Thursday April 22, 2021 - Third week of Paschal Time - I am the living bread which came down from heaven, says the Lord; if anyone eats this bread, he will live forever - Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 6, 44-51

The Gospel today shows us first of all the ignorance of Jewish leaders in the face of the mystery of the divine origin of Jesus: I came down from heaven (Jn 6,41). They knew the parents of Jesus well enough, but they did not understand this mystery because they did not open themselves to God in order to be able to accept the person of his Son and his proposal. If, as they are not open and faithful to God the Father, they do not feel in themselves the impulse of God which attracts them to Jesus Christ his Son, this is why they did not recognize that Jesus -Christ is from God the Father. We too must open ourselves to God if we want to know more of his mysteries and remain united with Jesus.

In the face of this ignorance, Jesus invites these Jewish leaders to take a step forward to surpass the idea of ​​Easter as a memory of the desert bread that the fathers ate in the past. The true meaning of Easter is not to remember the manna from the desert but rather to accept Jesus Christ, the new Bread of Life and to follow the path he has shown us; it is therefore a matter of eating the flesh of Jesus in order to have eternal life. With Easter, Jesus invites us to eat the new manna and the new paschal lamb who sacrificed himself on the cross for the life of all. This invitation from Jesus is also addressed to us Christians to prepare well to receive this great precious gift from God.