Daily Gospel Reflection - Friday, June 11, 2021 - Gospel: Ga 19:31-37

Daily Gospel Reflection - Friday, June 11, 2021 - Gospel: Ga 19:31-37

Daily Gospel Reflection - Friday, June 11, 2021 - Gospel Ga 19:31-37 

Solemnity of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus 

Gospel: Ga 19:31-37 

Since it was preparation day, in order that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath, for the sabbath day of that week was a solemn one, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken and they be taken down. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and then of the other one who was crucified with Jesus. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out. An eyewitness has testified, and his testimony is true; he knows that he is speaking the truth, so that you also may come to believe. For this happened so that the Scripture passage might be fulfilled: Not a bone of it will be broken. And again another passage says: They will look upon him whom they have pierced. 

Source: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops 

Friends, in today’s Gospel, John tells us that a Roman soldier, in order to verify that Jesus was dead, thrust a lance into the side of the crucified Christ, "and immediately blood and water flowed out." Physicians tell us that this is a credible account, given that the lance would have pierced the pericardium, the sac around the heart, which contains a watery substance.

What does this event mean? Theologians have speculated that the blood and water have a symbolic valence, evoking the sacraments of Eucharist and Baptism. 

But which first-century Jew would have missed the most obvious interpretation? This was the fulfillment of Ezekiel’s prophecy that when Yahweh cleansed his temple, water would flow forth for the renewal of the world . 

Bishop Robert Barron