Comes Down from Heaven. 32 So Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 So they said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” 35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.
At vv.12 and 27 (gathering the fragments after feeding the crowd and referencing perishable food), Jesus implicitly linked the feeding miracle with the manna story of Exodus 16. In v.32, he does so explicitly. For the second time in this chapter Jesus prefaces his remarks with the solemn, Amen, amen, I say to you. Jesus reworks four essential elements of v. 31: Continue reading
24 When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus. 25 And when they found him across the sea they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” 26 Jesus answered them and said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled.
This coming Sunday marks the 
We have a new mayor here in Tampa. Mayor Castor has been in public service for the majority of her adult years, served as Chief of Police and more. There are lots of folks that already knew what kind of leader she will be. Fulfilling positions of leadership is always at the forefront of organizations, politics, and more. It is always a good question for the Church. I have lived during the pontificates of seven popes and in my lifetime we have certainly had a wide variety of types and styles of leaders. In our history, we have had 266 of popes. We have had some spectacularly amazing leaders, saints in the making, and we have had some spectacularly horrific leaders, who would have been quite at home in Game of Thrones (so I hear, I actually haven’t seen it…). All took up the Keys of Peter, with the same job description given Peter: feed my sheep; tend my lambs. The Pope is the most visible of leaders in the Church, but not the only ones with that same job description. The simple mandate, “feed my sheep; tend my lambs” applies to priests, pastors, parents, principals, police, and anyone who would lead – anyone who would answer the call to minister in the Holy Name of Jesus. 
This year is a year of transition for the parish. There are things we do so very well – such as our Lenten, Holy Week, and Easter celebrations. I have been around 12 years now, and these really were the best ever. We have had so many people make a point of sharing how moved they were by the celebrations. One person came up to me after Holy Thursday and simply said, “Wow, wow, wow…” What makes it so moving for people? Everyone is different, but what is constant is the behind the scene work of dedicated people and their ministries: the Décor and Environment Committee, Readers, Eucharistic Ministers, Altar Servers, Ushers, Choir, Faith Formation/RCIA, the Knights, the parish staff, volunteers who pass out palms, greet people and a million other things. So many people are moved by the Eucharistic Procession on Holy Thursday – behind the scene are staff who recruit TPD for traffic safety, who go to the Franklin Street businesses to let them know, who visit the hotels to make sure they know our Holy Week schedule – so many little things – all that make the big thing the amazing thing. 
From time to time some Christians tell other Christians that their baptism was not valid because it was not done by full immersion, the only way Jesus authorized people to be baptized. The claims sometimes go on to claim that “sprinkling” was an invention of the Catholic Church in the 4th century when people began to flood into the church and it was just more efficient that the required full immersion. 
Jesus answered and said to [Nicodemus], “Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” (John 2:3)
This coming Sunday marks the 
