Daily Devotion

This daily devotion is based on the Morning Office. It comes with selected readings from the appointed Psalm and another Scripture text, accompanied by reflections and prayers. This devotion is suitable for personal and family devotions. It will be best to both read and listen. The link to the entire Morning Office today is provided at the end of each devotion. This project started on Ash Wednesday, 2025 and are offered for weekdays only. More info here.

17 March- More Free Fish Burgers

Audio

Prepare

Welcome to the thirteenth day of Lent.  Today is Monday, 17th of March.  Together with the Church, we remember St. Patrick, Bishop of and Missionary to Ireland around the time of 460 A.D. (A brief biography of St. Patrick is available here.)

Let us begin by giving thanks to God for the life, service and example of this saint in the words of the Collect of the Day:

Almighty God, in your providence you chose your servant Patrick
to be the apostle to the Irish people,
to bring those who were wandering in darkness and error
to the true light and knowledge of you:
Grant us so to walk in that way that we may come at last
to the light of everlasting life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God,
for ever and ever. Amen.

Psalm Reading

The Psalm appointed for today is Psalm 32.  Reading from verses 8-10.

⁸ I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

⁹ Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding,
which must be curbed with bit and bridle,
or it will not stay near you.

¹⁰ Many are the sorrows of the wicked,
but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.

Scripture Reading

The New Testament reading for today comes from John 6:41-51.  Here, we will read verses 41-43 and then 47-51.

⁴¹ So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” ⁴² They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” ⁴³ Jesus answered them, “… ⁴⁷ Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. ⁴⁸ I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹ Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. ⁵⁰ This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

Reflection

Today’s reading is a section out of a much longer discourse over 71 verses in one chapter alone.  The context preceding this section is the miracle of Jesus feeding five thousand people the evening before, with just 5 loaves and 2 fishes.  So people followed him, and Jesus articulated why – “… you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.” (v.26) From where the people’s hearts were, literally in their stomachs, Jesus went on to claim in today’s reading that he is the bread that came down from heaven.  He is the bread of life, the living bread, along with an invitation to eat of this bread and live forever.  Lest the people (and we also) think he meant it in a figurative, allegorical or poetic sense, Jesus’ language becomes increasingly pointed, even forceful.  He says “[a]nd the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh”, and we will see in tomorrow’s reading how it all builds up to this claim – “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.” (v. 56).

Beloved, do we realise that Holy Communion, the Breaking of Bread, or some use the term the Eucharist, is about union with Jesus Christ? Eternal life, or triumph over Death, is actually a result of being in Christ. And if you abide in Christ, and I abide in Christ, we have unity in Christ. That is the kind and nature of unity that makes us, you and I, members of the holy, catholic and apostolic Church (in the words of the Nicene Creed).

Nothing wrong with free fish burgers. Nothing wrong with sharing more free fish burgers. But if all we seek is a fellowship around fish burgers, then we are in danger of missing the signs, missing Christ, and maybe even falling out of Church.

Jesus wants to give us so much more than just free fish burgers. He offers Himself. Will you seek after Him as the Bread of Life?

Collect

As our response to today’s Scripture reading, let us close this time with the Collect, traditionally prayed on the Fourth Sunday of Lent:-

Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ
came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world:
Evermore give us this bread,
that he may live in us, and we in him;
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Link to full Morning Office