Gospel Reflection for The 8th day of May in the year of Our Lord, 2025

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 [John 6:44] 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.

Today, Jesus begins to explain the concept of predestination. God, being omniscient, knows everything beforehand. He knows who will accept the true religion and who will not. Although He loves every person, He knows that not all will respond in kind. 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.

This is a concept that has caused a great deal of confusion in Protestantism, Calvin going so far as to teach that only 100,000 people throughout all of human history would be saved. They would go to Heaven and receive eternal life regardless their religion or holiness. I was raised Methodist and confirmed in the Methodist denomination, but no one could ever explain to me why, if that be the case, anyone should attend the Methodist church or even be Christian! But, Protestants have many erroneous doctrines. Chief among them is that anyone can read the Bible and the Holy Spirit will guide them into perfect understanding. Of course, that is untrue. If it were true, there would not be around 50,000 Protestant denominations, each of which disagrees with the other and all of which disagree with the Catholic Church. Today's first reading makes clear that this erroneous doctrine is not Biblical sound.

Acts 8:26-40

The angel of the Lord spoke to Philip,

"Get up and head south on the road

that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza, the desert route."

So he got up and set out.

Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch,

a court official of the Candace,

that is, the queen of the Ethiopians,

in charge of her entire treasury,

who had come to Jerusalem to worship, and was returning home.

Seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah.

The Spirit said to Philip,

"Go and join up with that chariot."

Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and said,

"Do you understand what you are reading?"

He replied,

"How can I, unless someone instructs me?"

So he invited Philip to get in and sit with him.

This was the Scripture passage he was reading:

Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter,

and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,

so he opened not his mouth.

In his humiliation justice was denied him.

Who will tell of his posterity?

For his life is taken from the earth.

Then the eunuch said to Philip in reply,

"I beg you, about whom is the prophet saying this?

About himself, or about someone else?"

Then Philip opened his mouth and, beginning with this Scripture passage,

he proclaimed Jesus to him.

As they traveled along the road

they came to some water,

and the eunuch said, "Look, there is water.

What is to prevent my being baptized?"

Then he ordered the chariot to stop,

and Philip and the eunuch both went down into the water,

and he baptized him.

When they came out of the water,

the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away,

and the eunuch saw him no more,

but continued on his way rejoicing.

Philip came to Azotus, and went about proclaiming the good news

to all the towns until he reached Caesarea.

Jesus left us a Church to teach with His authority. He did not leave us a Bible. The Catholic Church gave us the Bible and the Apostles continue to teach through their successors all that our Lord intended. No other church has this authority. All that disagree with Catholicism are, plainly, wrong.

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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, 2025 It is Available in paperback on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F5BHFZ7X

and

Confirmation, an Autobiography of Faith. It is also Available in paperback on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C47Q1JNK

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