Id-19-il Hadd matul is-Sena
Il-Hobz tal-Hajja
Messalin B pp 436
1 Kings 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
L-Ewwel Qari
Qari mill-Ewwel Ktieb tas-Slaten 19, 4 – 8
F'dak iz-zmien, il-Profeta Elija rhiela lejn id-dezert. Wara
jum mixi waqaf, inxtehet taht sigra
tal-gummar, talab li jmut, u qal: "Issa bizzejjed, Mulej; hudli 'l
hajti, ghax m'iniex ahjar minn Qum u
kul!" Elija dawwar wiccu, u lemah
hdejn rasu ftira mohmija u garra
ilma; kiel u xorob, u raga mtedd. Ghat-tieni darba gie
l-anglu tal-Mulej u raga' messu u qallu: "Qum
u kul, inkella ma tkunx tiflah ghall-mixja li fadallek." Elija qam,
kiel u xorob, u bis-sahha ta' dak l-ikel u baqa' miexi ghal erbghin jum u erbghin lejl sa ma
wasal Horeb, il-muntanja tal-Mulej.
Il-Kelma tal-Mulej
Responsorial Psalm
PSALM 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
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/
Salm Responsorjali
Salm 33
(34)
R/
Ippruvaw u taraw kemm hu tajjeb il-Mulej.
Kull hin inbierek il-Mulej,
tifhiru dejjem fommi.
Bil-Mulej tiftahar ruhi;
jisimghu l-fqajrin u jifirhu! R/
Xandru l-kobor tal-Mulej mieghi,
ha nghollu ismu flimkien.
Jien fittixt il-Mulej, u wegibni,
u minn
Harsu lejh u tiddu bil-ferh wicckom
u ma jkollkomx ghax tisthu.
Dan il-fqajjar sejjah u l-Mulej
semghu,
u mid-dwejjaq tieghu kollha helsu. R/
L-anglu tal-Mulej jghasses
madwar dawk li jibzghu minnu, u jehlishom.
Ippruvaw u taraw kemm hu tajjeb
il-Mulej,
hieni l-bniedem li jistkenn fih. R/
Ephesians 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.
It-Tieni Qari
Qari mill-Ittra lill-Efesin 4, 30 –5,2)
Huti, tnikktux l-Ispirtu
s-Sanntu ta' Alla, li fih intom issigillati
ghall-jum il-fidwa. Imrar, sahna, korla, taghjir, ghajjat, dan kollu
warrbuh minnkom, u wkoll kull hazen iehor. Kunu twajba ma' xulxin, hennu ghal xulxin, ahfru lil xulxin, bhalma
Alla hafer lilkom fi Kristu. Kunu, mela,
tixbhu lil Alla, bhala wlied mahbuba, u imxu fl-imhabba, bhalma Kristu wkoll habb lilna u ta lilu nnifsu ghalina,
offerta u sagrificcju jfuhu quddiem Alla. Il-Kelma tal-Mulej
Gospel
John 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."
L-Evangelju
Qari mill-Evangelju skond San
Gwann 6, 41 – 51
F'dak iz-zmien, il-Lhud bdew igergru fuq Gesu ghax kien
qal: "Jien hu l-hobz li nizel
mis-sema". U bdew ighidu: "Dan
mhuwiex Gesu', bin Guzeppi? Lil missieru u 'l ommu ma nafuhomx? Mela kif
qieghed jghid: :"Jiena nzilt
mis-sema"?" Gesu' wegibhom:
"Toqghodux tgorru bejnitkom." Hadd ma jista' jigi ghandi jekk il-Missier li
baghatni ma jigbdux lejja; u jien nqajmu
mill-imwiet fl-ahhar jum. Hemm miktub
fil-profeti: "U kulhadd ikun
imghallem minn minn minn
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Elijah's Power Food, and Ours
Fr. Thomas Rosica, CSB
I have
always loved reading the Elijah cycle in the Book of Kings. The first book,
Chapter 18, portrays Elijah as an invincible prophet who fearlessly stands up
to king and prophets, but he remains so extremely human in the process! Sunday's
first reading from 1 Kings 19 presents us with the great prophet who is
vulnerable and subject to discouragement and fear.
Let us
situate today's story in 1 Kings. In Chapter 19 we have the aftermath of
Elijah's brilliant victory in the contest with Jezebel and the priests of Baal
atop Mount Carmel . Just when Elijah should
have been triumphant, he receives a message telling him of Jezebel's murderous
intentions, and he is "afraid" (v. 3). Elijah is persecuted for his
faithfulness and for demanding total obedience to one God because such loyalty
threatens the powers that be who have their own ideas about whom or what people
should worship.
Energy from above
Suddenly, a
messenger (angel) of the Lord awakens him and tells him to eat and drink.
Whereas the wicked Jezebel sends a messenger of death to Elijah, the Lord God
of Israel
Elijah
eats, drinks, but then falls asleep again, indicating that he has not yet
recovered from his lethargy or depression. The messenger wakes Elijah again and
urges him to eat and drink, this time providing a reason, "or the journey
will be too much for you" (19:7).
What can we
learn from Elijah in the desert wilderness? Here is a man who has given his
life totally in faithfulness to the God of Israel. He has been totally
"zealous for the Lord." His desperate cry, "I am no better than
my ancestors" reveals a man who no longer believes in himself. He had
believed himself to be a spectacularly exemplary servant of God. No one could
outdo him in his zealousness. Now he believes it has been all in vain!
Dark night
of the soul
Yet the God
of Israel does not give up on Elijah. God's teaching moment begins when
Elijah's famed resourcefulness runs out. Angels from God are needed to feed him
in his weakness. Then God leads him through a time of reflection in the
wilderness. His
journeying through the Negev wilderness lasts
for the significant time of forty days and forty nights. As the Hebrews
wandered earlier in the wilderness in search of God, this most zealous prophet
and servant of the Lord is led on a similar journey. Eventually, Elijah comes
to the sacred mountain
of Horeb
The Elijah
story speaks powerfully to those who are worn-out, fearful, or in need of
renewal and recommitment to their original call. The story suggests a way
forward -- eat and drink of God's life-giving sustenance, return to the core of
faith, listen for God's still small voice. That may be the way to find new
energy, new vision, and a new sense of purpose. Elijah must learn that God is
not encountered in the sound and fury of loud and spectacular events. God will
not be conjured up by the zealous or boisterous activity of the prophet who now
stands quiet and broken atop the Lord's mountain.
Elijah
discovers that God is encountered when the activity ceases and the words stop,
when the heart is sad and the stomach is filled with pangs of hunger. When
Elijah's mind and heart are finally empty of ambition and self-promotion, God
is ultimately heard.
Bread of Life
For Elijah,
for Jesus, and for us, bread is fundamental to life. Bread stands at the center
of life. Bread is life. And in today's Gospel (John 6:41-51) we hear about
Jesus, who is the Bread of Life. Christ is life: He is the bread of life. To
eat Jesus' body and to drink his blood means more than just to believe in him.
The image of Jesus as the "bread of life" is at the heart of what
renewal in the mystery of Christ is about.
When Jesus
says that he is "the bread of life," his emphasis is not on the bread
as such but on himself as the "I" who declares it. Jesus is saying
that what we long for to nourish our hungers is found in himself, the
"I" who identifies his life with the bread he gives (cf. John 6:51).
Jesus is more than mere bread for our bodily hunger. He is more than love to
satisfy our emotional needs. He is the word that will satisfy our hunger for
truth. He is bread for life itself: the total satisfaction for all our human
hungers.
For all
baptized believers the Eucharist is the primary way of celebrating and
sustaining contact with the risen Lord. Let us consider for a moment the highly
symbolic actions of Jesus as he gives us the living bread from heaven. Jesus
took the bread. He has taken the bread of our lives and joined it with his own.
Jesus blessed the bread. He has blessed us with his life. Baptism was the first
moment of that blessing. Every other moment of contact with Jesus Christ is a
deepening of that blessing.
Jesus broke
the bread. Like Jesus, there are moments in our lives when we feel hurt,
broken, lost, discouraged, disillusioned, empty, rejected, and without energy
and hope. We are like Elijah under the broom tree, waiting for our life to end.
Yet even in these fractured moments, the Lord Jesus is present to us.
Jesus gave
the bread. He gave of his time and his touch. He gave encouragement but also
his challenge. He gave both word and bread to feed and nourish. He gave most
fully in giving himself. He gave till there was no more to give, declaring his
life and work complete with the words, "It is finished" (John 19:30).
Then bowing his head, he handed over his spirit, the same spirit he gave us
when he appeared risen from the dead (cf. John 20:22).
In life,
death, and resurrection, Jesus has given us a profound example and challenges
us to do the same. "Go and do likewise" is both a challenge and a
commission. It is the commission to live the mystery of being bread blessed and
broken for others. When life seems to be breaking apart, we should not forget
the lesson of the bread broken for us. It cannot be broken without being firmly
held in both hands. When it comes to the breaking of bread, or of our lives,
both hold the challenge of the mystery of faith.
Let us pray
that our sharing in the Eucharistic bread and wine may transform us more and
more into what we eat and drink, and that we might truly become living bread,
broken and shared with all people.
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