August 30, 2015

22^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time B

Deuteronomy 4: 1-2, 6-8; James 1: 17-18, 21-22, 27; Mark 7: 1-8, 14-15, 21-23

I’m thinking: how important is God in my life…in each of our lives? How important is what He tells me…in what He challenges each person to do? Where do I place these ‘rules’, these commandments in my life as far as importance?

All three of today’s readings express God’s Word… and all three declare that I and each person have a definitive responsibility to adhere to, act upon, and faithfully interpret God’s Word. These are commands…they are not ‘suggestions’…God is commanding me to live His teachings, His ways each and every day of my life.

The first reading is taken from the book of Deuteronomy, which is the fifth and last book of the Pentateuch (following Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers). All five were written by Moses. Deuteronomy means “second law”. It doesn’t contain a new law but is a “partial repetition, completion and explanation of the law proclaimed on Mount Sinai.” (Quote from the Catholic Study Bible). Today, Moses sets before the people a choice which is repeated throughout this book. The choice is really given to myself and each person today and every day of our lives. Will I love and serve God? Will I follow His commandments and His rules and decrees? Or will I disown and reject His laws? Will I then go and follow other ‘gods’ or what I make idols in my life?

In all God’s revelations, He never said that these commandments were optional. Satan throughout the Old Testament and during the Sinai wanderings made it seem that they were optional. Even in the devil’s tempting of Jesus in the desert, he wanted Jesus to compromise by obeying him. This ‘choice’ is weaved throughout the book of Deuteronomy and even into the historical books of Joshua, 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings. As Moses said, “‘This great nation is truly a wise and intelligent people.’ For what great nation is there that has gods so close to it as the Lord, our God, is to us whenever we call upon Him? Or what great nation has statutes and decrees that are as just as this whole law which I am setting before you today?” Throughout each day, I am called upon to choose God; to reject the devil and evil. I am called to love and not hate and do evil. I am called to be Jesus to each person I am with.

James is reminding me and every Christian believer that simply ‘hearing…listening’ to what God says is not enough. I can’t say, ‘Yes, I remember hearing that ‘law’ or ‘rule’ or ‘commandment’ but I do not think that it applies to me. That’s not the intent of any commandment. I must be a DOER…I must live the commandments each and every day. The note in Living the Word, Scripture Reflections and Commentaries for Sundays and Holy Days says, “Purported to have been written by James, (James 1:1) t whom tradition has held as the brother of Jesus (Mark 6:3), the actual authorship is unknown. The ‘letter’ is a moral exhortations (also called a parenesis), and may have been written to counter those who misinterpreted Romans 4: 5-6, which stated that faith alone was necessary.”

In Mark’s gospel today the commandments of God are at the center of controversy. The Pharisees and some Scribes had been purposely sent from Jerusalem to check Jesus out and to report back all that He was teaching. They were no doubt on a ‘fact finding mission’ and it didn’t take long for them to see the ‘fact’ that Jesus’ disciples eat without washing. Now some of the oral traditions outlined how Jews were to wash their hands before eating a meal. This was a lot more intricate than mom’s instructions in washing my hands before eating. As Cycling Through the Gospels states that some of these regulations, “spelled out in detail such things as which direction they should point their fingers when they poured water over them, how much water they should use, and the type of container they should store the water in. Overlooking nothing, the oral traditions even gave an exact step-by-step procedure describing how one hand should wash the other!” Now anyone who did not observe these oral traditions was ritually unclean…something that was nearly impossible for ordinary people to observe. Now these ‘objectors’ to Jesus assumed that a rabbi was responsible for His disciples so why wasn’t Jesus correcting His disciples’ behavior? Jesus calls these questioners “hypocrites”. What is at issue here is God’s commands vs. human tradition. Jesus’ point is that these ‘experts in the law’ are elevating human tradition over the express commands of God. What makes me pure? Is it what is outside or what is inside? Jesus is telling each person to look at the outside and the INSIDE too. The inside is the source of evil intents and anger and hatred, “From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, (lewd conduct), envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile.”

Living the Word concludes with a wonderful reflection: “Sometimes it seems as if Jesus is unconcerned with rule-keeping. He sometimes lets go of, and is even harshly critical of, those human rules that He thinks get in the way of focusing on what is essential in our relationship with God. At the same time, He shows great reverence for the Law given to Moses by God. He sees that the purpose of the Law is not to put God at a distance but rather to show that, as Moses says to the Israelites in the book of Deuteronomy, no nation ‘has gods so close to it as the Lord, our God, is to us whenever we call upon Him.’

What is essential to remember with any religious rule or law is that, unlike civic rules or laws, it is only of ultimate value if it is linked with the proper inner disposition; we cannot honor God with our lips but not in our hearts. Whether I am particularly happy about it or not, what is important about traffic laws is that I obey them. But if I go to Mass or fast or give alms in a grudging fashion, what good does this do me? It leaves untransformed my heart, which is the source of evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, and so forth.

At the same time, our outward actions are important. The Letter of James says that we must be ‘doers of the word and not hearers only,’ because our outward actions affect our inward feelings. Fulfilling our religious obligations, even when we aren’t particularly ‘feeling it,’ can be an important way in which we shape our dispositions. Just as with playing a sport or a musical instrument, the Christian life becomes more enjoyable and fulfilling with practice. So our life in Christ requires a delicate balancing act in which outward behavior is important even though ultimately it is the state of our heart that matters to God.”

So I reflect on:

• Do I look at my spiritual life as something that requires practice?

From Sacred Space 2015:

“This is shocking stuff! Jesus wipes aside mere adherence to the externals rituals of the Law. The Pharisees’ version of religion warped human life and stunted personal growth. Jesus protested against hypocrisy that abandoned the commandments of God in order to cling to ‘human traditions.’

Lord, legalism is a travesty of true religion. You invite me to look to the inside—to the heart of the matter. Free me from putting law before love.”

August 23, 2015

21^st Sunday in Ordinary Time B

Joshua 24: 1-2; 15-18; Ephesians 5: 21-32; John 6: 60-69

Down through the years I have made many, many choices. Each day I make several choices. The readings today talk about choices, but these are the major life choices and they are all involved with each and every person choosing God.

The first reading is taken from the Book of Joshua. Moses had died and was buried in the land of Moab, on the eastern shore of the Jordan River with the Promised Land in sight. Joshua was his successor and the purpose of this book is to demonstrate God’s continued faithfulness to the Israelites as they journey into the Promised Land. It begins with the conquest of Jericho and then onto those living in the Palestinian mountain range and then two sweeping campaigns against the city states. Then began to form the borders of the eventual Holy Land. Today’s reading is taken from the last chapter of the book and Joshua has gathered all the tribes together. He reminds them of all that God has done for them and they promise to serve only God. But Joshua says in the next verse (v 19), “You may not be able to serve the Lord, for He is a holy God; He is a jealous God who will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. If after the good He has done for you, you forsake the Lord and serve strange gods, He will do evil to you and destroy.” But the people answered Joshua, ‘We will still serve the Lord.” I take time to look at all that the Lord has done for me—this is an impossible list to assemble since God has done everything for me every day. Do I realize this, I’m ashamed to say no. Am I grateful for all that God has done and continues to do for me? I try but the few times I say ‘Thank You’ pale against the number of times I forget. And God continues to love me at all times and helps me each and every moment. The question before me: am I choosing God each moment or do I fall back into my own comfort zone of taking care of me? The message for me today is Choose God!

Paul is writing to the Ephesians today and the selection is an example of a household code, rules for the correct running of each household in antiquity. These codes followed the strict patriarchal standards of Greco-Roman society. They limited the leadership and behavior of women and slaves. Why does Paul spend time on these? Paul and his readers expected the final coming of Jesus (the Parousia) in their own lifetime. Since this was coming they didn’t spend time on addressing social issues. Since this is in today’s letter it suggests a more developed church emerging and thus beginnings of their misunderstanding of the final Parousia. Its saying: this is how things are to be…this is our culture…this is how we have been raised. And I apply these to myself: this is what my religion is all about…this is how I was raised and taught…this is the faith that has been passed on to me. What am I preferring to my faith?

The Gospel selection today concludes the Bread of Life Discourse. Now the disciples must make a choice. For some of them, Jesus’ self-description as the bread of life that must be devoured is taken literally. They find this ridiculous. It is way “too hard”, so they leave. Where do they go? Back to the life they had been living, the beliefs that they had been following, all without Christ. What a horrifying thought. Living without Jesus…yet often in my daily life I choose not to live the way Jesus taught me and showed me. Life is the continued falling but realizing that I’m forever loved and the Lord picks me up. Leaving this, is horrific. And Peter said, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that You are the Holy One of God.”

John, A Devotional Commentary offers this wonderful meditation: “Jesus had just delivered a central teaching to the people concerning the gift of His body and blood as a source of life to all Christians. The reality of this truth must be as much a part of our spiritual lives as food and drink are to our physical lives. Yet, even Jesus’ own disciples found the teaching hard to understand, and even harden to accept.

John tells us that some of those who listened to Jesus turned away at this point and followed Him no longer (John 6:66). As a consequence, they received nothing more from Him. However, those whose minds were open to God were able to receive the promise of eternal life, even though their understanding of His words remained incomplete. This contrast between those who left and those who remained illustrates an important spiritual truth: A mind dominated by the flesh insists upon understanding before it will believe. However, the spiritual mind will believe even before it has full understanding.

If we try to grasp the truths of God’s kingdom with our human minds alone, we will conclude that the gospel is foolishness (1 Corinthians 1:18). In order to understand what pleases God, we must call upon His Holy Spirit for enlightenment—in prayer, in scripture, and by seeking His will throughout the day. Often we believe that if we had more education, greater intelligence, or deeper understanding, we would be more able to please God, be ‘better Christians,’ and live His word more readily. But we must recall Jesus’ words: ‘It is the Spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail’ (John 6: 63).

To think according to God’s mind, we must ask the Spirit to teach us. God said: ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than you ways and My thoughts than your thoughts’ (Isaiah 55:9). All our human resources were affected by our fall into sin and are therefore unable to bring us into a personal, living knowledge of the Father. It is only by the Holy Spirit that spiritual truths can come to life for us and bring us into a new relationship with God. Let us ask the Spirit to enlighten our minds and give us greater understanding about the truths of our faith.”

So I reflect on:

• What teachings of Jesus do I find most difficult? What about them makes them that difficult for me?
• How can I try to put other people’s interests ahead of my own? What would my world look like if everyone did this?
• Who is God to me today? What difference does God make in my life? What might my life be like without my belief in God?
• How does Jesus fulfill God’s covenant with me and all Christians? Do I feel a direct connection to God through Jesus?
• How do I reconcile the communal message of the gospel with society’s belief in individual freedom?

Sacred Space 2015 adds:

“The teaching about the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is difficult. Believing in it is an act of faith, itself a gift of the Father. Like any gift we receive, it is useless unless we use it. We renew our faith each time we kneel in Jesus’ presence and adore Him.

Jesus did not try to explain away what He had said, even when ‘many of His disciples no longer went about with Him’. He knows that He is nothing less than the longed-for divine presence in our world. Lord, deepen my commitment to You and to Your Word.”

August 16, 2015

20^th Sunday in Ordinary Time B

Proverbs 9: 1-6; Ephesians 5: 15-20; John 6: 51-58

As I stated last week, this week and next we will continue our reflections on Jesus’ ‘Bread of Life Discourse’ in John’ Gospel.

It’s about the Eucharist! Do I take time and reflect on the Eucharist in my life? I have been privileged to be a priest for 48 years. I have no idea how many masses I have celebrated but each mass has been God’s gift to me. It is important to reflect on what the Eucharist means to me today. Do I? Not as much as I should. St Charles Borromeo gave a wonderful talk directed to a council of bishops saying if they find mass boring, ‘what do you do before you come to the celebration of the Mass…what do you do after the celebration? Do you spend time on the importance and the honor of what you will be celebrating?’ I remember this so often.

Our ordinary language has ‘done a job’ on each one of us to cover over the meaning of what is happening at the Eucharist. ‘I got to go to Church…I’m going to Mass…Hope the AC is working today…Hope the priest isn’t long winded…Hope the music is decent…I need to do a lot of things today, hope mass isn’t long…hope we don’t have a boring visiting priest…I hope…hope…hope BUT what is happening? I’m going to be with Jesus and receive His Body and Blood. Do I ever add…I’m so excited…I need this so much. I’m so anxious to see how the Lord is going to fill me with His life today!

The readings today help me with my Eucharistic preparation since all use metaphors of meals and direct each person on the way to a true life. The first reading from the book of Proverbs tells me to, “Forsake foolishness that you may live; advance in the way of understanding.” The first 9 chapters of this book, Wisdom, is portrayed as a woman who goes into the streets and calls all to seek her and learn from her. ((Proverbs 8:4). In today’s reading, she has built a house and invites those who lack understanding to join her extravagant banquet. What is her instruction in finding the real way of living? It is to give up foolish living which is the opposite of Wisdom so one can truly live. How much am I devoted to doing ‘foolish things’…perhaps way too much. I put off straightening out my life to ‘another time’ when it will be more convenient. The ‘I’m going to syndrome’ …just never comes. The overall theme of Proverbs is that true living consists of honoring and worshiping God. The question is: am I honoring God by the way that I live? Am I seeing in each person, one that God loves? Am I loving that person as God needs me to love them? Am I being Jesus?

The Psalm Response makes a simple statement into a question for me: “Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.” When I come to the Eucharist, do I do that? Am I conscious of WHAT the Eucharist is and what God has in store for me? Am I grateful?

Paul is writing to the Ephesian community in the second reading and he continues with words of wisdom: “Watch carefully how you live, not as foolish persons but as wise, making the most of the opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not continue in ignorance, but try to understand what is the will of the Lord.” Even though a banquet is not going on he warns against too much drink which can lead to all sorts of debauchery. Now there was a Dionysian pagan cult in Paul’s time in which drunkenness was thought to lead to divine encounters. That is not life in the Spirit…that has nothing to do with being love. A Thesaurus search on ‘debauchery’ adds these words: wickedness, sin, depravity, corruption, dishonesty, decadence, immorality, self-indulgence etc. Am I preferring me to God? The Eucharist is God.

Jesus says it all in the first sentence in the Gospel, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” He’s talking about Himself…He’s talking about the Eucharist. When the people first heard this they had to pause in their tracks. What is He talking about? The earliest critics of Christianity used this text and some others to make the assertion that Christians practiced cannibalism. This resulted in searching out the Christians to persecute them and kill them. Those who were afraid or those who just couldn’t believe and found this statement “too hard” (John 6:66) returned to their former way of life. This “food” Jesus provides is His own flesh and blood for the life of the world, which anticipates His sacrificial death.

Jesus tells us…invites us…promises us that if we eat this ‘bread from heaven’ we will have His life in us. As Catholics we believe that the Eucharist is that bread from heaven the very body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus. He instituted the Eucharist so that He would always be present to us through the Church till the end times. This is not a metaphor or an image but this is Jesus truly and really present to each person who comes to this sacrament with trust and love. Why does Jesus do this? To draw each person closer to Himself and to nourish each person and give each person the grace and strength needed to lead lives that are holy. He does this through the community of the Church…a community of love helping each person grow closer to God.

So I reflect on:

• I come each week to celebrate the Eucharist with the community of believers, am I better person because of this?
• I consume Jesus, as a result I participate in His saving action and His death on the cross. How do I participate in His death without actually dying? How do I die to my own will and participate in God’s will through Jesus?
• How is my life made better by my relationship with Jesus each week in the Eucharist? How does that relationship change me? Does this ‘change’ make a difference in other people’s lives? How and why?
• How does the Eucharist help Jesus fulfill His promise that we will never die and live forever?

Sacred Space 2015 says:

“This is one of the most amazing passages in all of scripture. For the Hebrews, flesh and blood meant the full person, so Jesus chooses this dramatic way to reveal the extraordinary intimacy of His relationship with us.

Bread nourishes us, so Jesus uses that term to describe Himself. But ‘living’ bread is an effort to reveal more deeply how profoundly He nourishes us. He offers us a relationship in which we can ‘abide’ in security. We need that life-giving relationship more than ever today.”

August 9, 2015

19^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

1 Kings 19: 4-8; Ephesians 4:30 – 5:2; John 6: 41-51

Last week I focused on ‘mumbling’...’grumbling’…’complaining’. I find it very interesting and uncomfortable with the number of times these are present in my life. Why do I mumble? Probably because something isn’t going my way or I’m not being paid attention to. Why do I grumble? More than likely it is because my feelings are hurt and I’m not being honored and respected. Why do I complain? Because I do not like what is happening…my thoughts or ideas aren’t being listened to or maybe because I find it easier to complain than to look for the ‘silver lining.’ What are the readings leading me to and what are they telling me about my loving and caring God?

Elijah had just slit the throats of the 400 Baal prophets. He showed the King and the people that God is God and that the superstitions and beliefs of the pagans are totally against the love and care of God. Now Queen Jezebel is out to take revenge on Elijah; so he flees for his life. He is so afraid that He gives up on God, seeing no hope and even asks God to bring his death quickly. Twice God sends a messenger identified as “the angel of the Lord” to tell Elijah that his life and mission are from God and God is in control so stop complaining.

Paul is writing to the Ephesians about the church and what it means to be a follower of Jesus. He’s talking not specifically about the Church in Ephesus but about the world wide Church. He says that the purpose of the Church is for making God’s plan of salvation known. He says that all are united in the love of Christ, both Jews and Gentiles. Like them, we are united: in church, Spirit, hope, one Lord, faith, baptism and the one God. The gifts of the Spirit are meant to unite all in love. All are called to a higher moral standard: stop lying; stop falsehoods; avoid sin at all costs so that you leave no room for the devil to take over. All are to live an exemplary a life marked by compassion and forgiveness. This is how each person becomes an ‘imitator of God’. This can be uncomfortable because each person wants to ‘be his or her own person.’ They want to do what they want and dream what they want and be nourished with the ‘things’ of life that are fun and entertaining and not faith filled but self-filled. Jesus said this is not the way to life…true life is found in loving, forgiving, compassion and giving. A meaningful life is living the rewarding, fulfilling life of love…living for others. Do I want this? It goes contrary to the ‘selfish’ me and what I want. It is contrary to me doing what I want to do because I want to do it. It goes contrary to the call to relax, be good to yourself, don’t go out of your way for others, take care of ‘Numero Uno’…take care of yourself first.

This is seen in the difficult time that the people who listened to Jesus had in understanding what He was trying to tell them. Today Jesus is offering hope. This isn’t well received and certainly isn’t wanted to be understood. “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.” They didn’t want to hear this…they ‘murmured’ about Jesus because they knew Him and His parents and how could He possibly say that He came down from heaven. ‘After all, who does He think he is?’

Now comes the main part…in the synoptic Gospel writers (Matthew, Mark and Luke) the Eucharist is instituted at the Last Supper. John does not give an account of the Last Supper rather explains the Eucharist theologically by giving a lengthy Bread of Life sermon the week before He died. Living the Word, Scripture Reflections and Commentaries for Sundays and Holy Days gives this reflection: “The Bread of Life discourse in the Gospel of John…presents Jesus as the life-giving bread who has come down from heaven. Though the Jewish leadership questions Jesus’ origin (‘do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven’? John 6:42), the reader knows exactly from whence Jesus comes (‘In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God…and the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us,’ John 1:1, 14!). The manna offered to the Israelites only sustained them so long. But the bread from heaven provides eternal life. Jesus now turns more directly to the Eucharistic theme, acknowledging that He is the living bread, and that bread is His flesh given for the life of the world (John 6:51).” It comes down to: do I want to believe this? Do I want to even listen to what Jesus said? I find that the bottom line is that His words make me uncomfortable and they mean that NOW I HAVE TO DO SOMETHING. I have to believe and trust…and this goes against my being the center of my world. IT means that I am an important part of something much bigger, being Jesus to others…and I’m too comfortable being absorbed in the world I enjoy! So I can complain and mumble and grumble and be filled with the ‘poor ME’s’ in my life. But Jesus said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.”

Alice Camille in Exploring the Sunday Readings explains: “Did you ever notice how Jesus is a present-tense sort of guy? He never says ‘I was.’ He always says, ‘I AM.’ In the same way, He promises believers eternal life. But He doesn’t say, ‘Someday, if you go to heaven, you’ll get eternal life.’ He uses great emphasis and authority to say something else quite surprising. (The authority can be heard in the ‘Amen, amen’ part, which means: ‘so be it, so be it.’) What Jesus says is, if you believe in Him, you already have eternal life.

We’re tempted to interpret this as: ‘Eternity starts here’. Actually, eternity never starts at all: its’ ongoing. But you and I begin our endless swim in eternity right here, in the hour we embrace faith in Jesus. Faith doesn’t mean embracing ideas about Jesus. It means putting our trust in Him as our companion, teacher, leader, and final rescue. If you haven’t done it yet, hurry! Eternity is waiting!”

It’s not about me…it’s about God and His deep and eternal love for each person. It’s about the gifts the Spirit fills each person with to share and lead others to the love of God. Its’ not about complaining; it’s about living and loving and being…being Jesus.

So I reflect on:

• Are the things I pursue in life things that I really need, or do I pursue them because I see others desiring them?
• What concrete things can I do today to be an ‘imitator of God’?
• What’s the difference between believing things about Jesus, and trusting Him? Where am I at?

Sacred Space 2015 helps me reflect:

“Faith is an ongoing gift. Jesus says plainly that it is a gift of the Father which enables us to come to Him and to believe in Him. And whoever has that gift has—the present tense—eternal life. Does this stir my heart with joy?

Jesus, let me give my heart to You; this heart-to-heart relationship is what faith is really about, not just head-knowledge.”

August 2, 2015

18^th Sunday in Ordinary Time B

Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15; Ephesians 4: 17, 20-24; John 6: 24-35

There are so many ‘cache phrases’ in our lives: ‘it’s the lot of students to complain’ … ‘why can’t I go…they get to go’…’how come I got a smaller portion’…’how come they got a higher grade’…’how come you like xxx more than me’…how come I can’t stay up later’…why do I have so many rules’…and on and on… The result of all these ‘how comes’ is complaining. Another word is ‘mumbling’ or ‘grumbling’ and these are found in the readings today.

The Israelites had not even been ‘freed’ from Egypt for a month and they started to complain. Why did you bring us to this horrible place…we are all going to die. You don’t care about us…God doesn’t care about us. And God heard and God responded, “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them: in the evening twilight you shall eat flesh, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread, so that you may know that I, the Lord, am your God.” David continues this in the Psalm Response, “The Lord gave them bread from heaven.”

In the second reading, Paul is writing to the Ephesians, specifically to the new Gentile converts in the community. Paul is telling them that they are no longer to live as they had been. (Note: in our reading verses 18 & 19 are left out…but these verses fit in to my theme today). Verses 17-20 follow, “So I declare and testify in the Lord that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds, darkened in understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance, because of their hardness of heart, they have become callous and have handed themselves over to licentiousness for the practice of every kind of impurity to excess. That is not how you learned Christ.” Paul in so many of his letters lists the moral requirements of Christian membership as he concludes today, “and put on the new self, created in God’s way in righteousness and holiness of truth. “ (Ephesians 4:24) Just because ‘I always did it’ or ‘I like to do this’ or ‘What’s wrong with me engaging in this’ doesn’t make it as a follower of Jesus. How am I living Jesus? Is my life a duplicate of Jesus? Can people see Jesus in me? Am I living as a person who knows they are loved by God? Alice Camille in Exploring the Sunday Readings puts it this way: “St. Paul cautions us to consider that there are instances in which habitual patterns will betray us. The future won’t be born from old-think, and it won’t look like the world we’ve grown accustomed to. The renewed sprit won’t evolve from what’s-always-worked-for-me either. Conversion only happens when we admit a new thought. Change your thoughts, and your life changes.”

The bottom line question is am I letting God convert me to His way? So I realize that the path to heaven isn’t in a whole bunch of choices for what I WANT TO DO, but to live the life of Jesus. But it’s the lot of human beings to grumble.

In the gospel, Jesus’ listeners are not grumbling, but they will as the story continues in next week’s Gospel, but they do not understand Jesus any more than the Israelites understood God in the wilderness in today’s first reading. Like the Israelites who wanted to be fed, those hearing Jesus want a sign before they believe. They have no problem in believing in Jesus but they want to do it on their own terms.

Jesus is telling us today that everything happens on God’s terms…God has loved each of us first. If He didn’t want you or me to be born, we would not have been born. Each of us is created in His own image…as people who are loved and are needed to love. And God supplies us each day with the help we need to do this.

God gave the Israelites ‘bread from heaven’ (manna) to weather their desert journey. The manna appeared on the ground each day near the place where they were camped and the people could gather only what they needed for that day. If anyone wanted ‘more’ and tried to hoard it, the manna turned rotten and wormy. On the sixth day they could gather enough for two days (that day and the Sabbath). THIS WAS THEIR daily bread.

At the Last Supper, Jesus instituted the Eucharist giving us again ‘heavenly food’ which was His Own Body…He did this to sustain each of us on our daily spiritual journey.

When asked to be taught how to pray, Jesus gave the Our Father and it says, ‘give us this day our daily bread.’ Again Jesus is telling us that whatever each of us need each day to live as people of love, He gives us. How grateful are each of us? Do we take time at the end of the day and reflect on where we saw Jesus that day? Do we see that the struggles of living as Jesus said were handled by the Spirit? Did we swallowed our own pride and ways of doing things and opened ourselves to God’s help and grace?

Fr Michael Hayes in Homilies for the Whole Community entitled today’s Gospel as Expectations. I have found it very beneficial to spend time reflecting on each of these bullets:

• “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.” John 6:26
• What can I expect from my religion?
• We may as well face the truth that multitudes of people have become disillusioned with their Christian faith. They are looking for something they will never find.
• We have waited for answers that never come. We have worked for causes that failed. We have searched for solutions and never found them—at least not yet.
• My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?” Mark 15:34
• What can we realistically expect from Christ?
• Somehow, somewhere, we have gotten the idea that faith in God is supposed to solve our problems, reduce the necessity of struggle, and virtually eliminate suffering.
• What can we expect from a Christ whose faith led Him to a cross? What can we expect from that Christ?
• His purpose is not to make life easy for us to handle, but to make us strong enough to handle life whatever it may bring.

Sacred Space 2015 shares:

“Jesus speaks bluntly with the people He had fed the previous day. He knows they came looking for Him because they had eaten their fill of bread. Why do I look for Jesus? Is it out of love or for what I can get?

The truth can be uncomfortable and make us defensive and even cynical. Or it can make us stop, look, reflect, and change. Lord give me the humility to follow the truth always, because it alone ‘will make me free’. (John 8: 32)