Have you ever felt a little overwhelmed by life?
Are the burdens just too much and you just want to get away from it all?
I’m sure many of you took a vacation this summer to get a break for a time.
But after returning from vacation were burdens still there to weigh you down?
(pause)
The prophet Elijah in the first reading wanted to escape from his burdens.
God had called him to prophesy to the people of Israel, but it was just too much for him.
He journeyed out to the desert and sat under a broom tree asking God to take his life and then feel asleep.
I guess he hoped that by sleeping by the broom tree that all his troubles would be swept away.
God heard Elijah’s prayer but answered in a way he was not expecting.
He gave him food and drink, a hearth cake, and some water, and he ate and drank.
This nourishment from God provided gave him strength to sustain him forty days to make it to the mountain of God, Horeb.
In calling out to God, Elijah received God’s grace to strengthen him though life giving food and drink.
(Pause)
I suspect that many of us have had moments in our lives where we felt overwhelmed like Elijah
Life doesn’t always go as planned.
We have setbacks in our life, such as job loss, broken relationship, or health issues that were not in our plans.
Our life turns into a mess, and we can get discouraged.
We may turn to distractions to take us away from the mess: entertainment, new relationships, or unhealthy habits.
These distractions may temporarily fill a void to take us away from the mess, but we’re eventually left to face the problem.
This can leave us with a sense of being alone and helpless.
I’m reading a book now from Matthew Kelly called Life is Messy.
I’m only part way through the book now, but Matthew chronicles some challenges he has encountered that really had set him back.
He does not give a lot of details of the setbacks, but one of the was dealing with cancer three times before he was forty.
This was beyond his control and derailed many of his life plans.
In dealing with the experience, he felt a deep sense of emptiness struggling with this challenge.
He turned to the distractions, but it did not help with a feeling of emptiness in dealing with all his challenges.
The only thing he found that did help was finding a quiet place to be with God, talking to Him about his struggles and how it made him feel empty, and asking God to fill him up.
This sounds so simple, and for Matthew it really helped.
(Pause)
In our Gospel today we continue with Jesus’ bread of life discourse in John Chapter 6.
John’s Gospel is the only one that does not have the Last Supper with the institution of the Eucharist.
Instead, it contains a very detailed description from Jesus on who he is, the Bread of Life, and what He can do for us.
Jesus gets a lot of resistance from the Jews as they really don’t know who he is.
They only know him as the Son of Joseph and Mary who are from Nazareth.
They can’t make sense of Jesus telling them, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”
The know Jesus only as a man from Nazareth, but Jesus is speaking to them as the divine Son of God.
They just don’t know it yet because the events of His death and resurrection have not occurred.
Jesus tells them two very important things.
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever believes has eternal life.
I am the bread of life.
Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died;
this is the bread that comes down from heaven
so that one may eat it and not die.”
and
“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.”
Jesus is speaking of himself as the Bread of Life in Sacrament of the Eucharist.
If we take the words that Jesus spoke as truth, he is telling us that we will live forever if we eat of His flesh and blood in the Eucharist.
(Pause)
This is an amazing revelation, but it’s one that is so hard to believe.
Many of Jesus disciples left after this discourse as they just couldn’t accept it.
Unfortunately, today there are many Catholics who also find this hard to believe.
A recent study by the Bishops conference indicates that only about 30% of Catholics believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.
Therefore, many are not receiving the Eucharist as they have left the Church or going to church very infrequently.
That’s very sad as many are losing out on the divine power of the Eucharist that can bring us eternal life.
(Pause)
If Jesus is the Bread of Life in the Eucharist that can give us eternal life, He can surely help us in the messiness of our lives dealing with the burdens that we all go through.
The Eucharist is the divine food that provides us supernatural grace to help us with our struggles here on earth while we are on are journey to eternal life.
As we go through our challenges in this life we can certainly do as Elijah did in calling on the Lord in our distress.
God will hear our prayer and answer them.
Like Elijah we can also receive food from God that will nourish us to help us with our struggles in this life and lead us to eternal life.
All we need to do is believe the words of Jesus and come to Mass to receive him in the Eucharist.
It’s very a simple thing to do, but it can be so hard for those who don’t believe.
If you know of someone going through some hard times invite them to spend some quiet time with God in prayer to share their troubles with him asking for help.
If they’ve been away from the Eucharist invite them to come back to receive the divine graces of the life-giving power of Jesus.
It’s a simple thing that may help them more than they can ever imagine.
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