It is 21st April 2015. The readings are from Acts.7:51-8:1a and the Gospel from Jn.6:30-35. We celebrate the memorial of St.Anselm, Bishop and Doctor. He was a Benedictine monk. He is the patron saint for all theologians. He earned the title of ‘Father of Scholasticism.’ He wrote: “O Lord, our God, grant us the grace to desire you with our whole heart, that in desiring you we may seek and find you; that finding you we may love you and loving you we may despise the sins from which you have redeemed us.” The first reading describes the unfair trial of St. Stephen and his murder. Stephen who had the vision of Jesus before he died, he prayed for the perpetrators saying, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”(Acts.7:59) The responsorial Psalm repeats the prayer of St. Stephen, “Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.” (Ps.30:6). The Gospel presents Jesus the Bread of Life. The people wanted to know what Jesus would give when they are hungry. Moses gave us manna. Jesus promised them His body, “I am the Bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” (Jn.6:35). The Eucharist is the food that is body of Jesus which satisfies our hunger. St. Ignatius of Antioch shared his belief on the bread of life, “In the Eucharist, we break the one bread that provides the medicine of immortality, the antidote for death and the food that makes us live forever in Jesus Christ.” Did you taste the body of Jesus on Sunday? Let us not keep our souls hungry for long. As the body needs the food so the soul needs the Bread of life.

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