Nepsis

Category: Time to Pray

  • John 6:66-71 Where else?

    From this moment many of his disciples went back and walked with him no longer.

    So Jesus said to the twelve ‘Surely you do not want to go away too, do you?’

    Simon Peter replied ‘Lord, to whom would we go to? You have the words that lead to resurrection life and we have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God. ‘

    Jesus answered him ‘Did I not choose you, the Twelve? And one of you is the devil. ‘

    He said this about Judas son of Simon Iscariot. For he was about to betray him, though one of the Twelve.

    Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
    Naught be all else to me, save that thou art –
    Thou my best thought, by day or by night;
    Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.

  • John 6:60-65 Stumbling on

    Then many of his disciples hearing this said ‘This saying is hard to take. Who can understand this?’

    Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling because of this, said to them:
    ‘Does this cause you to stumble?
    So what if you see the Son of Man going up to where he was before?
    It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh achieves nothing.
    The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.
    But among you are some who do not believe.

    (For in fact Jesus knew from the beginning some were unbelievers and as well as who would betray him.)

    And he went on to say ‘This is why I have said “Nobody can come to me unless the Father has granted it to them.”‘

    Lord, you have given me so much,
    I ask for one more thing –
    a grateful heart.

    George Herbert

  • John 6: 52-59 Flesh and Blood

    Then the Jews there quarrelled with each other saying ‘How can this fellow give us his flesh to eat?’

    So Jesus said to them :
    ‘Truly, truly I say to you if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood then you do not have life in yourselves.
    The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has resurrection life, I will raise them on the last day.
    For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
    The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood stays in me and I in them.
    Just as the living Father sent me and I live through the Father so the one who eats me will live through me.
    This is the bread that comes down from heaven, not like the bread your ancestors ate and died.
    The one who eats this bread will live into the resurrection age.

    He said these things as he taught in the synagogue in Capernaum.

    Be thou a bright flame before me,
    Be thou a guiding star above me
    Be thou a smooth path below me
    Be thou a kindly shepherd behind me
    Today – tonight -forever
    Amen.

    St Columba

  • John 6:41-51 From heaven or Nazareth?

    So the Jewish [who were gathered there] began to grumble about him, that he said ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’ And they said ‘Is this fellow not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose mother and father we know? How can now he say “I have come down from heaven?”‘

    Jesus replied to them ‘Do not keep on grumbling among yourselves.

    ‘No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them on the last day. It has been written in the prophets “And everyone will be taught by God.” And everyone who hears and learns from the Father, comes to me. (Not that any one has seen the Father, except the one who is from God – that one has seen the Father.)

    ‘Truly truly I say to you, the one who believes has resurrection life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness and yet died. This one is the bread that has come down from heaven, so that anyone may eat it and not die.

    ‘I am the living bread who came down from heaven. If someone eats this bread they will live for ever, and the bread which I will give for the world is my flesh.’

    Lord God,,
    you feed us with the living bread from heaven;
    you renew our faith,
    increase our hope,
    and strengthen our love.

    Teach us to hunger
    for Christ who is the true and living bread,
    and to live by every word
    that comes from your mouth,
    through Jesus Christ our Lord.
    Amen.

  • John 6:34-40

    They said to him ‘Give us this bread, always.’

    Jesus said to them
    ‘I am the bread of life.
    The one who comes to me will never be hungry,
    and the one who believes in my will never ever be thirsty.

    But I say to you that you saw me and do not believe.

    All that the Father gives to me will come to me,
    and the one who comes to me I will certainly not turn away.

    Because I did not come down from heaven
    in order to do my own will
    but the will of the one who sent me.

    Indeed this is the will of the one who sent me
    that I will lose nothing of all that he has given me
    and I will raise them up on the last day.

    For this is the will of my Father,
    that all who see the Son and believe in him
    will have eternal life
    and I will raise that one on the last day.‘

    Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
    Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
    Where there is injury, pardon;
    Where there is discord, union;
    Where there is doubt, faith;
    Where there is despair, hope;
    Where there is darkness, light;
    Where there is sadness, joy,
    For your mercy and for your truth’s sake. Amen

  • John 6:30-34 – Bread from heaven

    They said to him: ‘Then what are you going to do as a sign so that we might see and believe? What work will you do? Our ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, as it stands written : “Bread from heaven – he (Moses) gave them to eat”‘

    Jesus said to them ‘Truly, truly I say to you all, Moses did not give you bread from heaven, but my father gives to you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.

    They said to him ‘Give us this bread, always.’

    Be thou a bright flame before me,
    Be thou a guiding star above me
    Be thou a smooth path below me
    Be thou a kindly shepherd behind me
    Today – tonight -forever
    Amen.

    St Columba

  • John 6:27-29 Perishable and Long Life

    Jesus said ‘Do not work for the food which perishes but the food which lasts into resurrection life – food that the Son of Man will give to you. For on this one the Father (God) has set his seal of approval.’

    So they said to him: ‘What must we do to do the works which God requires? Jesus answered ‘This is the work of God: to believe in the one he sent.’

    Lord, you have given me so much,
    I ask for one more thing –
    a grateful heart.

    George Herbert

  • John 6:22-26

    The next day, the crowd which was still across the sea, realised that there had only been one boat there, and that Jesus had not gone aboard the boat with his disciples, but only his disciples had left. (Some boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.)So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they boarded the boats and went to Capernaum, looking for Jesus.

    And finding him on the other side of the sea they said to him ‘Rabbi, since when did you come here?’

    Jesus answered them: ‘Truly, truly I say to you, you look for me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the breads and were full up.’

    Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
    Naught be all else to me, save that thou art –
    Thou my best thought, by day or by night;
    Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.

  • John 6:16-21 Going Places

    Map of Galilee

    As it grew late his disciples went down to the sea, boarded the boat and started across the sea to Capernaum. (It already had become dark, and Jesus had not yet come back to them. Moreover because a strong wind was blowing the sea was growing rough.) Then having rowed three or four miles they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat and they became afraid. But he said to them ‘It’s me. Don’t be afraid.’ Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land that they were going to.

    God, give me grace to accept with serenity
    the things that cannot be changed,
    Courage to change the things
    which should be changed,
    and the Wisdom to distinguish
    the one from the other.

    Living one day at a time,
    Enjoying one moment at a time,
    Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
    Taking, as Jesus did,
    This sinful world as it is,
    Not as I would have it,
    Trusting that You will make all things right,
    If I surrender to Your will,
    So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
    And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

    Amen.

  • John 6:8-15 More than enough

    One of his disciples, Andrew the brother of Simon Peter said to Jesus ‘There is a lad here, who has five barley breads and two fish. But what good are these among so many?’ Jesus said ‘Make the people sit down.’ (There was plenty of grass in the place. So the men sat – there were about 5,000).

    So Jesus took the breads and having given thanks he passed them out to those who were seated. In a similar way he gave out the fish, as much as they wanted. Then, when they had enough, he said to his disciples ‘Collect the leftover pieces, so that nothing is wasted.’ So they gathered them up, and they filled twelve baskets with leftovers from the five barley breads, left over by those who had eaten. So when the people had seen the sign which he had done, they began to say ‘This is certainly the prophet who is to come into the world.’ Jesus knowing that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, withdrew again into the hill country, by himself.

    Teach us, good Lord,
    to serve thee as thou deservest;
    to give and not to count the cost;
    to fight and not to heed the wounds;
    to toil and not to seek for rest;
    to labour and not to ask for any reward,
    save that of knowing that we do thy will,
    through Jesus Christ our Lord.
    Amen

    St Ignatius