Cycle B

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B (2)

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In today’s Gospel God himself, the Son, has come to encourage the faithful, and today he tries to teach them that he is the Bread of Life who will sustain them in their pilgrimage toward eternal life. It’s difficult for the crowds to understand this teaching: they know Jesus, where he is from, who he parents are, so it’s hard for them to believe he has come down from Heaven. Their earthly knowledge and reasoning are not enough: it’s time for faith.

In today’s First Reading Elijah is dejected and ready to give up when it seems his mission has failed and his life is in danger. Forty days and nights before reaching Horeb Elijah had worked a powerful sign showing the Lord was God, had overthrown a veritable army of false prophets, and witnessed the end of a long punitive drought that was imposed on the unfaithful Israelites. Despite this, his life was in danger and it seemed the evil and infidelity in Israel was as strong and powerful as ever, spearheaded by Jezebel, who pledged to kill him after he’d humiliated her prophets and pagan religion.

The Lord takes the initiative and encourages him, sending him food and drink, persisting when Elijah was not ready to get up and continue on to Mount Horeb to consult the Lord. That nourishment and encouragement sustained him for a long journey, just as Our Lord, through the Eucharist, nourishes us and encourages us in the journey of life. Elijah needed encouragement to keep believing, and sometimes we need it too.

In today’s Second Reading Paul reminds us that faith in Our Lord and all the benefits that come from it is not a question of a moment, but, rather, a process. In today’s Gospel Our Lord tells the incredulous crowd that the Father called and prepared them even before he was sent so that they would believe that he truly is the Bread of Life. It’s that faith that begins a process in the believer of leaving aside bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, reviling, and malice so that he or she can live a life of kindness as a child of God, imitating Our Lord in his service toward others, even when it is costly.  This process of faith, conversion, and purification is then “sealed” by the Holy Spirit to help us never consider turning back to our fallen past and way of life.

In today’s Gospel God himself, the Son, has come to encourage the faithful, and today he tries to teach them that he is the Bread of Life who will sustain them in their pilgrimage toward eternal life, just as Elijah needed help in today’s First Reading. It’s difficult for the crowds to understand this teaching: they know Jesus, where he is from, who his parents are, so it’s hard for them to believe he has come down from Heaven.

Their earthly knowledge and reasoning are not enough: it’s time for faith. It’s not just a faith born in a vacuum: they’re receiving grace to help them believe and be open to the Heavenly Father’s messenger. If they open their hearts to the Father, the Father leads them to take the next step. They must believe in his Son, not just as a sure guide in their pilgrimage to eternal life, but as their nourishment to be able to undertake the journey and as their “sponsor:” his self-offering makes the journey possible at all.

A lot of people stick with the minimum necessary: Mass every Sunday. If the Bread of Life is so helpful on life’s journey, why not “stock up” once in a while? Consider going to Mass on a weekday or two or participating in Eucharistic adoration at your parish.

Readings: 1 Kings 19:4–8; Psalm 34:2–9; Ephesians 4:30–5:2; John 6:41–51. See also 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B and 3rd Week of Easter, Thursday.

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B (2)

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In today’s Second Reading Paul reminds us that when we become believers in Christ we can no longer live in the same way. In today’s Gospel we see Jesus extending that invitation to the crowds for whom he had just multiplied the loaves and fishes, yet they were still seeking a sign like the one recalled in today’s First Reading. It was time to leave the First Reading attitude behind and believe in him.

In today’s First Reading the Israelites wanted their bellies filled, and complained, and were even willing to return to slavery just to have a full stomach.  They’re still far from today’s Gospel, a people who need signs just to keep going at all.  The Israelites today had a weak faith that could only be nurtured by signs, but signs don’t last forever, nor are they meant to. The Lord always planned to go beyond simply providing subsistence to a desperate, sometimes disgruntled people.

The people who sought Jesus in today’s Gospel still want nothing more than a full stomach, but Our Lord is trying to help them see that what they really crave is what that full stomach normally gives them: life, not just for a few decades, but for eternity.  As Jesus reminds them, full stomachs didn’t enable those Israelites under Moses to live forever, even though the Lord provided them with manna to eat.

Our Lord wasn’t just speaking metaphorically when he said he was the bread of life: every time we receive the Eucharist we know that he is the Bread of Life, and we know that one day that we’ll never need to fear dying of hunger or anything else ever again. Like the Israelites in the First Reading the people were still seeking signs, but now the moment had come for faith, a faith that lead to no longer living as the Gentiles did, just focused on immediate needs and concerns of this life and not seeing the bigger picture where this life is a pilgrimage toward eternal life.

The Israelites who grumbled in the desert in the First Reading didn’t live to see the Promised Land due to their lack of trust in God; the people in today’s Gospel are being extended an opportunity to one day enter into the true Promised Land, but they have to trust the new Moses–Jesus–to lead them.

Whenever we receive Communion we hear “the Body of Christ” and respond “Amen” without thinking much about how incredible it is that we are receiving God into our hearts under the appearance of bread. Whenever we genuflect in front of a tabernacle and that little red lamp is glowing nearby we acknowledge our faith that Our Lord is sacramentally present in the Eucharist.

Imagine the crowds hearing the teaching of the Eucharist for the first time and trying to understand it before believing in it. In today’s Gospel Jesus is trying to move them from thinking of ordinary bread in their stomachs to thinking of the bread of life. Our Lord today is asking them to go from what they understand of bread and the thought of endless bread to what they are really looking for: eternal life, not just as living forever, but as living contentedly forever.

When we consider our needs and our expectations for God to help fulfill them we can never lose sight of our ultimate need, God, and the means God has given us to fulfill it: believing in his son and receiving him as the Bread of Life. Let’s try believing today even when understanding something God teaches us is challenging, knowing he is always trying to provide for our eternal needs, not just our short term ones.

Readings: Exodus 16:2–4, 12–15; Psalm 78:3–4, 23–25, 54; Ephesians 4:17, 20–24; John 6:24–35.See also 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time,Cycle B, 3rd Week of Easter, Monday and 3rd Week of Easter, Tuesday.

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B (2)

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In today’s readings Our Lord reminds us that disciples know they always have something to learn and to pass along to the people that they help. Christians never stop being disciples; Our Lord always has something to teach us and is always there to help us.

In the First Reading Elisha, who was the disciple of the prophet Elijah, learned the miracle of the multiplication from his master. Elijah once asked a widow for the last bread she had to feed herself and her son (1 Kings 17:8-16), and when she explained her situation Elijah told her the Lord had promised to provide for them all, and so it came to be. Elisha in today’s First Reading was doing something similar, but because the Lord promised to help him. The Lord said a miracle would happen, and it did. Just as the Lord had helped Elijah and the widow, Elisha knew to encourage his servant to begin handing out the bread, and the miracle happened. Prophets of the Lord, just like his disciples, know they are working with the Lord, not alone, helping him to do something for souls.

In today’s Second Reading Paul reminds us that in caring for others, as Elias learned from Elijah and the Apostles learned from Our Lord, we’re showing ourselves to be good disciples who listen and learn. We have to stop once in a while and remember how blessed we are to have been chosen by Our Lord to be his disciples. Our Lord not only teaches us how to treat others; he also teaches us how to treat each other. He’s always been quick to address and correct disciples that argue about who was the greatest or seek positions of privilege. We’re called to a lifestyle that can be challenging, but he’s empowered us to live it through his grace and the sacraments: humility, gentleness, patience, and faith.

The disciples in today’s Gospel are proactive: they know from Our Lord’s question that he wants to feed the people who came to see him, and it seems he’s asking them to make it happen. Phillip sees it as impossible, even if they had enough money to feed them, due to the size of the crowd. Andrew at least starts asking around, but the resources come up short.

Both lost sight of the fact that Jesus said “we.” When we feel Our Lord is asking something difficult or impossible, we must remember that, like in today’s Gospel, he will be with us and help us. We never stop being disciples, so the Master never abandons us to our mission. We just have to take it one step at a time, even when sometimes it seems difficult or impossible. In the end, through taking things step by step and following his guidance, they helped Our Lord to make the miracle happen.

Have you felt in your heart that Our Lord has been asking you to try to do something difficult or impossible? Don’t think of the end game; ask him to teach you what first step he wants you to take, and then keep taking things one step at a time. You’ll be surprised how much you can accomplish working with him. As disciples he never leaves us alone.

Readings: 2 Kings 4:42–44; Psalm 145:10–11, 15–18; Ephesians 4:1–6; John 6:1–15.

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B (2)

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In today’s Gospel the Good Shepherd not only goes in search of the lost sheep, but they go looking for him: they know they are lost and Our Lord will care for them.

The First Reading reminds us that the Lord promised to personally shepherd his people after certain shepherds had mislead them, mistreated them, and scattered them. Israel’s kings had not shepherded the Lord’s sheep as they were called to do. When Our Lord sees the crowds seeking him out everywhere, he feels that same compassion, wanting to care for them and lead them to those pastures Jeremiah speaks about. Jesus is Lord and Good Shepherd.

Our Lord doesn’t walk the earth anymore as he did, but people still seek him. Why? The Second Reading tells us that the blood of Christ has drawn together people from near and far. Through Our Lord’s sacrifice we feel the call in our hearts to be united through him. Anything that separates us can be overcome through the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross: we are reconciled with him and reconciled with each other.

Our Lord still works to gather his sheep and lead them to greener pastures, aided by the shepherds he has appointed. After Jesus’ Ascension the people would be seeking out the Apostles taught by Jesus in order to be united into the flock that always remains the Lord’s, as they do today through bishops and priests.

Today’s Gospel reminds us why Our Lord came down from Heaven. The compassionate gaze of Our Lord is the same as the one he had from Heaven when he saw his creation lost and disoriented by sin, hungering for meaning in their lives.

Even now, back at the Father’s right hand, he directs that same compassionate gaze toward us. Maybe we don’t see him seated before us and teaching us, speaking quietly to his disciples and asking them to take care of us too, but in every celebration of the Eucharist the same thing happens.

In parishes and chapels throughout the world we all form small groups of believers, but all those groups are gathered around Christ, who through the Blessed Sacrament can be with all of us.

The Word of God is read and its meaning explained by bishops, priests, and deacons who’ve been entrusted with continuing Our Lord’s mission to preach the Gospel and to care for his flock. Simple bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ, the Bread of Life that eventually will end all hunger in us and satisfies our deepest needs. Let’s show our gratitude for Our Lord’s compassion by being his instruments of compassion to those we know who are in spiritual or material need.

Organizations with volunteers speak of the 90%/10% rule: among every ten people the organization serves, one of them volunteers. Do the math on the ratio between pastors and faithful and you’ll get the idea.

Every pastor is a shepherd who is laying down his life for you. Pray for our pastors and support them, whether at the parish itself, with a meal or treat, or a simple “thank you, Father.” As pastors we appreciate your prayers and support.

Readings: Jeremiah 23:1–6; Psalm 23:1–6; Ephesians 2:13–18; Mark 6:30–34.

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B (2)

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Today’s readings remind us that we, like the apostles and prophets, have been chosen and sent into the world to share the Gospel. One way in which we share the Gospel is through spiritual poverty, which puts the goods of this world into perspective.

In today’s First Reading the prophet Amos is accused by the priest in charge of the shrine at Bethel of prophesying as a scam to get some food. Amos responds that he owned a flock and sycamore trees: he had property and possessions and was not a beggar being creative in order to get some food. Amos was a prophet because the Lord chose him and sent him to prophesy, and, like the Twelve in the Gospel today, being a prophet doesn’t involve being well equipped or focused on making a living. Amos was chosen to be a prophet and leave his possessions behind. He may have been mistakable for a beggar, but he had everything he needed to accomplish his mission.

In today’s Second Reading St. Paul teaches us that we were not chosen to become rich in the material sense of the term, but to be holy and without blameless before God the Father, thanks to Our Lord. Only a worldly person sees a holy person as poor just because they are not swayed or burdened by material well-being. The Lord lavishes spiritual treasures upon the holy: the second chance of the Redemption after the Fall, the call to become his adopted children, forgiveness for our sins, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. In choosing us he has also revealed his plan of salvation and our part in it. When we accept his calling we receive all these treasures and the opportunity to help others to receive them too.

In today’s Gospel Our Lord teaches the Twelve that to be an apostle means to give a Gospel example in order to foster a more effective proclamation. One example is poverty. Today he tells them to take what they need, but to keep it simple. Our testimony of Gospel simplicity in the things we use is also a way we evangelize. We live this poverty in order to fulfill our mission as apostles.

This Gospel poverty also helps us to see the true treasure we possess, a treasure so eloquently expressed today in the Second Reading by St. Paul. Holiness is the ultimate happiness, even if it seems tough at times, and a great peace comes from having our sins forgiven, making us blameless before Our Heavenly Father. Let’s thank Our Lord today for all the spiritual wealth he has lavished upon us, and ask him to show us, in the light of those spiritual treasures, what things we really need, what things we don’t, and how we can best share them with others.

We can easily get bogged down by our creature comforts, if we let them. What’s something you could give up for a few hours, a day, or a week to practice voluntary Gospel poverty? Consider the one material thing you think you couldn’t live without and try living without it for as long as your resilience permits. Our sacrifices are just as fruitful as our prayers.

Readings: Amos 7:12–15; Psalm 85:9–14; Ephesians 1:3–14; Mark 6:7–13. See also 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B.