Word to the Wise
Sunday, August 2, 2009 - Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
[Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15; Ephesians 4:17, 20-24; John 6:24-35]I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.
The "Bread of Life discourse" follows the sign of the multiplication of loaves and fishes. Typically, in the Gospel of John, a sign is followed by misunderstanding and then Jesus gives a discourse that explains the meaning and purpose of that sign. In the case of the "bread of life" discourse, the teaching is climactic and ends with Jesus asking the disciples, "Will you go away too?" The "misunderstanding" that follows the multiplication of the loaves and fishes is basically materialistic! The audience is very interested in a bread that they don't have to work for! "Sir, give us this bread always!" It is materialistic also in the sense that they understand the great moment of Moses and the manna in only a physical sense - focusing on the person of Moses and the substance of the manna and forgetting that it was God who gave the manna in the desert. Jesus gradually unfolds a meaning that leaves them almost aghast because it sounds as if he is advocating cannibalism. He points out that the manna may have fed the Chosen People in the desert, but it was a temporary thing. Each of them would eventually die. The manna which Jesus will give is himself for eternal life! The original manna was the work of God. Jesus now presents himself as THE work of God! "This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent!" In other words, the true manna is not bread but a person! The implications of all of this are tremendous for a fundamental Catholic practice that so many perform every Sunday (and, for some, every day). We get in line to "receive communion." There is a vague realization that this is important and that it is something we would never wish to be excluded from doing. The leap of faith, however, from a tasteless wafer to the person of Jesus Christ is a very large one. As one young woman whom I instructed in the faith told me, "Once I accepted the truth of the Eucharist, the rest was easy." The leap of faith can become little more than standing up and moving in a line if we allow the whole thing to become routine! Nor may we compartmentalize this from the rest of our lives as if to make the Eucharist a private matter. As St. Paul reminds us, "the one who eats and drinks the cup unworthily eats and drinks a judgment on himself." St. John reminds us in one of his "letters" that we cannot claim to love God if we hate our neighbor. The Eucharist is not an abstraction. It is the gathering of the Body of Christ to celebrate the Body of Christ. We all bring our separate lives together to celebrate one life, the life that Jesus gives. I know that there are many distractions in this very important moment! There are the cares we brought from home, the baby crying in our arms, the irritation with the pastor or the person in front of us in line, our own health or employment challenges, etc. etc. The "leap of faith" may be the furthest thing from our minds! My modest pastoral hope is that this Sunday we can try to bring some "intention" to our actions when we leave the pew to head toward the bread and cup of life. AMEN
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