In the readings from the liturgy of today’s Mass, Jesus is asked what is it that we have to do to inherit eternal life.

However, what is not stated in the question is the underlying worry of whether we can make it by ourselves or not.

Can we do it all by ourselves? This question comes out of an extremely understanding of our lives. It implies that we can control everything and the things that we cannot control become a source of fear.

Jesus teaches that marriage is indissoluble. The Book of Genesis, in 2:22-24, which contains the oldest of the creation stories, tells a symbolic story depicting the world as God desired it before sin and disharmony entered the scene.

In the gospel reading for today’s liturgy, Jesus declares that in marriage, the two people become one flesh, one body, joined by God and not to be separated.

Throughout his life time on earth, Jesus put himself forward as a living example of service of neighbour. In our liturgy today, we listen to the second of the three prophecies of his death that St. Mark includes in his gospel.

“Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all,” he told his embarrassed disciples, who had been arguing and squabbling about which one among them should be the first in the pecking order.

The readings in today’s Mass focus the attention of the disciples on the mission that they are to be given. Jesus is preparing them for the time when he will no longer be physically with them and they will have the responsibility of witnessing to the faith in the world.

It is of great interest to us, because Jesus is introducing the disciples to the vocation and mission that we, as Christians, are living in our lives.

The great concern that Jesus always held for human dignity is expressed in the story of the healing of the man with impaired hearing and a speech impediment that we listen to in the liturgy for today.
Onlookers commented that he makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak, something that is prefigured in the first reading from the prophet Isaiah, “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf unsealed, then the lame shall leap like a deer and the tongues of the dumb sing for joy.”
This very same concern for human dignity was taken up in the Second Vatican Council i

One of the important legacies of Vatican II is a renewed stress on the scriptures, to the extent that the council fathers said, “Ignorance of the scriptures is ignorance of Christ.”

The Constitution on Divine Revelation tells us that the gospels are the principal witness for life and the teaching about the Incarnate Word, Jesus.

In the gospel reading of today we listen to St. John’s account of the institution of the Eucharist.

St. John, unlike the other three evangelists, Matthew, Luke and Mark, does not situate it at the Last Supper, but in what is called the Eucharistic Discourse, which follows the story of the multiplication of the loaves and fish.

When Jesus speaks of himself as the bread of life, he is offering an open invitation to people to believe in him, as we can only recognise what is the true bread of life through the eyes of faith.

In the gospel reading from
St. John, Jesus describes himself as bread from heaven, but not just bread for the body, but bread that will nourish and sustain life forever.

Food and meals are one of the most common images that Jesus used during his life on this earth.

The people among whom Jesus moved and with whom he talked and interacted would have spent a good deal of their time worrying about where their next meal was coming from and, consequently, the time that they spent at table would have been regarded as some of the most precious moments in life.