May 14, 2025

By Father William Muench
NCC columnist

I am writing this during the Third Week of Easter. This is a special week for our Catholic Church. The Cardinal electors of our Church went into conclave this week. The daily Masses each day this week have great Scripture readings. These readings will be good for the cardinal electors to listen to and think about as they move through this important conclave.

The first reading at each of these daily Masses during this Third Week of Easter is from the Acts of the Apostles. One of the readings is the story of the martyrdom of St. Stephen. I am certain that you will remember this story. St. Stephen was one of the first deacons of the early Christian Church. They were chosen to assist the apostles. Stephen was a powerful preacher and teacher. His message about Jesus disturbed Jewish leaders. They reacted with violence, and they took Stephen’s life. I can only imagine that the cardinals will be inspired by Stephen’s witness, his boldness and his forgiving spirit; he asked God to forgive those who took his life.

The Gospel reading at the Masses during this Third Week of Easter are from St. John’s Gospel – all from chapter 6. This chapter is known as Jesus’ Discourse on the Bread of Life. We find here Jesus’ teaching about the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.

John 6 begins with the miraculous multiplication of the loaves and fish. Jesus feeds 5,000 people. This event has become an image for us of Jesus’ coming to nourish us now with the Holy Eucharist. In John 6, the crowd of people catch up with Jesus the next day. St. John then presents this message as a dialogue – the crowd with Jesus. They have seen what Jesus can do, and they want to know who he is. We then listen as Jesus teaches them what it means that he is the Bread of Life, and we learn that Jesus wants to come to us in the Eucharist.

So, let us consider that message of Jesus. He teaches us, even now, who he is. “I am the bread that came down from Heaven so that one may eat it and not die.” Jesus answers all their questions. “I am the living bread that came down from Heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever. The bread I will give is my flesh for the live of the world.”

We, now, see and understand in faith our belief in our powerful sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. We believe in the real presence of the Lord Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. We believe we receive the Body and Blood of the Lord when we receive the Eucharist in Holy Communion. This sacrament unites us in a special way with Our Lord and Savior, who comes to bring us strength and support.

In John 6, Jesus puts it in his words, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.”

This Gospel reading – John 6 – is an inspiration for all of us, Catholics and must fill with power and grace the cardinal electors in this new conclave.

In John 6, some of Jesus’ disciples find this Eucharistic teaching of the Lord to be unacceptable and we are told they stop walking with Jesus. Jesus turns to the apostles asking if they will leave him. Peter answers him: “Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of everlasting life, and we have come to believe and to know that you are the Christ, the Son of God.”