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To review previous blogs, the resurrection of Jesus, which is tied to baptism, brings us newness of life.[1] The Holy Spirit is given to us at baptism and dwells with us infusing us with the very same power that raised Christ from the dead.[2] To what end do we need this power? We are given this power through the Holy Spirit to be conformed into the image of Jesus.[3] We need nothing short of His resurrection power to live a Godly life. We share in His divine nature![4]
I wanted to review that to open the door to the point of this blog, which is to cover some of the promises of Jesus Christ for new life in the gospels. New life is union with God through His Son Jesus Christ. Since our sin has separated us from God, the work of Jesus Christ on the cross was needed for this union with God. This is called reconciliation.[5] Death was the only certain until Jesus defeated death by the resurrection. Now we can have life.
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
Please read the whole chapter for the full context, it is certainly one of the best. The Lord Jesus is confronting the religious leaders at the time. They were not being the shepherds that God had called them to be, instead Jesus called them hirelings. Jesus is the Good Shepherd! Hirelings come only to steal, kill and destroy. They come to take and not to give thinking only of themselves. Ultimately, Satan himself is the hireling. The contrast to this is that Jesus Christ came to give His life and that by so doing give us life! He came to give us life and life abundantly.
38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me; 39 and this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up at the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that every one who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
Following that same theme, here Jesus emphasizes that He came not to do His own will, but the will of the Father. Jesus says that all that see Him and believe in Him will have eternal life. In the previous blog, we talked about St. Thomas who originally doubted the resurrection until He saw Jesus risen from the dead. Jesus then tells Him that those who have not seen but still believe are blessed. So here in this statement in John 6, Jesus cannot be talking about physically seeing Him. We believe and have not physically seen Him. Our faith in Him is based on the testimony of the apostles passed down to us in our age through Tradition and the Scripture. The Holy Spirit bearing witness to us of this truth. Because of these witnesses, we believe and receive eternal life! Jesus promises that if we would believe we would receive life!
51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
He promised to give us life. Through His resurrection He defeats death and gives us life. He promised that if we would eat His flesh, we would have life. This promise introduced here culminates on the night He was betrayed when He took the bread of the Passover meal and broke it and gave it His disciples telling them to eat it, this is His body which is broken for us.
As discussed in the Crucifixion series, this ties His death with the Passover. He is the Passover Lamb.[6] Through the Eucharist, Christ gives us His flesh to eat under the species of bread. By partaking of the Eucharist, we receive life!
13 Jesus said to her, “Every one who drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
The water that Christ gives us is His Spirit.[7] We receive the Holy Spirit at baptism, and He comes upon us in the sacrament of Confirmation (Chrismation), but we can drink fully of His Spirit wherever we are. The apostle Paul encourages us to be filled with the Holy Spirit.[8] In context, he is contrasting being filled with the Holy Spirit with drinking wine. Drinking too much wine leads to intoxication, instead we are to drink deeply of His Spirit which leads to deep fellowship with God. When we ask to be filled with His Spirit, we receive His life.
The Lord Jesus came to give us life by defeating death that held us in bondage. We receive His life through faith, the Eucharist and His Holy Spirit. Wherever you are right now, you can thank Him, you can praise Him. Lift up your hands and look to heaven and ask Him to fill you with the Holy Spirit. Trust Him.
Live repentance. Be zealous. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen July 31, 2025, Thursday Seventeenth Week of Ordinary Time, St. Ignatius of Loyola
[1] Romans 6: 3,4
[2] Romans 8:11
[3] Romans 8:29
[4] 2 Peter 1: 3,4
[5] 2 Corinthians 5: 17-21
[6] 1 Corinthians 5:7; John 1:29
[7] John 7:39
[8] Ephesians 5:18
Be Zealous 
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