Sunday

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

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In today’s First Reading we are reminded that the Lord wants to heal us from our infirmities, but it’s likely that the Israelites never imagined Our Lord would want to come personally and do so. God wants to touch us and heal us; we see that in today’s Gospel. By modern standards it may seem distasteful that saliva is involved, but when we consider that every time we celebrate the Eucharist we are receiving Jesus’ body and blood, it’s not much of a stretch. God assumed a human nature because he wanted to come touch us and heal us through human nature.

God still wants to touch us and heal us. Today he does so through the sacraments. In each sacrament there are certain materials, certain expressions, certain dispositions of heart through which Our Lord reaches out and touches us and heals us or strengthens us. When we receive him in Holy Communion we touch God, who comes into our hearts and makes us more like him after he decided, out of sheer goodness, to assume a human nature and become like us.

Let’s be thankful in receiving the Eucharist today that Our Lord wants to be close to us, wants to touch us. And let’s examine how our sacramental life is going: Mass, confession, etc., so that it really touches us and helps us to change for the better.

Readings: Isaiah 35:4–7a; Psalm 146:7–10; James 2:1–5; Mark 7:31–37.

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

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Today’s First Reading reminds us that the purpose of the Law is to enable us to grow closer to God and to show our intelligence and wisdom. In Jesus’ time the Pharisees had derived over six hundred rules and regulations from the Law, but had lost sight of the fundamentals: love for God and neighbor, not just ritual cleanliness. As St. James describes it in the Second Reading, in order to please God we should strive “to care for orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” The world today believes that if something feels good, you should do it, but the world is also witness to how much destructive behavior comes from following that principle. We are wounded by original sin and our own sins; not everything as a result feels good that is good–addicts destroy themselves by trying to feel good. Lots of behavior turns into compulsive behavior that we can’t control: this is a stained heart that Our Lord wants to make clean again through love and mercy.

The Pharisees were focused on externals and had lost sigh of the bigger picture. Our Lord reminds in Today’s Gospel that defilement comes from hearts and endangers other hearts, and we should strive to maintain purity of heart, not just cleanliness. He gives a long list of things that come from defiled hearts and endanger other hearts, and they can all be traced back to someone going overboard in trying to feel “good” and dragging others into their behavior, even through their bad example. St. James in the Second Reading may have spoken of charity toward widows and orphans, but acting in this disordered way is also a lack of charity toward others, since it can lead them to spiritually ruin themselves.

Let’s ask Our Lord to practice charity with all our heart, not only caring for others, but treating them with purity of heart and encouraging them to do the same. In that way we’ll please God and remain close to him.

Readings: Deuteronomy 4:1–2, 6–8; Psalm 15:2–5; James 1:17–18, 21b–22, 27; Mark 7:1–8, 14–15, 21–23.

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

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In today’s Gospel we see the culmination, and the aftermath, of Jesus’ Bread of Life discourse. Jesus has presented his teaching on the Eucharist, and the disciples are struggling with believing in it because they don’t understand it. As a result, many cease to be disciples of Jesus and return to their former way of life. Our Lord even poses the question to the Twelve, and Peter’s response holds a lesson we should all consider in our own life of faith: belief is supported by grace, and it is through belief that we understand some of the deepest mysteries of God. If we try to start with reasons, as we’ve seen over the last few Sundays, some truths of God will remain out of reach for us and we’ll fall back on the certainties we know, as many of the disciples did in today’s Gospel.

We shouldn’t be shy about asking Our Lord to help us in our unbelief. As Peter describes it in his response to Our Lord, believing leads to conviction. We can live a life of faith without understanding it completely and, somehow, it all fits together. The Twelve, with the exception of Judas in this moment, are building on an experience of God and his mystery that they’ve had ever since they started following Jesus, which, in turn, was built on their understanding of God before Jesus’ coming that had been passed down throughout salvation history.

Let’s ask Our Lord today to help us in whatever we’re having hard time believing.

Readings: Joshua 24:1–2a, 15–17, 18b; Psalm 34:2–3, 16–21; Ephesians 5:21–32; John 6:60–69.

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time,Cycle B

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In today’s First Reading we see Wisdom personified as a woman who invites the uninstructed to come to her banquet and receive nourishment in order to attain life and understanding. Wisdom is associated with life and knowledge. The Second Reading also encourages the Christians to live wisely, trying to understand the will of the Lord and not just seeking the immediate and irresponsible pleasures of a fleeting drunken banquet, but, rather a celebration that fills with the Spirit, a liturgical celebration of hymns to the Lord and thanksgiving to the Father through Christ.

The Second Reading aptly summarizes the discourse we’ve been considering over the last few Sundays regarding the Eucharist: instead of seeking the fleeting pleasure of wine and remaining in ignorance, Our Lord is inviting his listeners to be filled with the Spirit and to partake of the banquet of his Body and his Blood and to grow in knowledge through faith in him. If the First Reading personified Wisdom and its benefits in terms of a woman inviting to a fine meal, Our Lord today is not speaking metaphorically or symbolically, as the consternation of his listeners shows at the thought of eating his flesh. With Jesus they’re receiving an invitation from the Wisdom of God in person (see 1 Corinthians 1:24), and he is saying that he is the banquet they need for eternal life and communion with God. Through communion with him they will enjoy wisdom and will enjoy eternal life, but they must have faith in the knowledge he is trying to impart to them.

As we receive Our Lord in the Eucharist today, the Wisdom of God in person, let’s thank him for coming in person to nourish us and ask him to fill us with his Spirit so that we praise him “in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.”

Readings: Proverbs 9:1–6; Psalm 34:2–7; Ephesians 5:15–20; John 6:51–58.

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

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The journey to a profound and meaningful encounter with Our God is a long one, as the First Reading reminds us today. For Elijah the Lord sent an angel as his messenger to give him food and drink in order to continue on his pilgrimage to meet God and sort out what had happened in his mission and what needed to happen. Elijah had all but given up, but he was sent encouragement and nourishment along the way. He wanted the journey to be over, but the Lord still had plans for him.

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. They’re 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.

Let’s thank Our Lord today for helping us in our journey toward eternal life, and open our hearts to whatever he is trying to teach us.

Readings: 1 Kings 19:4–8; Psalm 34:2–9; Ephesians 4:30–5:2; John 6:41–51. See also 3rd Week of Easter, Thursday.