20210808 THE EUCHARIST AS FOOD FOR THE JOURNEY OF LIFE
08 August, 2021, Sunday, 19th Week, Ordinary Time
First reading | 1 Kings 19:4-8 © |
The angel gives Elijah food to reach the mountain of God
Elijah went into the wilderness, a day’s journey, and sitting under a furze bush wished he were dead. ‘O Lord,’ he said ‘I have had enough. Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.’ Then he lay down and went to sleep. But an angel touched him and said, ‘Get up and eat.’ He looked round, and there at his head was a scone baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. But the angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, ‘Get up and eat, or the journey will be too long for you.’ So he got up and ate and drank, and strengthened by that food he walked for forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 33(34):2-9 © |
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
I will bless the Lord at all times,
his praise always on my lips;
in the Lord my soul shall make its boast.
The humble shall hear and be glad.
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
Glorify the Lord with me.
Together let us praise his name.
I sought the Lord and he answered me;
from all my terrors he set me free.
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
Look towards him and be radiant;
let your faces not be abashed.
This poor man called, the Lord heard him
and rescued him from all his distress.
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
The angel of the Lord is encamped
around those who revere him, to rescue them.
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
He is happy who seeks refuge in him.
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
Second reading |
Ephesians 4:30-5:2 © |
Forgive each other as readily as God forgave you
Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God who has marked you with his seal for you to be set free when the day comes. Never have grudges against others, or lose your temper, or raise your voice to anybody, or call each other names, or allow any sort of spitefulness. Be friends with one another, and kind, forgiving each other as readily as God forgave you in Christ.
Try, then, to imitate God as children of his that he loves and follow Christ loving as he loved you, giving himself up in our place as a fragrant offering and a sacrifice to God.
Gospel Acclamation | Jn14:23 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
If anyone loves me he will keep my word,
and my Father will love him,
and we shall come to him.
Alleluia!
Or: | Jn6:51 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the living bread which has come down from heaven,
says the Lord.
Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever.
Alleluia!
Gospel | John 6:41-51 © |
Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever
The Jews were complaining to each other about Jesus, because he had said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’ ‘Surely this is Jesus son of Joseph’ they said. ‘We know his father and mother. How can he now say, “I have come down from heaven”?’ Jesus said in reply, ‘Stop complaining to each other.
‘No one can come to me
unless he is drawn by the Father who sent me,
and I will raise him up at the last day.
It is written in the prophets:
They will all be taught by God,
and to hear the teaching of the Father,
and learn from it,
is to come to me.
Not that anybody has seen the Father,
except the one who comes from God:
he has seen the Father.
I tell you most solemnly,
everybody who believes has eternal life.
‘I am the bread of life.
Your fathers ate the manna in the desert
and they are dead;
but this is the bread that comes down from heaven,
so that a man may eat it and not die.
I am the living bread which has come down from heaven.
Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever;
and the bread that I shall give is my flesh,
for the life of the world.’
THE EUCHARIST AS FOOD FOR THE JOURNEY OF LIFE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [1 Kgs 19:4-8; Ps 34:2-9; Eph 4:30-5:2; Jn 6:41-51 ]
Life is a long, long journey even though, for most of us, it is less than a hundred years. When you are happy and having fun, life appears to be short. But when you are going through trials and sufferings, disappointing relationships, failed career, sudden illness and poor health, rejection and misunderstood by our loved ones and people we care about, then even if it were for a day, it seems like an eternity. That is why some who cannot take the mental, emotional and physical suffering take their life because such a kind of life is intolerable. It is miserable as there is no meaning.
If we are in this state then we can feel with Elijah in the first reading. He had just destroyed the false prophets of Baal after they failed to call upon their god to send down fire to consume the holocaust for the sacrificial offering. But his triumph over the priests of Baal only aggravated the pagan Queen, Jezebel’s anger. She sought to kill Elijah so he had to flee for his life. He sought refuge in the wilderness. Instead of sitting under the vine or the fig tree, which gives greater shade, he could only find a solitary broom tree with hardly any shade in the desert. He pleaded with God, “O Lord, I have had enough. Take my life: I am no better than my ancestors.” Indeed, he was greatly discouraged. Instead of remaining to fight with the Queen, he had to flee in fear for his life. He felt like a failure and so wished for an end to his life.
If we are feeling this way, frustrated by disappointments and tired of fighting with our opponents, what must we do? Many would take a break, a vacation, retreat to the comfort of their loved ones; some would indulge in retail therapy, gambling and drinking, only to find themselves in bigger trouble, getting into debt, drunkenness, adulterous relationships, or even hurting people. Whilst some kind of break is good for the body and the mind, it is not good enough. We must attend to the soul that is crying for the touch of God. When we have used up all our strength, and exhausted ourselves, our energy and resources, are tired and burnt-out, we need to find peace in God.
We must withdraw, just as Elijah did to be alone with God in the wilderness. The desert is always a symbol of solitude and prayer. It is a place to listen to the voice of God. It is a place of penance and repentance. John the Baptist, in calling the people to repentance, lived in the wilderness. It is in the wilderness that we search the depths of our hearts. Jesus, too, prepared Himself for the ministry ahead of Him by entering into the wilderness to face the demons that would tempt Him throughout His ministry. He was brought into contact with the demons of complacency and easy victory, of self-indulgence and of glory. So in the wilderness too, in the solitude, we will discover the demons in us that are pushing us to do the wrong things, or even the right things with wrong intentions.
We need to face our inner self. Elijah was running away from himself. He was doing the right thing in eliminating the false prophets but he was too presumptuous that his motives were thoroughly pure. God wanted to straighten the mind and heart of Elijah and purify his motives. At Mount Horeb, after forty days and forty nights of walking in prayer and meditation, God confronted him. During this time, Elijah must have been reflecting on himself and the events that happened. He was certainly angry, resentful, whining and suicidal. God spoke to him in the silence when the wind, earthquake and fire subsided. Indeed, it is in the quiet of our hearts that God will speak to us deeply, not in the harried activities of life, not when we are full of anger, hatred, vindictiveness, fear and anxiety. The Lord questioned him twice “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (1 Kgs 19:9,13) Both times, he answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” (1 Kgs 19:14) Of course, this was not quite true. He was angry with God for not protecting him by destroying Queen Jezebel. He lost face and pride because he boasted to be the only true prophet who sought to keep the faith of Israel pristine. In truth, there were other true prophets too in Israel. (1 Kgs 18:4,13) Only when he understood the cause of his pain, did God send him back to Israel.
Today, the Lord invites us to come to Him to find strength for our journey of life. Just as God sent an angel to Elijah to give him food and drink, He comes to us in Jesus as the Bread of Life. Instead of complaining and murmuring like the Jews who behaved like their forefathers in the desert (Ex 16-17; Num 14-17), we are called to believe in Jesus. Jesus reprimanded the people, “Stop complaining to each other.” Instead, come to Him and listen to Him. God the Father wants to draw us to His Son so that He can teach us the way of truth and life. Jesus is the One who comes from God, from heaven, and has seen the Father.
Faith in Jesus is the key to fullness of life. Only Jesus as the Bread of Life, the Word of God, the Revealer of the Father, can lead us to eternal life. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the desert and they are dead; but this is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that a man may eat it and not die. I am the living bread which has come down from heaven.” Unless we receive the bread of life, by listening to His Word whenever scriptures are read or proclaimed, we will not be guided by the wisdom and the truth of God. Jesus is the Word of God in person. Jesus said, “Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.” Let us be assured that we do not have to travel this journey of life alone. We have Jesus who comes to us in the Eucharist, the bread of life, in the Word of God.
By listening to Him attentively in the scriptures and receiving Him in Holy Communion, His Spirit will abide in us and give us the strength to walk in truth and charity. We are called to “taste and see that the Lord is good.” In other words, we are called to feel His presence in the Eucharist we receive and delight in the Word of God which we read and hear at every Eucharistic celebration.
Through the Eucharist, the Word of God and His real presence, Jesus gives us His Holy Spirit so that we can be set free from our anger and resentment. How can we be forgiving to those who have hurt us badly? How not to bear grudges or lose our temper or be angry when we are hurt and wrongly accused? St Paul wrote, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God who has marked you with his seal for you to be set free when the day comes.” We are God’s possession in the Holy Spirit because through Baptism and Confirmation, we have been anointed and branded with the seal of the Holy Spirit. Jesus will give us the power to do what He had done for us, which is to “follow Christ by loving as he loved you, giving himself up in our place as a fragrant offering and a sacrifice to God.”
In this way, through the Eucharist, we truly share in Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, giving us the strength to forgive those who hurt us as Jesus did on the cross. Experiencing His love and forgiveness, we too can forgive those who have hurt us. We can surrender everything to the Father’s will as Jesus did on the cross. We too will find peace and joy in doing His holy will because we know that everything is in His hands. Even when we fail, like Jesus on the cross, we can be confident that the Father will not leave us alone but He will raise us up. We can in confidence hand over our children, our loved ones, our work and our life to the heavenly Father. Renewed by the Eucharist, by the Word of God, we can with renewed zeal return as Elijah did to finish the work He was given us to do. But this time, we know we no longer walk it alone but He is always walking with us in the Holy Spirit given to us at every Eucharist. We say to Jesus, “It’s a long, long journey, so stay by my side. When I walk through the storm, you’ll be my guide, be my guide.” So let Jesus be on our side as we walk with Him!
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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