peace, a life of tranquility and
joy here on earth and in heaven is through the reception of the holy
sacrament of Eucharist.
Before I speak
about this good, sweet and Divine Sacrament it is proper to stand
and sing together with one harmonious voice this song which is sung
during the Chaldean liturgy of the Holy Mass. MSABARU SABRETH
B,MARYA “Waiting I had hoped in God: the body of Christ and His
precious blood are on the Holy Altar. Let each one of us approach
Him with reverence and love. And with the angels let us shout to
Him, “holy, holy, holy Lord God.”
This song, precious
and full of treasures and wisdom brings us power and renews in us
the spirit of faith, the spirit of hope and the spirit of love.
When we hear it or we sing is especially when we receive the body
and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ the true hunger and thirst for
eternal life.
The beginning of
this sweet hymn starts with these words “Waiting I had hoped in God”
It is important to say something about the theological virtue of
Hope. When we read Matthew 12:18 the evangelist reminds us that
Jesus is our hope and with Him and in Him we have salvation and
victory. About Jesus, Isaiah the prophet says “Here is my servant,
that I have chosen, the one I love and with whom I am pleased. I
will send my Spirit upon Him. And he will announce my judgment t
the nations. He will not argue or shout or make loud of a bent
reed, or put out a flickering lamp. He will persist until he causes
justice to triumph, and in him all peoples will put their hope.”
This good person is
the second person of the Holy Trinity who is identified by the voice
from heaven “This is my own dear son with whom I am
pleased..”Matthew 3:17
Dear brothers and
sisters let us meditate upon the Divine love this Holy Trinity
declaring in this day of the Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ and
with this meditation let us keep our faith in the Holy Trinity to
believe to love to serve our almighty God with humility and love.
This is the beloved
and good Jesus Christ who revealed in glory and honor to Simon,
Jacob and his brother John on mount Tabor. There again He was
glorified by His Eternal Father who said “This is my own dear Son
with whom I am pleased-listen to Him”. Matthew 17:5
St. Paul in his
letter to the Romans, verse 15:13 says, “May God, the source of
hope, fill you with all joy and peace by means of your faith in him,
so that your hope will continue to grow by the power of the Holy
Spirit.”
St. Paul by these
words as well as through faith we become full of joy and peace when
we hope in Jesus Christ, our Saviour as we trust Him.
I’ll end these
words regarding hope wit St. Paul in his first letter to the
Corinthians 13:13 when he says “Meanwhile these three remain: faith
hope and love; and the greatest of these is love.”
From the day of the
birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ we received salvation, victory and
hope “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to
those with whom he is Pleased!” Luke 2:14
Also in this time
of forgiveness when the body and the blood of our lord Jesus Christ
are sacrificed and we, the faithful people approach to receive this
heavenly food and this divine drink which are the body and blood of
our Lord Jesus Christ. To stay in the love of our lord Jesus Christ
and t be dignified to enter into heaven and to have eternal life.
“I am the bread of life.” John 6:48
We need to prepare
ourselves in a special way hoping in the words of Jesus Christ when
He said, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never be
hungry; he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” John 6:35
This preparation is
the Sacrament of Penance. To be beneficial there are five
conditions to make it truly beneficial. They are: 1-examination
of conscience, 2-contrition, 3-resolving to not sin
again, 4-confession to a priest and 5-penance.
It is necessary to
be in the state of grace before the reception of the Eucharist.
This Sacrament of Reconciliation makes our desire hope and
expectation more concrete. We need to be with Jesus Christ to have
eternal life as He himself says, “I am the Resurrection and the
Life.” As Christians we have to grow in virtue, practicing our
faith in good and holy acts as well by observing the commandments of
God. Our Saviour Jesus Christ is the only one who will judge
everybody as He is the true judge of the universe. “When the Son of
Man comes as King and all the angels with Him, he wills it on His
royal throne and the people of all the nations will be gathered
before Him.” Matthew 25:31
Because of this
teaching, I would like to invite you as Disciples of Christ to
evangelize all nations and to proclaim the word of God to everyone
as we are all invited to this mission after we accomplish the word
of God in our life. We cannot bring fruit for ourselves of for
others and we will not be able to proclaim the word of God if we are
not united to Jesus Christ, Our Saviour and God. He commanded us to
“God to all nations and baptize them in the name of the Father the
Son and the Holy Spirit.” We are also obliged to deny everything
that comes from the world. Be with Jesus our Lord that we want to
share with Him the salvation of the world, accepting our problems
our difficulties, carrying our crosses and following Him until
Golgatha and staying forever with Him in His blessing.
Dear faithful, to
be holy I would like to tell you that you are obliged to be proud of
our faith and forever doing the will of our Lord Jesus Christ,
sanctifying His name, loving Him, serving Him as well as our
neighbor as He Himself did the will of His Father in the Garden of
Gethsemene. “My Father, if it is possible, take this cup of
suffering from me. Yet not what I want, but what you want”.
Matthew 26:39. By this we can be forever united to Jesus and
bechildren of God and true disciples of Jesus Christ and forever we
will be holy and happy in this world in the future in Heaven where
the angels cry, “Holy Holy Holy Lord” This hymn invites us to
proclaim this holiness in the house of God on Sunday or during daily
Mass to worship God in his house.
I would like to
conclude this homily with these songs from the second day of the
Chaldean breviary page 192. “Let us prepare our service with fear
and love to the powerful gift of the sacrament of Christ and make
nice our souls by which we reconcile or make happy the Judge of all
to give us mercy when He judges all nations.”
With another song,
I invite you to listen to this. The memory of Christ, who suffered
for us we are doing as is written by the bread and wine. Let us
sanctify our body and purify our intention from iniquity and sins to
make Him happy when He judges the nations. Altogether dear people
let us prepare our souls and bodies with the gift of the life-giving
sacrament because it is the only way to save us from death and give
us eternal life in heaven.
We have hope and
trust in Jesus Christ our Savior to offer mercy and blessings from
His treasure full of forgiveness. Everyone who eats His body and
drinks the chalice of his blood and everyone who believes in Him
will have eternal life. Everyone who eats by faith this body full
of holiness never ever the sin will approach to his body and his
soul will shine in the kingdom of Heaven.
+ Archbishop Hanna
Zora
Toronto. February,
26, 2006