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Master·evangeli.net

Today's Gospel + short theological explanation

Saturday of the Third Week of Easter
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Gospel text (Jn 6:60-69): Many of the disciples of Jesus who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, "(…) It is the Spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him. And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father.” (…).

John 6: the Eucharist "transforms" us in "spirit"

EDITORIAL TEAM evangeli.net (based on texts by Benedict XVI) (Città del Vaticano, Vatican)

Today, we contemplate the Eucharist as the great everlasting encounter between God and man, where Our Lord gives Himself as "flesh" so that, in Him, we can become "spirit". Through the Cross, He transformed Himself into a new kind of humanity which blends itself with God's nature; in the same way, the Eucharist must be our way to the Cross in anticipation of a new life in God and with God.

At the end of Jesus' speech, announcing the incarnation, regarding eating His flesh and drinking His blood, Jesus concludes by saying that “it is the Spirit that gives life.” This reminds us of St Paul's words: “The first man, Adam, became a living being, the last Adam a life-giving spirit” (1Cor 15:45).

—Only through the Cross and through the transformation resulting from it do we have access to this "flesh" and, in the process of such transformation, it pulls us along as well.