Good morning! I
hope all of you enjoyed your summer vacation. With school back in session it looks like there are a
few more people here today.
Summer is a time that many of us get away from our normal routine. Many times it’s going to exciting new places.
It’s also a time that many
of us get together with friends and family that we may not have seen for a
while either at family or class reunions, or maybe even going back to visit
your hometown. It’s always
fun to get together with people you have not seen for a while. It’s a time to catch up on old memories
and also get up to speed with what’s new in peoples lives. Very often at these gatherings there is
someone who may really stand out from what you were used to. I can remember
years ago at a family gathering a cousin who I had not seen for years showed up
in a brand spanking new Cadillac, wearing a flashy suit, snakeskin boots, and a
Rolex watch. He made a grand entrance and made sure
everyone noticed his newfound status in life. This cousin came from very modest
family background and his appearance was really out character of what we knew
of him. We were skeptical of
where this change came from. When
he wasn’t around we all gathered together in low hushed voices gossiping among
ourselves, and speculating where all his good fortune came from, and our
thoughts were not that good. We
were murmuring, like the Jews were about Jesus.
In today’s Gospel
we hear about the Jews murmuring due to Jesus’ claim of being the bread came
down from heaven. This claim is incredible enough to cause skepticism, but to
compound this it was considered shameful and divisive in the culture at the
time to improve upon your status in the community. The status you were born into was the status you
remained. The Jews knew
Jesus’ father and mother and also backcountry area of Nazareth as a small
village of less than two hundred people.
How could Jesus claim he “came down from heaven”? This goes directly against the grain of
what was culturally accepted at the time.
Jesus knows the
Jews are murmuring about Him being the bread from heaven. But he now tells them something
even more incredible: Amen, amen, I say
to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. It’s not just the Jews that have
access to eternal life, but everyone! How does this happen? Through belief in Jesus, by listening to the Father, and the
Father drawing them to Jesus.
Jesus recalls a
story familiar to the Jews, the manna that fed their ancestors in the
desert. These were the
Israelites that were led out of Egypt by Moses into the desert that we heard
about in last weeks’ first reading.
These Jews also murmured, complaining they were better off being in
captivity in Egypt as they had food and a place to lay their head. God provided food through the manna
appearing in the desert, but these Jews eventually died. The people knew this
story well because it was Scripture they knew and had heard many times. In this
short passage Jesus tells the Jews multiple times he is the bread of life that
gives them eternal life.
Jesus is really trying to make a point.
The main focus
of the Gospel today is that Jesus is the bread of life and if we believe in him
we will have eternal life. This bread he feeds us with is the Eucharist and
Scripture, which feed our mind, body, and soul. The key element here is that we need to believe
in him. Most of us hear today have heard this Gospel and know the story of
Jesus incarnation, death, and resurrection, but what does it mean to really believe
in Jesus? As In preparing the
homily I ran across something that seemed to hit it on the nail head: Belief in
Jesus is not merely an intellectual exercise but a complete reorientation of
one’s life and a personal relationship with Him. Amen, Amen, Belief in Jesus is not merely an intellectual exercise but
a complete reorientation of one’s life and a personal relationship
with Him.
WOW. This definition of belief sounds
pretty daunting when you first here it. It did to me ten years ago. But when I read it sounded like the experience I went
through after I made the time to attend a Christ Renews His Parish
retreat. As a result of the
retreat I was drawn to make Christ top priority in my life. Christ was always present
in my life, but between my work, family responsibilities, recreation, and
personal goals Christ wasn’t always at the top of my list. I finally listened to
God’s calling and re-oriented my life and made Christ the center of it. That was the first part of the believing
in Jesus. The next part was
developing the personal relationship with Christ. This is something that I’m continually working on but the
foundation for this was making time each day to be with Christ in prayer and
reading scripture. In addition I
spent a great deal of time learning about the Catholic faith. As an adult I did not spend a lot of
time focusing on this, as most of my learning ended at confirmation. I discovered a wealth of resources:
great Catholic books, radio programs, websites, DVD’s, CD’s, and podcasts. I listened to many audio media
resources while on the go commuting to work, working out in the yard, and
exercising. I’ll be posting
some of these resources on my blog if you are interested in them.
We are truly
blessed in our community at here at Saints Francis and Clare, as there are many
resources that can aid in our believing in Jesus. One of them was a gift from our parish that many of
your received last year, Rediscovering Catholicism. Who hear received a copy of this book? Now the tough question, how many of you
have read or are reading it? If
you have not started I’d encourage you to take time to read just 5 pages a day. If you did not receive a copy there are
some available in the Narthex of our parish. If you want to get a jumpstart definitely read the
preface, Chapter 13 on prayer, and Chapter 15 on the Bible. This is a great
resource as it really helps to focus essential elements to believe in
Jesus. It will be a great
preparation for Pope Benedict’s Year of Faith starting in October.
In today’s
Gospel Jesus told us: “Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him
comes to me”. A great way to
do this is through daily prayer and scripture reading. If you’re not familiar with the Bible a
good way to get started is to read the Sunday Mass readings for the upcoming
Sunday or if you are really ambitious the daily Mass reading. If you do this over three years will
cover a majority of the books in Bible.
You will also get a lot more out of Mass having read the readings
before. The bulletin lists the
Sunday reading, and the parish website has a link to the Sunday & daily
Mass readings on US Conference of Catholic Bishops website. If you are on the
go there are even podcasts you can download to play on your iPod or MP3
players. Wednesday night Bible study can also place to learn about Scripture.
Prayer is
another way to listen to the Father.
Prayer is something that you can do in many forms and there is no
specific way you have to pray.
It does not have to be complicated or formal. It can be as simple as taking a few minutes at a time
that’s good for you each day to say thanks to God for blessings, asking for
help with your needs or those of others, and maybe evening listening quietly to
where he is calling you. The main
thing is to do it daily. If
you want to develop a personal relationship with someone you need to talk to
and be with him or her daily.
Today’s good
news is that if we believe Jesus is the bread of life we can have eternal
life. Through placing Christ
first in our lives and growing in your personal relationship with Him may your
belief grow stronger each day. May God bless each and every one of you
all.
Thank you for sharing with us your personal walk with God. I appreciate you for that, knowing that it make you vulnerable. Each of us progresses on our walk at a different speed. It matters not to God, for He is knows our hearts. May God continue to bless you!
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