TWENTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

18 AUGUST 2024

 

          In our modern age, we are blessed with technologies to help us get around.  Last year, I bought a car that included “driver assistance technology.”  There are blind spot warnings in the side mirrors.  When I back out of the rectory parking place, a backup camera warns me if there are any cars coming on Dubail Street.  It has adaptive cruise control that automatically adjusts the speed when approaching a car in front of me on the highway.  They make driving safer.

            Saint Paul lived at a time before technology.  But when he writes to the Ephesians, he provides “living assistance training,” which can be helpful for all who have chosen to become disciples of Jesus Christ.  First, he tells us to watch carefully how we live.  The Greek word he uses for “live” is better translated “to walk.”  As disciples, we need to walk together in a way that we have as our goal a deepening relationship with Jesus Christ.  We need to be aware of what lies before us, but we also need to be open to the advice of those who are wiser.  If we keep our eyes firmly on the goal of the new and eternal Jerusalem, then we will be less likely to make impulsive and foolish decisions about what is important in our walking pilgrimage.

            Second, he tells us to make the most of the time God has given us.  Like the Ephesians, we live at a time where there is plenty of turmoil and lots of disagreements.  There are so many things that are totally out of our control.  Instead of wasting time worrying about what cannot be changed, we disciples need to get involved in some kind of humble service.  Even small acts of kindness can make a difference in an angry world.

            Third, he tells us that we must avoid being foolish.  The Book of Proverbs speaks about avoiding what is foolish and embracing what is wise.  In his letter last Sunday, Saint Paul urged disciples to trust in the power of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit helps us to avoid all bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, reviling, along with all malice.  With the help of the Holy Spirit, we can replace these foolish attitudes with kindness, compassion, and forgiveness.

            Finally, he tells us to avoid being drunk.  There is nothing wrong with disciples drinking in moderation.  However, wise disciples do not drink and drive.  wise disciples do not spend inordinate amounts of time being fed by social media and those things that distract us.  Instead, disciples need to be drunk on the Holy Spirit.  Then we can sign psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to one another giving thanks to the Lord in our hearts.

That is why it is so important to continue to reflect with Jesus on the importance of the Eucharist as we continue our journey of faith together.  Jesus reminds us that God had fed his ancestors in the desert with manna during their journey in the desert as they walked together to the Promised Land.  Even though they had been fed by God, they still died.  Jesus invites his disciples to believe that he is the Eternal Word of God who has come from heaven and dwells in our midst.  We feed on God himself, eating his Body and drinking his Blood.  He gives himself as food and drink.  Those who eat his flesh and drink his blood will never die.

            We who share in this Eucharist trust his promise.  We know that eating his flesh and drinking his blood strengthens us to give of ourselves totally as he has given himself to us.  As we heard from Saint Paul last Thursday on the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Jesus Christ is the first fruits of all who have died with him.  Fed by the Eucharist, we too can die to ourselves and trust his promise to follow where he has gone.

             

 

 

 

NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

11 AUGUST 2024

 

            The prophet Elijah had challenged the prophets of Baal to a duel on Mount Carmel in the northern kingdom of Israel.  Most of his fellow Israelites had abandoned the Covenant with God.  Instead, they had chosen to put their faith in the Baals, the gods of fertility.  After the prophets of Baal had failed to demonstrate that their gods existed, Elijah called on God to demonstrate his power and presence.  Lightning came from the sky and consumed the sacrifice on the altar. Elijah had slain the prophets of Baal and restored the faith of the people.

            Today, we find Elijah running for his life.  Queen Jezebel has sent her troops to kill him.  Completely discouraged, he has entered the desert and wants to die.  But God sends him food in the form of a hearth cake and jar of water and commands him to continue his journey in the desert to Mount Horeb, the northern kingdom’s name for Mount Sinai.  There, he would encounter God and receive the strength to continue his mission.

            Many years earlier, his ancestors had entered the same desert.  They had won a victory against their Egyptian captors when Moses led them through the waters of the Red Sea.  But, like Elijah, they were discouraged and wanted to die.  In this deserted place, they had no food.  So, through the intercession of Moses, God gave them food in the form of manna from heaven.  Nourished by this food, they continued their journey to Mount Sinai.  There, they would encounter God and receive his covenant and eventually enter the Promised Land.

            Many centuries later, Jesus had fed a crowd of thousands with five loaves of barley and two fish in a deserted place.  They were so taken by this miracle that they wanted to make him king.  He withdrew from the crowd, because he had not worked this miracle to give them free meals.  He did it to be a sign of something much greater.

            Today, he continues to explain the significance of this sign.  He wants the crowd to know what we know:  that he is the eternal Word come down from heaven to remain with us.  We heard this the Gospel of Saint John proclaimed on Christmas day.  That is what Jesus is trying to tell the crowds.  He had been present at the creation of the world, and now he intends that this sign might deepen their faith in him.  He is the living bread come down from heaven.  He gives himself to those who believe that they might have eternal life in him.

            However, the crowds cannot believe in him.  He is too ordinary for them.  They know his humble origins in Nazareth. They are not interested in his invitation to imitate his example of giving of himself.  They do not want to give.  They want to get.  They want free meals for the rest of their lives. 

            These readings speak to us today.  Like the Israelites and Elijah, we too have experienced the presence and power of God in our lives.  But like them, we have known times of failure and rejection.  In those times when God seems far from our lives, we find ourselves in deserts and are tempted to give up.  But the Lord feeds us with his Body and Blood to increase our faith and strengthen us to continue our own journeys through life.  He gives himself to us as food, so that we can give of ourselves to others.

            In this Bread of Life discourse, he wants to deepen our faith in this central Mystery of our faith.  He invites us to enter into communion with him and his Father.  In this Eucharist, he shares a life that is already eternal.  We recognize his real presence.  Sent from this Mass, we open our eyes to the ways he is present in those we encounter – especially those on the margins and those we do not like.  We imitate him by giving, and thus receiving life that cannot end.