Sunday

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time,Cycle B

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In today’s Second Reading Paul reminds us that when we become believers in Christ we can no longer live to 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, but yet they were still seeking a sign like the one recalled 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. 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 what they really crave is what that full stomach 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.

Let’s renew our faith today in Jesus as the Bread of Life and continue our pilgrimage here on earth, knowing that nourished by this Bread we’ll one day enter the Promised Land.

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 3rd Week of Easter, Monday and 3rd Week of Easter, Tuesday.

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

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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 the people that they help. Christians never stop being disciples; Our Lord always has something to teach us. In the First Reading Elisha (who was the disciple of the prophet Elijah) learned from his master in the miracle of the multiplication: 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 Gospel was doing something similar, but because the Lord promised to help him, just as the Lord had helped Elijah and the widow, he knew to encourage his servant to begin handing out the bread, and the miracle happened.

The disciples in today’s Gospel are a little more 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. They lost sight of the fact that Jesus said “we”: when we feel Our Lord is asking something difficult or impossible, we have to remember that, like in today’s Gospel, he will be with us and help us. 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, 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 accomplish working with him.

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

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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 their lost and Our Lord will watch over 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: the kings of Israel 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 in the First Reading. Jesus is Lord and Good Shepherd.

Our Lord doesn’t walk the earth anymore as he did, but people still continue to seek him. Why? The Second Reading tells us that the blood of Christ has drawn together people from near and far: through his 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.

Even now the Lord seeks to guide us and unite us. Let’s thank him for being the shepherd willing to lay down his life for us, and make his blood bear fruit in our lives through reconciling with anyone with whom we may be separated. Reconciliation with others goes hand in hand with reconciliation with God.

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

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

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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. In the First Reading, when the priest accuses the prophet Amos of being a beggar preaching to make a living, Amos responds that he owned a flock and sycamore trees: he had property and possessions. He was a prophet because Our Lord sent him to prophesy, and like the Twelve in the Gospel today, being a prophet doesn’t involve being well equipped or focusing on making a living.

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: before the foundation of the world the Lord has wanted us to be holy and blameless before him. 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. He has adopted us as his sons and daughters. Lastly, he makes his will known to us as the best path to holiness and happiness: we may not like it at times, but it is a source of spiritual fruitfulness for ourselves and those we love.

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, and what things we don’t.

Readings: Amos 7:12–15; Psalm 85:9–14; Ephesians 1:3–14; Mark 6:7–13.

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

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In today’s Gospel Jesus describes the reception of his message in his home town as like that of a prophet: unwelcome. In Jesus we find the mission of priest, prophet, and king combined. As prophet he is the bearer of God’s message; in fact, he, as the Word, is the message of God himself. In sharing the faith we as Christians also have a mission to bear God’s message and make it known. That happens through sharing our faith, through teaching the faith, but also by the very fact of being Christian. Secularizing trends in modern society try to relegate Christianity to the private sphere, but the only way to really do that would be to lock away Christians, as sadly happens in some cultures today. In other cultures they’re culturally isolated: prophets in their time were seen as crazy, even weird, and definitely counter-cultural, because when God sends a prophet it usually means someone needs to receive a message they don’t want to hear, which is why prophets bore the message all the way to martyrdom, especially in Our Lord’s case. That conviction, combined with the fact that their message was true, ultimately stands the test of time, independently of whether the message is welcomed or not: as the First Reading reminds us, they’ll reject the message, but they’ll know a prophet has been among them.

Christian prophecy bears a cross: the cross that those we love and care about the most often seem the most incredulous when we try to share the faith with them. They might see us as holy rollers, or remember our times together with them before we started taking our faith more seriously and see us now as not really being sincere about what we’re preaching. It’s important to keep in mind something that’s fundamental to being a prophet: God is sending a message that people don’t want to hear. In being a prophet we can sometimes question whether if we’d said something more eloquently, done something better, that message would have been welcomed. Today’s readings remind us that even if we do everything perfectly, as Jesus did in today’s Gospel, because he can’t act any other way, there’ll still be incredulous people. Paul reminds us in the Second Reading that God’s power shines through our weakness: we just have to keep trying and not get discouraged when it seems there are no results.

Let’s ask Our Lord today to be bearers of his message in our words and our example, and to help us not get discouraged in our mission of sharing his Word with everyone we meet, especially the ones we love.

Readings: Ezekiel 2:2–5; Psalm 123:1–4; 2 Corinthians 12:7–10; Mark 6:1–6.