Denver Catholic

6 AUGUST 2023 | DENVER CATHOLIC When the disciples recognize Jesus' presence in the Eucharist and the burning in their own hearts while Jesus was with them, they return to Jerusalem. They become missionary disciples proclaiming Jesus to the world. We, too, are called to do the same. Pope Francis prays for us that the Eucharistic Revival "…will be an occasion for the faithful to commit themselves with ever great zeal to being missionary disciples of the Lord Jesus in the world. In the Eucharist, we encounter the One who gave everything for us, who sacrificed him- self in order to give us life, who loved us to the end." 4 We are called to go out into the world among the poor, the sick, the immigrant, those in jail, those on the "peripheries" to bring them the good news of Jesus Christ, the one alone who can give meaning and purpose to life, who reveals the Father's eternal unconditional love for every human being. Jesus today still desires to rescue us and heal us most especially in the Eucharist. A N E W R E S O U R CE Throughout the history of our Church, praying with Scripture has proved to be a fruitful method of growing in knowledge and love of God. St. Paul teaches, that the "the word of God is living and effective" (Heb 4:12), and that, "All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correc- tion, and for training in righteous- ness" (2 Tim 3:16). Confident in Jesus' promise and the power of his words, I am excited to introduce a new resource the Archdiocese of Denver has created to assist the faithful in praying with the sixth chapter of the Gospel of St. John. The John 6 resource is composed of three sec- tions: The context, the six sessions, and an application section. The first section sets the context for the Bread of Life discourse by briefly explaining the Passover and its great importance in the history 4 Francis, "To the Organizing Committee of the National Eucharistic Congress in the United States" of God's people. The Passover and Exodus are foundational to our understanding of the Eucharist and what Christ is accomplishing for us in the Mass. The section concludes with an introduction to relational prayer and makes clear that our intention in praying with John 6 is to grow in understanding, to be transformed, to enter more deeply into the mystery Jesus is inviting us into. The second section is composed of the six sessions. The entire sixth chapter is broken into six sessions in order to focus our prayer on different themes. Each session includes the biblical text to be prayed with, a sum- mary of the key details in the passage, and then some questions to consider. The questions are of two kinds, ques- tions to ask Jesus about the passage and questions to allow Jesus to ask you. It is my hope that these questions will aid us in dialoguing with the Lord and build the habit of speaking with him conversationally. Each session concludes with reflection questions to help us recall and focus on what we have received in the prayer. The final section is an appendix which offers suggestions on using the resource in different ministry settings and with different methods of prayer. The resource could easily be utilized by an individual as well as a small group or even a family. The different methods of praying Scripture also provide a diversity of options which will more effectively help different audiences to engage Jesus' words and the scenes given to us in the Gospel. CO N CLU S I O N We must grow in our conviction that Jesus is God and has the words of everlasting life. I encourage all the faithful in the parish year of the Eucharistic Revival to take time to pray with Jesus' words in John 6 and the story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Jesus is the greatest teacher, and his words are true, for he is "the way, the truth and the life" (Jn 14:6). I pray that our eyes and hearts are opened to a deeper understanding and to greater participation in the mystery of the Eucharist, the love of Jesus given and poured out for us. D OW N LOA D T H E J O H N 6 R E S O U R CE Spanish: English:

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