Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Of Things Divine: Enough Is Enough Is Enough!, Ordinary Time 19
I don’t think it would be a stretch to say that we know what Elijah is talking about when he says: “Lord, I’ve had enough.” Broken and dispirited on his journey in the wilderness, he has reached the end of his rope. At his lowest ebb, an angel of God comes to his rescue and feeds him with miraculous food – a hearth cake and a jug of water. His flagging hope is restored by this bread from heaven and he continues his journey to the holy mountain of Horeb, where he receives a new vision of God in the form of a gentle breeze. This gives him renewed courage and faith to march on and face the challenge of another day.
Many times in our bleak moments we feel like saying with Elijah, “Lord, we’ve had enough.” Christian life is by no means plain sailing and we often find ourselves broken and crushed by circumstances that come our way. Left to our own resources we can find no light at the end of the tunnel. To keep going we need an assurance that we are not alone in our lives and that God is with us helping us to carry our crosses, rescuing us from every predicament that befalls us.
Our gospel today reminds us that we have such a help in Jesus who is the Bread of Life. He brings each of us just what we need to sustain us on our pilgrim journey to everlasting life in God. Jesus is heavenly food – the ultimate heavenly food. He is medicine for the sick soul, nourishment for the wounded spirit, light and strength for the weary mind, the source of new and eternal life, whose presence and power strengthen us. Jesus is the Living Bread which has come down from heaven, the unique source of life.
I wonder if we looked at our lives and asked ourselves if we are truly hungering for Jesus, who is the Bread of Life, what our answer would be. Coming to Christ Jesus requires far more than a weekly walk up to the altar to receive his Body and Blood in Holy Communion. If Jesus makes himself available to us then we have to make ourselves present to him. To approach the altar complaining, or with a heart full of bitterness because of hurt inflicted upon us, is not a true sharing in the Eucharist. There is no way we can offer ourselves to God without making sincere efforts to love our neighbor who has let us down in some way during the week. In our daily lives we are asked to be forgiving, to overcome faults, to understand failure in our friends and coworkers, and not to close our hearts when we are offended.
In the Eucharist that we celebrate and receive today we meet the bigness of God who has forgiven us and who asks us in turn to give freely as we have received. The Eucharist is the opportunity for reconciliation exemplar. It is here that wounds and old sores are bound up and forgiveness is to be planted. Unless this sacred and mysterious meal transforms us – makes us into something we can only hope to be – it is only an empty ritual that has no bearing on us or the world.
My brothers and sisters, as we ponder the mysterious of life and contemporary society we can spend a lot of time and energy complaining about the inconveniences we encounter and wonder how many more we will have to endure we need only remind ourselves that there is always someone who finds life more trying that we do. I think of the Christians who live in Bethlehem and other parts of Palestine who have lost their livelihood as tourism to Bethlehem and other holy sites has dried up in recent decades. My heart aches for the people of Lebanon and Israel who never know on which day a bomb will fall on them. I am distraught over the way Christians are being ostracized, persecuted and killed in India and many nations in Africa. I wonder how people here in our own city have been able to cope with the warmer than usual temperatures and ever-soaring cost of gasoline.
Jesus did not deem equality with God something to be clung to but emptied himself to become the Bread that gives us strength and nourishment to face the vicissitudes of life. And, because we rejoice in this supernatural gift of his Body and Blood we carry on in faith ready to march on and face the challenges of another day, another week, embracing those who are less fortunate than we with the love we have so generously received from God, walking lights of hope in a world that is tired of crying out, “Lord, we’ve had enough!”
Many times in our bleak moments we feel like saying with Elijah, “Lord, we’ve had enough.” Christian life is by no means plain sailing and we often find ourselves broken and crushed by circumstances that come our way. Left to our own resources we can find no light at the end of the tunnel. To keep going we need an assurance that we are not alone in our lives and that God is with us helping us to carry our crosses, rescuing us from every predicament that befalls us.
Our gospel today reminds us that we have such a help in Jesus who is the Bread of Life. He brings each of us just what we need to sustain us on our pilgrim journey to everlasting life in God. Jesus is heavenly food – the ultimate heavenly food. He is medicine for the sick soul, nourishment for the wounded spirit, light and strength for the weary mind, the source of new and eternal life, whose presence and power strengthen us. Jesus is the Living Bread which has come down from heaven, the unique source of life.
I wonder if we looked at our lives and asked ourselves if we are truly hungering for Jesus, who is the Bread of Life, what our answer would be. Coming to Christ Jesus requires far more than a weekly walk up to the altar to receive his Body and Blood in Holy Communion. If Jesus makes himself available to us then we have to make ourselves present to him. To approach the altar complaining, or with a heart full of bitterness because of hurt inflicted upon us, is not a true sharing in the Eucharist. There is no way we can offer ourselves to God without making sincere efforts to love our neighbor who has let us down in some way during the week. In our daily lives we are asked to be forgiving, to overcome faults, to understand failure in our friends and coworkers, and not to close our hearts when we are offended.
In the Eucharist that we celebrate and receive today we meet the bigness of God who has forgiven us and who asks us in turn to give freely as we have received. The Eucharist is the opportunity for reconciliation exemplar. It is here that wounds and old sores are bound up and forgiveness is to be planted. Unless this sacred and mysterious meal transforms us – makes us into something we can only hope to be – it is only an empty ritual that has no bearing on us or the world.
My brothers and sisters, as we ponder the mysterious of life and contemporary society we can spend a lot of time and energy complaining about the inconveniences we encounter and wonder how many more we will have to endure we need only remind ourselves that there is always someone who finds life more trying that we do. I think of the Christians who live in Bethlehem and other parts of Palestine who have lost their livelihood as tourism to Bethlehem and other holy sites has dried up in recent decades. My heart aches for the people of Lebanon and Israel who never know on which day a bomb will fall on them. I am distraught over the way Christians are being ostracized, persecuted and killed in India and many nations in Africa. I wonder how people here in our own city have been able to cope with the warmer than usual temperatures and ever-soaring cost of gasoline.
Jesus did not deem equality with God something to be clung to but emptied himself to become the Bread that gives us strength and nourishment to face the vicissitudes of life. And, because we rejoice in this supernatural gift of his Body and Blood we carry on in faith ready to march on and face the challenges of another day, another week, embracing those who are less fortunate than we with the love we have so generously received from God, walking lights of hope in a world that is tired of crying out, “Lord, we’ve had enough!”
