Opening Prayer Series: Collect for 19th Sunday of Yr B

The Collect for the 19th Sunday of Year B reads as follows:

Let us pray,

Almighty and ever-living God,

whom, taught by the Holy Spirit,

we dare to call God our Father

bring, we pray, to perfection in our hearts 

the spirit of adoption as Your sons and daughters, 

that we may merit to enter into the inheritance 

which You have promised.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ Your Son, 

who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, 

one God, for ever and ever.

In making this prayer tangible, the following reflection questions emerged.

1.What does it mean to me to call God my Father?

2. What is my relationship with the Holy Spirit?

3. How can I develop this relationship further throughout this coming week?

4. What does the phrase spirit of adoption mean to me?

5. What do I need to do to merit my inheritance of the Kingdom?

6. What areas of my life currently are not worthy of God's inheritance and what changes will I make to these areas this coming week?

7. How are my Year of Grace spiritual goals? Do they need revision and how I will progress with them this coming week?

In today's gospel the Jews are portrayed as complaining or murmuring about Jesus.  There is an echo of the murmuring of the generation which came out of Egypt into the wilderness.  Do we complain or murmur or have we become complacent and lack gratitude for the gift of the Eucharist?

Water and manna resulted from the lack of faith in the wilderness.  Here Jesus as the bread of life is the result. At the end of the passage the deathw hich followed the eating of the manna in the desert is contrasted with the life that come through eating the bread of Heaven.

As we reflect upon this gospel, we  may consider our attitude and gratitude for the gift of the Eucharist. We may wish to revive our faith in the real presence. Reading and seeing the miracles of the Eucharist may nurture our faith.  The real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is a mystery, yet one we as Catholics need to embrace wholeheartedly in faith, hope and love since Jesus has provided for us to be nourished with Himself every day/week at Holy Mass.  We may worship and adore Him in the real presence in the tabernacle and/or exposition of the Eucharist.  

What will you do to nurture your faith in Jesus in the Eucharist this coming week?