Let us rely solely on Christ, the source of all life, the source of our life.
A homily from the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time based on readings from
Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15, Psalm 78, Ephesians 4:17, 20-24, John 6:24-35
These readings are available at the USCCB website.
Once again, the Scripture points us to the Eucharist. We actually have five weeks of Eucharistic reading in a row. We began last week with the miraculous feeding of the five thousand. If you heard Fr. Rodney’s homily, you heard how that scripture anticipated the Eucharist. In our reading today, we hear our Lord proclaim himself the “bread of life”. Next week he’ll proclaim not only is he the bread of life, he is the bread come down from heaven. Then he tells us exactly what – actually who – the Eucharist is. And finally, Peter says what we all now know to be true, where else shall we go? Jesus has the words of everlasting life.
In addition to five weeks of very Eucharistic gospels, two weeks ago the Catholic Church in the U.S. celebrated a Eucharistic Congress which began the next phase of the Eucharistic Revival, the Year of Mission. I can honestly say that I got a seriously good dose of Jesus. I can’t say that I have had enough.
The Lord provides for us. He fed our ancestors in the wilderness when they asked (and they did not even ask politely). He feeds us today. In fact, in just a few minutes we will partake of him in the Eucharist – such an amazing gift! He nourishes us in the Eucharist in a way that we will never hunger or thirst again! In Christ we find all that we need. He sustains us. He leads us to all that is good. It is up to us to take this gift from God forward and to be a gift to all that we know.
Bread – the Staff of Life
Bread, a mixture of a few simple ingredients, has sustained civilizations for millennia. Let it run out, and civilizations crumble. It is perfectly natural that bread should come to be seen as an analogy for life. When we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread,” we look to God for sustenance in body, mind, and spirit.
God takes care of us. As the Israelites wondered through the wilderness, God provided manna that the Israelites didn’t expect and frankly didn’t understand. It’s very name comes from our scripture today when the Israelites asked “What is it?” which is MAHN-NU in Hebrew. While they wondered through the desert, God gave them manna each the morning.[1] This was God’s way of sustaining them.
Of course this “bread of angels” as its been called was provided by God to men. This bread that sustained life in the Exodus, points to today’s Bread of Life. I say “today’s Bread of Life” because that is exactly what the Eucharist is when received worthily! [I noticed a grimace of two on that “worthily” part, but it is true.] It is only when we come forward for the Eucharist having been healed of our serious sin through sacramental confession that the sacrament does us any good. In fact receiving unworthily makes matters worse.]
God sustains us. Christ sustained the five thousand in last week’s gospel, and in this week’s gospel the people come forward demanding a replay.
Jesus – the Bread of Life
In our gospel the crowd seeks Jesus for the wrong reasons. Five thousand were miraculously fed, and they wanted more. Maybe they wanted to see this miracle, this sign for themselves. They challenge Jesus to be like Moses and feed them like the manna in the desert. They miss the point, at least at first.
As Jesus explains the nature of the bread from heaven, their hearts soften somewhat but they still look for a sign. It is in answer to their request for the true bread that gives life to the world that Jesus discloses something important. He is the bread come down from heaven.
Isn’t that our story as well? Don’t we, at least at times, come to the Lord looking for something. We are tired, we are lonely, we are hungry, we are broken, and we want nothing more than for Jesus to heal us, to make us whole, to satisfy our needs. We know very clearly what we want from God. Are we as motivated to give to God what he askes of us? It is, after all, a package deal. God wants the best for us, but for us to respond adequately we must repent, we must die to ourselves, we must love.
The New Man – After God’s Likeness
As St. Paul says,
“[We] you should put away the old self of [our] former way of life,…and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, created in God’s way in righteousness and holiness of truth.”[2]
Putting on our new self. We cannot come face to face with God and remain unchanged. We consume the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. How can we possibly remain unchanged by such an event? In fairness, we cannot![3] We must allow Jesus to work within us, for our sake and for the sake of those around us. Rather than take what we want, we can accept the gift that Christ gives us, and then we can become gift to others.
We can become new creations in the Lord!
At this point, I am going to digress and offer a few thoughts on the recent Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis. Fifty thousand – [that is right, fifty thousand] Catholics came together in one place to adore and rejoice in our Eucharistic Lord. We were in a football stadium. I was sitting at somewhere between the ten yard line and the goal line. I heard the announcer say “If you are able, please kneel”. The Blessed Sacrament was processed into the stadium, and fifty thousand souls went silent. Most kneeled as Jesus was placed on an altar about sixty yards away. Music was playing, theatrical lights were in action, fog machines sent visible vapors into the lights, and the incense drifted heavenward. I can’t even begin to put the feeling of the events into words.
And yet in all this, I was alone with our Lord. Our Lord was with and moving in the multitudes, and our Lord was with and moving in each individual. The Lord can work in all of us gathered here this morning. The Lord is working this morning in each of you individually. You and I need only cooperate.
Closing
I am not sure that living an authentic Catholic life in todays’ world is easy. Actually I am pretty sure that it is not. Believing can be hard, especially for those things like the Eucharist that is in many ways hidden from our human senses. And yet, we have been told by many good authorities – even by Jesus himself – that in the Eucharist we receive God. God give us that gift, let’s take that in and become a gift to others. Let us rely solely on Christ, the source of all life, the source of our life.
“Let us rely solely on Christ, the source of all life, the source of our life.”1
[1] Simplified here, God gave manna six days each week with a double portion preceding the sabbath.
[2] Eph 4:22-24
[3] Fairness here, is used a more colloquial approximation for justice.