Hunger is man’s great enemy. But in addition to that physical hunger, we also know the soul’s hunger, which is much more painful. The Gospel about the multiplication of loaves is relevant in every era. As we read these wonderful words about the feeding of the five thousand, we are filled with awe. “They all ate and were satisfied, and they even collected twelve baskets full of crumbs and leftover fish” (Mk 6:42-43).

Man is in a constant rush. Gone are the times that our grandparents remembered how they spent their winter evenings. They spent the day calmly, not in a hurry. And they were happy, even if they didn’t have the conveniences we have today. Today, the child has to get up early in the morning so that the working mother can make it to kindergarten and go to work. And when the child wants to play with his parents in the evening, he has to go to bed, because the mother is no longer in control, she is at the end of her strength. My father is also experiencing something similar. And today, the Church wants to tell us: Sit down and rest, at least in the church. Leave your hustle at the door and join the crowd around Jesus. All four evangelists talk about this multiplication of loaves. In some small things, they diverge and complement each other. But they unanimously say that this reproduction happened in silence, in a lonely place. Scholars of Holy Scripture consider this reproduction event to be a foreshadowing of the Eucharist. If we read the 6th chapter of the evangelist of Saint John, we would also see the people’s response to this multiplication: they wanted to make Christ a king. But when Jesus tells them about the bread of life, he will give them his body, for which they will no longer hunger and thirst. Mark also talks about the fact that even the apostles themselves did not understand it, because their hearts were still uncomprehending.

Don’t we also ask Jesus for our material satisfaction, security, and comfort rather than the Bread of eternal life? Don’t we resign as soon as the first obstacles appear with the words: it’s a tough talk?! Let’s be careful about our thinking in society because a consumerist society would like to accept Christ as something it does not need. 

We can see what it means to satisfy the crowd in Canadian martyrs. A young Christian from Spain came to the parish, where Father Amadci is the priest. He settled in the poorest neighborhood, intending to live here for others. Soon his example impressed other believers as well. They formed a group whose goal was to know Jesus best from the Holy Scriptures, in prayer, to talk with him in contemplation, to connect with him in meditation, to unite with him in the Eucharist and to serve him as brothers and sisters. By doing so, they won the hearts of those around them because they all longed for happiness. 

Jesus has prepared a feast for us, too. We are all invited. Let us wish and try not to know mental hunger.

1. According to Teresa, the first step is to become aware of God’s presence, that we are against him, that he is standing by our side, or that he is within us. The Soul must acknowledge what the Lord is like and what is the position of the creature and the sinner. Prayer must begin by asking whom  we will talk to and who we are so that it is clear what  to use (C 22:3). This step is called contemplation  and explains. She is talking to, what she is asking of him, and who she is, I do not consider it prayer (H I, 1, 7). He thinks this fact’s very consciousness is an inner prayer.
   It is possible to guess what Teresa means by this, and her next interpretation will be easier to understand. First, she betrays from the repetition of learned prayers, which need not be to be well heeded, like the turning of prayer mills in the East, and on the other hand, she rejects the classical style of meditation, which consists in thinking hard or reflecting “about Christ,” “on the subject of Christ,” or in an attitude of “looking up 26 to Christ,” but the soul remains somehow distant from it, from what is being meditated upon. Trying to meditate on the life of Christ wearies the mind (Psalm 11:9). To pray it is not enough to “meditate on something”; it requires a personal relationship with God, an association, where there is direct contact, where we can be face to face.

2. For her personally, this means turning to the Lord as someone standing in front of her and to whom she can give a hug or a shout. How to make this living relationship happen? If we imagine Christ in his humanity. But of what kind is it to be Christ to be “pictured”? After all, Teresa recommends this method even to souls who, like her, cannot use their imagery. God has not endowed me with the talent to meditate or to use my imagery, because my imagery is so inept that I could not even imagine the humanity of Christ, even though I tried to do so (Z 4:7). At another place, he says: I was so clumsy and could not to imagine things by reason, so that if I could not really see them; my imagination was useless unlike other people who have made the object of their contemplation could imagine. I could think of Christ as man, but I could never imagine him inwardly.

3. Though I had read so much of his beauty and seen so much of his pictures (Psalm 9:6). If so, what does she really mean when she says that her prayer lies in the fact that we are aware of Christ within us, or when she advises: Imagine that he is with you (C 26:1)? Is this perhaps proof that you are contradictory? Especially when elsewhere he encourages the sisters to remember to imagine Christ looking at them with his beautifully compassionate eyes, which are full of tears (C 26:5). Let us try to understand what he means. Let us first realize that Teresa’s demand to be aware of the Priest (although she was not able to do so according to the instructions of the authors she read) refers to an imagination capable of forming a visual and, at the same time, permanent image of Christ, that is, of conjuring up an appearance in the manner of a painted picture that is dear to us and to which can be freely concentrated on, the soul can gaze at it for a long time, can fix (the mind) long on God (Rev 5:2; cf. Ps 22:4).

4. Teresa certainly did not lack imagery, as evidenced by the images she uses in her writings. She does not deny her role in prayer, because she says that imagining imagery is like watching the Lord hanging on the cross or in another moment of his passion, and we remember within ourselves what was happening at the moment (C 34:8). By this, she means that it was impossible for her to construct an image of Christ in herself almost as something she saw with human eyes, a kind of visualization of Christ. For, in this way, she understood the use of imagery demanded by the spiritual authors. For in this way she could only imagine what she had seen with her eyes (cf. Ps 9:6). She knew, however, that his humanity does not dwell with us in our souls, but his divinity (R 57). Hence, her difficulties. Therefore, the inner idea of Christ of which Teresa speaks is not of the order of imagination but of the order of living faith, which perceives Christ’s presence without seeing him. In this spirit, we can also interpret her explanation: I was like a blind person or as if in some darkness, as if for a more detailed explanation, let us recall what Roland Barthes says: “The Ignatius image is neither a vision nor a mirage, but a plastic view of reality ( in the same sense of the word as in the artistic discipline of engraving. (…) These views (we now extend the meaning of the word, since they are all components of pictorial perception) can “contain” tastes, smells, sounds or other sensory perceptions, but it is a “visual” sight, if we may say so, and this is Ignatius is fully committed to” (op. cit. /see note 5/, p. 60). The author further notes that it was not the case with Teresa of Avila a person who talks to someone, knows that the other is next to him, it is certain, but still cannot see him. This happened to me, when I thought of our Lord (Psalm 9:6). Elsewhere, he specifies that it is the presence of God that does not.

You like solving riddles, puzzles, and crosswords for your inner enrichment. Whoever reads today’s Gospel takes on the role of a diviner who can enrich himself for this world and eternity. Let’s judge. Jesus tells Nicodemus: “He who comes from above is all” (Jn 3:31-32).

Those who compiled the liturgical texts left out ten whole verses between yesterday’s and today’s Gospel text. In the previous text, John the Baptist bore witness to Jesus. In today’s episode, Lord Jesus speaks about a double testimony. “He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks of the earth” (Jn 3:31). He meant John the Baptist. “He who comes from heaven is above all – he testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony.” (John 3:31-32). And that is Jesus. From this we know that a person can accept Christ and his words but reject them. Whoever takes them becomes a Christian and receives God’s word at the same time. However, everything does not end there. Tasks await the Christian. We must convey this knowledge of Christ to others.In the Gospel, we reveal the secret of the person of the Lord Jesus; we recognize that he is God’s messenger, the Savior of the world, but also the Judge of all. We are all witnesses. Even John the Baptist is only a witness, even if we consider him the greatest born of a woman.

With the baptism we received, we also must bear witness to Christ like John the Baptist. This means that not only our words, but our whole life, should speak about Christ. At the same time, a Christian must not put himself before Christ. Like John, the Christian should also stand aside as a witness because he is only a mediator between two parties. Let’s ask God for the light of faith so that we give a good testimony that would be credible and that we would not hide the truth.

Knowing Christ is the duty of every baptized person. Although we received baptism as children and did not realize its significance for our earthly and eternal life, yet in a state where we have acquired the use of reason and are aware of our responsibility, that we have free will, we should multiply the grace of baptism.  Prayer – conversation with Jesus, holy mass – meeting with Jesus, sacrament – receiving Jesus. All this is not only our duty, but also a need, because by this, we fulfill what God rightfully expects of us, but at the same time we acquire the necessary merits without which salvation is impossible. Since the early days of Christianity, followers, including us, have been called Christians. We have a name after Christ, and thus also the obligation that after baptism, we should really bear witness to Christ.

We will only know a few things in faith. Many things we accept, we believe, and although we cannot explain them, this does not prevent us from being able to accept them. The personality of Christ is the pinnacle of our life. 

Violence will not solve things. Freedom must be adequately respected. Violence is an obstacle, not progress. Also, the teachings of Christ, given non-violently, will surely attract more and also strengthen a person in his faith.

The personality of Nicodemus in the Gospel is proof of this. Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish high council, often visited Christ, especially at night. In these meetings, the main topic was faith. Nicodemus became convinced that nothing is as essential for a person as faith. Christ explained to him that without faith it is impossible to be like God and that the victory in which the world triumphs is our faith. Nicodemus believed Christ.

Today, the Church wants to point out to us the circumstances that should prepare us for a proper understanding of the truth of the death and resurrection of Christ. The Church wants us to be broken neither by suffering, torture, nor death so that we may believe more in Christ, the world’s Savior. In the Gospels, we read that Jesus often asked for strong faith from his listeners during his public appearances. For on this he depended on the way forward in following him.

The Church wants to convince us of the great role of faith in human life. It refers today to an event that once took place in the wilderness during the journey of the Jews from Egypt to their promised land (cf. Num. 21:5-9). On the way, they were attacked by poisonous snakes. It was then that the Israelites realized that this was a punishment from God for their grumbling. They begged Moses to beg mercy from God. According to God’s command, Moses made a brazen serpent, placed it on a pole, and declared that whoever looked at the serpent with faith would be saved. And indeed, he was. The brazen serpent mentioned in the Gospel is a picture and symbol of the hanging, dying man on the cross – Christ. His suffering and death cannot be the cause of our doubt or melancholy, but, on the contrary, they are meant to revive our faith and strengthen us in overcoming the difficulties that it is necessary for Christ to endure for us, and so enter into his glory (cf. Lk 26:26). As we reflect on the suffering and death of Christ at this time, we desire to be strengthened in our faith and to believe fully in Christ, and if we are strengthened in the conviction that God did not send His Son into the world that the world should perish, but that he who believes in Him should have eternal life. Thanks be to Jesus Christ that we are saved by his suffering and death, which is not the dramatic end of his life, for it brings new life.

There is only one point of exception, that violence does not attract, does not entice, and that is in the words of Christ: Heaven is gained only by violence. By violence to oneself. By greater self-control, by control, by study, by personal witness.

There is a big difference between talking about someone and talking to someone. Theology is the science of God, i.e., what God is like, what his attributes are, what God has done. However, you also need to talk to God. Listen to what God is saying to me, catch God’s voice, and trying to respond to God’s voice. When a priest preaches, it shouldn’t just be what he has read in a book or seen on YouTube, but he should say how he was personally touched by the gospel. This is how the apostles preached. At various meetings, we often talk about the situation of the Church and different opinions, but we should talk about our engagement with God. A big mistake is when we don’t know anything about our encounter with God, because we didn’t have any personal encounter with God.

We don’t just call various drawings signs; signs include writing, notes, objects, words, and thoughts… The Gospel says: “As Moses lifted the serpent in the wilderness, even so, must the Son of Man be lifted, that whoever believes…may have eternal life” (Jn 3:14). When the chosen nation left slavery in Egypt for the promised land of Canaan, the nation in the wilderness, under the leadership of Moses, often went against God’s will. The people often murmured. During one such grumbling, God sent poisonous snakes upon the Jews. This bit the people, and the nation began to realize that it had offended God. Therefore, they turn to Moses and ask him to plead with God to save them from the horrible death of being bitten by snakes. God then instructed Moses to hang a snake on a pole, which he was to cast out of brass. When he did so, everyone who touched or gazed upon this serpent of brass, even though bitten by snakes, did not die.

These people were saved through the Savior and Redeemer of all people, Jesus Christ. When Christ was dying on the cross, He was nailing the power of evil, the power of sin, to the cross at that time. The cross became the source of new life for us; it became the source of healing. This event wants to tell us that whoever looks at the crucified Christ wants to find eternal life. It is very necessary to take the time to look at the crucified Christ. When his gaze meets ours, it will pierce our pride, and we will feel the power of healing. Everything is Jesus’ answer to Nicodemus’ question: “How can this be?” (cf. Jn 3:9). Nicodemus was troubled; he did not yet understand how a person can believe and be born again of the Holy Spirit. This is the moment when one wants to solve everything by oneself, that is, before the illumination of the Holy Spirit. Jesus wants Nicodemus to believe in the atoning death of the Lord Jesus. Just as those who snakes bit and by looking at the brazen serpent were healed, so anyone who looks with faith at the crucified Christ will gain eternal life, be healed, saved and redeemed. As the Lord Jesus’ death on the cross was a necessary entrance into His glory, so for man, faith is the condition for attaining justification of sins before God, through being born again of the Spirit through baptism, and attaining glory in heaven.

Not only does the sacrament of baptism become for us the gateway to eternal life, but in this sacrament, we are also forgiven of all our sins committed before baptism. By baptism, we have regained what our grandparents lost by their disobedience in paradise. When we renew our baptismal vows, for example, in the church community at First Communion, on White Saturday, we realize that we renounce all sin, confess our faith, and thereby grow in our friendship with God. This, then, is our witness expressed in gestures, in words, and behind all this is something invisible to our eyes and yet so necessary for our life of faith – contact with God: this is what unites us and makes us true brothers and sisters of the Lord Jesus

The experience of God’s mercy develops the human ability to forgive and teaches the necessary civic virtues.

Illustration photo: commons.wikimedia.org

Time flies fast for you, too. We have finished the Easter Octave of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus. We will live the Easter season until the feast of the Sending of the Holy Spirit, which is on the fiftieth day after the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

When Jesus met Nicodemus, he said: “Truly, truly, I say this: Unless someone is born of water and … of” (Jn 3:5). The third chapter of the Gospel of St. John can also be called “baptismal catechesis” that is, instruction about the sacrament of baptism. We were helped by Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish council, an educated, respectable man, who is not satisfied with what the preachers bring to the board about the teachings of Christ, the itinerant teacher, but visits Jesus himself and talks with him. He is so impressed by the conversation that he comes to Jesus again under the cover of darkness. And so we can say that this is where the faith that Christ’s miracles awakened in him begins. Nicodemus was a man who desired the truth. Jesus sees this and tries to initiate Nicodemus into the mystery of salvation.And this was precisely what Nicodemus was concerned with because otherwise he would not have even called Jesus a teacher. In their conversation, we learn, thanks to Nicodemus, that entering the kingdom of God is possible only through rebirth from water and the Holy Spirit, that is, with the help of the sacrament of baptism. This means that there is a new birth, i.e., a new life – supernatural. Nicodemus first mistakenly believes this is absurd – to be born again in the body. However, this is not a physical rebirth, but a spiritual one with the help of water, a symbol of life. This visible sign – the baptism of resurrection means that the Holy Spirit awakens in the baptized a new life, a new life principle, namely sanctifying grace, and it is through this that the carnal person becomes spiritual, i.e., filled with the Holy Spirit.

As Christians, we speak of a dual existence, that means we have also received a spiritual reality from God. This act is a matter of faith. It’s a secret for us. However, we see various secrets in the surrounding nature, for example, the wind that blows where it wants without our consent. The Holy Spirit also opens the way to a new life for us without our intervention. To be born of the Holy Spirit means to receive the inspiration of God and to believe in God. Only when a person decides to accept the Holy Spirit in faith, then a person is reborn by the Holy Spirit without his merits. This means that we can receive baptism only once in our life, but the grace that began at baptism can be multiplied, and regained, in the sacrament of reconciliation, when we put our conscience in order. It follows us that we must constantly try to renew the baptismal grace we have received, to keep increasing it, that is, to grow spiritually. Nicodemus did not understand this at his first meeting with Christ.

Let us often remind ourselves of the value of our baptism. Let us gratefully remember our parents, godparents, and the priest who baptized us because then he gave us a great treasure that opened the gate of heaven. Let us also pray for ourselves, so that we never lose our baptismal grace.

Do you know that repetition helps in many, many ways? Through repetition, we learn, become more skilled, and much more confident… Again and again, Jesus advises us: “Go into all the world…” (Mk 16:15).

Why? What for? Jesus wants us to spread his teaching, name…, and resurrection worldwide. Jesus rebukes unbelief and hardness of heart. From these words of Jesus, we can feel instruction and encouragement for us in our struggles for a deeper faith, for a stronger attachment to Christ.

An excerpt of the Gospel from Mark’s supplement, where he recapitulates the appearance of the Lord Jesus after his resurrection; first to Mary Magdalene, to the two Emmaus disciples, and finally to the eleven apostles at the table. After his resurrection, he must start over with his disciples. All the enthusiasm, the zeal of the three years they spent with Jesus seems to have evaporated. However, Jesus continues and frees his apostles from sadness and hopelessness, and even here, we encounter real unbelief, the hardness of the apostles’ hearts, because they did not believe those who saw the resurrected Christ. Jesus approaches the apostles again and awakens faith in them, in this small group of people, because he knows that they will soon become the foundation of the future Church. Even this doubt of theirs will serve many to accept the faith and teachings of Christ. That is why Jesus seems to be working again to awaken the shaken faith of his apostles. Mark uses the words “to all creation” in the Gospel. We can say that this designation is a missionary terminology used for Christians from paganism, where we understand that all people, the whole creation meets the preaching of the Gospel and be transformed for us.

The Gospel is a kind of struggle of Jesus for Peter, John, and Thomas,… “Eleven”, but it is also a struggle for us. After all, we have not seen Jesus; we have not touched his pierced hands and side, and yet we believe. Why? Because Jesus addressed us, wrestled with us as with his first apostles. And so he also invites us to follow him, bear witness and proudly multiply the ranks of those who believed in one, universal apostolic Church from the beginning. Because whoever believes in Christ must persevere with him, he must try to get rid of doubts and cowardice because this is what Christ wants us to be. Christ wants us to be spirited and joyful heralds of the good news. This is our task. Everyone who has accepted baptism also accepts this task. Who he wants to accomplish this task, he must believe and not doubt. Jesus rebukes unbelief.

From the life of St. We know the teachings of Francis of Assisi. Once he invited one of his fellow brothers, who was a well-known and famous preacher, to preach. From the morning, this brother and František walked the city streets. In the evening, he impatiently asked František when he would preach. Then Francis said to him seriously: “My brother, since the morning you have been preaching to those with whom we meet.”

We should set an example in our own life and our family.