{"content":[{"text":"40 Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B July 25, 2021 \n 2Kings 4:42-44 Psalm 145 Ephesians 4:1-6 John 6:1-13 \n We will be interrupting St. Mark’s Gospel for the next four Sundays to read \n Chapter six of St. John’s Gospel which contains Jesus’ teaching about Himself as the \n Bread of Life. It is an opportunity for a summertime reflection on the Holy Eucharist, \n what the Eucharist is, and what it can mean for us in our life. \n Before going any further, it is important to have an overview of Chapter Six of St. \n John’s Gospel which is divided into four basic sections: first, the multiplication of the \n loaves; second, Jesus walking on the water; third, His discourse that He is the Bread of \n Life; and finally, the positive and negative reactions to Jesus’ teaching. \n St. John has written today’s Gospel in such a way that we are drawn to see that it \n reflects the four parts of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Do you know the four parts of \n the Mass? The Gospel opens, in St. John’s words, with a “large crowd following” Jesus \n The “large crowd” is the first part our Mass, the Gathering Rite when Jesus welcomes \n us to our Sunday Mass celebration. . The Mass is the celebration of the “large crowd” \n of Catholics throughout the world following Jesus who is the Way, the Truth and the \n Life. It is not a private devotion or the privilege of a few. \n This gathering takes place on two levels. On one level, there is the gathering of \n individuals into community. The Gathering Rite of the Mass tells us that we recognize \n Jesus’ presence in those gathered around us as together we prepare to celebrate the \n Mass. \n On the second level, there is a gathering within ourselves that must also take \n place. When we arrive at church for Mass, we need some time to gather our thoughts \n and prepare ourselves for the upcoming Mass. For this reason, it is important to arrive \n at church early to sit or kneel in silent reflection. This allows us to gather our thoughts \n and begin focusing our attention away from ourselves and onto God in the Holy Mass. \n The “large crowd” of people hunger to hear Jesus’ words. This is our second part \n of the Mass, the Liturgy of the Word. The Liturgy of the Word is where Christ speaks to \n us as a Church, as a parish and as individuals. Through the Liturgy of the Word, God’s \n speaks to us in the Old Testament, in the Psalms, in the Letters in the New Testament","bbox":{"left":0.117688,"top":0.088864,"width":0.765479,"height":0.7701100000000001}},{"text":"1","bbox":{"left":0.117688,"top":0.936381,"width":0.009803999999999993,"height":0.020212000000000008}}],"images_bbox":[],"images_bbox_not_text_overlap":[]}