Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Gospel Commentary, by Msgr. João Scognamligio Clá Dias, EP
Mass Readings
Featured Saints
St. Dominic of Guzman, priest (†1221 Bologna – Italy). Born in 1117 to Blessed Joan of Aza, of a noble Castilian family. The Founder of the Order of Preachers (the Dominicans). He fought against the Albigensian, Cathar and Waldensian heresies and was a great apostle of the Holy Rosary, a mission entrusted to him by the Blessed Virgin.
St. Bonifacia Rodríguez Castro, virgin (†1905). She founded the Congregation of the Servants of St. Joseph in Salamanca, Spain.
St. Mary of the Cross MacKillop, virgin (†1909). Australian Foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart. She died in Sydney, after enduring many hardships and serious illnesses.
St. Altmann, bishop (†1091). Founded the abbey of Göttweig, Austria.
St. Eusebius of Milan, bishop (†circa 462). He rebuilt the Cathedral of Milan, which had been destroyed by the Huns.
Blessed Mary Margaret Caiani, virgin (†1921). Foundress of the Franciscan Institute of Minim Sisters of the Sacred Heart in Poggio, Italy.
St. Paul Ke Tingzhu, martyr (†1900). He was killed and quartered during the Boxer persecution in China, giving an outstanding witness of Christian fortitude.
Blessed Vladimir Laskowski, priest and martyr (†1940). Polish priest imprisoned and killed for his fidelity to his Faith and his ministry in the concentration camp of Gusen, Austria.
Mass Readings
First Reading – 1 Kgs 19:4-8
Elijah went a day’s journey into the desert,
until he came to a broom tree and sat beneath it.
He prayed for death saying:
“This is enough, O LORD!
Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”
He lay down and fell asleep under the broom tree,
but then an angel touched him and ordered him to get up and eat.
Elijah looked and there at his head was a hearth cake
and a jug of water.
After he ate and drank, he lay down again,
but the angel of the LORD came back a second time,
touched him, and ordered,
“Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!”
He got up, ate, and drank;
then strengthened by that food,
he walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9 (R.9a)
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall be ever in my mouth.
Let my soul glory in the LORD;
the lowly will hear me and be glad. R.
Glorify the LORD with me,
Let us together extol his name.
I sought the LORD, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears. R.
Look to him that you may be radiant with joy.
and your faces may not blush with shame.
When the afflicted man called out, the LORD heard,
and from all his distress he saved him. R.
The angel of the LORD encamps
around those who fear him and delivers them.
Taste and see how good the LORD is;
blessed the man who takes refuge in him. R.
Second Reading – Eph 4:30—5:2
Brothers and sisters:
Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,
with which you were sealed for the day of redemption.
All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling
must be removed from you, along with all malice.
And be kind to one another, compassionate,
forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.
So be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love,
as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us
as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma.
Gospel – Jn 6:41-51
The Jews murmured about Jesus because he said,
“I am the bread that came down from heaven, ”
and they said,
“Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph?
Do we not know his father and mother?
Then how can he say,
‘I have come down from heaven’?”
Jesus answered and said to them,
“Stop murmuring among yourselves.
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him,
and I will raise him on the last day.
It is written in the prophets:
They shall all be taught by God.
Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me.
Not that anyone has seen the Father
except the one who is from God;
he has seen the Father.
Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever believes has eternal life.
I am the bread of life.
Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died;
this is the bread that comes down from heaven
so that one may eat it and not die.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
whoever eats this bread will live forever;
and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”
