Gospel Reflection for The 23rd day of April in the year of Our Lord, 2026

John 6:44-51

44 No man can come to me, except the Father, who hath sent me, draw him; and I will raise him up in the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets: And they shall all be taught of God. Every one that hath heard of the Father, and hath learned, cometh to me.

46 Not that any man hath seen the Father; but he who is of God, he hath seen the Father. 47 Amen, amen I say unto you: He that believeth in me, hath everlasting life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers did eat manna in the desert, and are dead. 50 This is the bread which cometh down from heaven; that if any man eat of it, he may not die.

51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven. 52 If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give, is my flesh, for the life of the world.

The Douay Rheims explains:

[44] “Draw him”: Not by compulsion, nor by laying the free will under any necessity, but by the strong and sweet motions of his heavenly grace.

Over the last few hundred years, a relatively brief period in the history of Christianity, countless Protestants have cited the beginning of today’s Gospel to justify that they felt drawn, or “called” by God to become ministers. Many have formed their own churches. To date, there are estimated to be somewhere around 50,000 Protestant denominations. Each of these denominations contain ministers, writers and teachers who disagree with each other over matters of doctrine, theology and morals. That, is how new Protestant denominations are formed, through schism. Each founder of a new Protestant church feels drawn, led, called to state that his understanding of the Bible is the only valid one, or that the current leaders of his denomination have lost their way, and that he must form a new church to preach the truth to the world. Each Protestant who does so claims the “Bible alone” as his soul authority... even though the Bible clearly states that Jesus gave the fullness of the truth to His Apostles, authorized them to teach in His name and form one Church, that there would be no new revelation and forbids schism.

Each of these Protestant denominations disagree with each other. But, there are three things on which they do agree. 1) Protestantism right and the Catholic Church is wrong. 2) Anyone can read the Bible and understand everything in it exactly as intended by God. 3) Jesus couldn’t have truly meant that He would give us His flesh through the Eucharist as stated in today’s Gospel. Let’s see what the Bible has to say about that in today’s first reading, Acts 8:26-40:

26 Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying: Arise, go towards the south, to the way that goeth down from Jerusalem into Gaza: this is desert. 27 And rising up, he went. And behold a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch, of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge over all her treasures, had come to Jerusalem to adore. 28 And he was returning, sitting in his chariot, and reading Isaias the prophet. 29 And the Spirit said to Philip: Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. 30 And Philip running thither, heard him reading the prophet Isaias. And he said: Thinkest thou that thou understandest what thou readest?

31 Who said: And how can I, unless some man shew me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him. 32 And the place of the scripture which he was reading was this: He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb without voice before his shearer, so openeth he not his mouth. 33 In humility his judgment was taken away. His generation who shall declare, for his life shall be taken from the earth? 34 And the eunuch answering Philip, said: I beseech thee, of whom doth the prophet speak this? of himself, or of some other man? 35 Then Philip, opening his mouth, and beginning at this scripture, preached unto him Jesus.

36 And as they went on their way, they came to a certain water; and the eunuch said: See, here is water: what doth hinder me from being baptized? 37 And Philip said: If thou believest with all thy heart, thou mayest. And he answering, said: I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. 38 And he commanded the chariot to stand still; and they went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch: and he baptized him. 39 And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord took away Philip; and the eunuch saw him no more. And he went on his way rejoicing. 40 But Philip was found in Azotus; and passing through, he preached the gospel to all the cities, till he came to Caesarea.

Quite simply, the Bible explains that one must have a teacher, given authority by God, to explain the meaning of the words of the Bible. Further, the Bible forbids individual interpretation (2 Peter 1, 20-21). Given the plain words of the Bible, the tenants of Protestantism are false on their face. Of course, there can only be one truth. And that truth is the same today as it was 2,000 years ago. The Catholic Church, that gave the world the Bible, has always taught that Jesus’ words were true and always will be. Jesus instituted a Church to teach and to give us His Body and Blood through the Eucharist. The Douay Rheims explains:

[37] “If thou believest with all thy heart”: The scripture many times mentions only one disposition, as here belief, when others equally necessary are not expressed, viz., a sorrow for sins, a firm hope, and the love of God. Moreover, believing with the whole heart signifies a belief of every thing necessary for salvation

It is not enough simply to believe in Jesus as Lord. We must also believe in His Word, we must follow His commandments and submit to the Church to which He gave authority. “Pastor Bob” may believe whole heartedly that he has received some new revelation. But, if it disagrees with the teachings of the Catholic Church, it is false. False teaching may come from the mind of man or the inspiration of the devil.... we cannot be sure. But, either way, it must be rejected as heresy.

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Judson Carroll is the author of several books, including his newest, A Daily Catholic Devotional, Reflections on the Daily Mass Readings July - December, 2026 It is Available in paperback on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GRGY1D15

A Daily Catholic Devotional, Reflections on the Daily Mass Readings January - June, 2026 It is also available in paperback on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GDK16N45

and

Confirmation, an Autobiography of Faith: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C47Q1JNK

His podcast is The Uncensored Catholic https://www.spreaker.com/show/the-uncensored-catholic