In today’s Gospel, we see the profound blessing of hearing and observing the Word of God—and no one exemplifies this more perfectly than our Blessed Mother Mary. She devoured the Scriptures, rejoiced in the Word made flesh, and prepared the way for Christ. As John the Baptist said, “He must increase; I must decrease.”

Father Anthony reflects on the shock and promise of John 6:52–59, where Jesus’ words ignite dispute—“How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”—because the Lord refuses to soften what He means: unless we eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, we have no life in us. He speaks with a holy insistence that feels almost too close, too concrete, as if salvation were not merely an idea to admire but a life to receive—His life, given to be shared.

Father Anthony uses the story of Cain and Abel to demonstrate how important it is to express gratitude to God for the talents of others and ourselves rather than to allow envy to creep in.