Twenty Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Homily by Fr. Jim Deiters
Back in the seminary, about a hundred years ago, the professor teaching how to prepare a good homily, jokingly said to us, “Men, when the scriptures for that weekend say anything about marriage or divorce, make sure and give it to the Deacon to preach!” Well, here I am, breaking his rule and taking a stab at this Gospel on the subject.
Since all of us have dealt with divorce on some level within our families, this Gospel can stir up different emotions for us. For some people today, these readings are painful as they remind them of a broken relationship and the agony that goes with ending a marriage. For others, these Scriptures about the permanence of marriage are a positive reinforcement to stick with a relationship that takes a lot of work. For others who are single or widowed, these readings are also helpful in reflecting on the importance of commitments we make.
When I think back on the trials and tribulations that my own parents dealt with in their relationship and raising eight children, I am utterly amazed at couples who DO make it for the long haul. But for those who do go through a divorce, the Catholic Church offers the annulment process that can bring a lot of HEALING… since it helps persons clarify what was the deeper issue and eventually let go of anger and hurt that happens in a divorce.
While all relationship are complex, and marriage takes a ton of patient forgiving, the Church teaches that sometimes, there are valid reasons for a divorce, which is why we have a healing annulment process. Explaining annulments really needs a whole education night; but briefly, an annulment is different than a divorce in that it acknowledges that something was ‘missing’ in the relationship before the wedding day took place. The annulment process asks a person to think about the early history of the relationship…and possibly if the marriage might not have been able to work out in the first place; and maybe… the permanence of the ‘sacramental seal’ from God did not take place over the marriage. While there was a civil marriage, the annulment process asks if God sealed the marriage to be permanent, if He saw there was an inability for it to be a holy, healthy relationship at the start.
Now, let’s look deeper at WHY Jesus addresses this issue. Given a trick question about divorce, Jesus challenged the Pharisees to go back to the Book of Genesis and the original intention that God had when He created man and woman…to be ‘partners’ to one another. The Creation story is about God’s LOVE for us… and God’s intention that we humans live in unity and respect for one another and all of creation. What developed from Original Sin by the time of Jesus… is that the male species turned their role into dominance over women instead of an equal partner. The men created laws for them to divorce a woman for any reason whatever, with women having no say in the matter. Jesus was enraged at how the men treated women. When Jesus takes this strong stance against divorce, he quotes the Genesis story to stand up for women’s dignity and how God had created their original goodness. While Jesus challenges married persons to remain true to their life-long commitment, when he was asked later about how difficult this is, he said, “not everyone is called to” the married life. Not everyone has the abilities… or willingness to make the sacrifices it takes for marriage. And some men are called to make different sacrifices for the Priesthood.
My experience in working with many married people reveals to me that one of the main problems in marriage today is that couples do not make quality TIME for each other in order to become a true companion on the journey to heaven. Between a person’s time for work, the time it takes in raising the children, and other things, too many couples forget to work on their own relationship with one another…and they become ‘roommates’ instead of spouses. They forget they committed to being of “one flesh” with the other. Next to their relationship with God, the number one priority of marriage is one’s spouse.
Any person discerning if he or she is called to the marriage vocation…must be reminded that marriage is about choosing a partner who will help you grow in holiness and lead you closer to God…, not just picking someone who is good-looking and who has similar interests. Since beauty and common interests fade away, a relationship must be based on the deeper values of faith and unconditional love to last for a lifetime. The Church teaches that the sacrament of marriage is to mirror God's love for us… and Christ's love for his Church.
Whether you are single, divorced, widowed, or married, this Gospel challenges ALL of us to remember that our relationships are to become reflections God’s Love! This is why we NEED the Eucharist…to become a reflection of Jesus. In the Mass we bring to God our struggles and desires for holy, healthy relationships…and God, in return, gives us the Body and Blood of Jesus to help us BE a mirror of God’s love to others.
May this Eucharist strengthen each of us in our varied vocations to be more forgiving, committed, gentle, and loving with each other.
TWENTY SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
HOMILY BY FR. JIM DEITERS
One of the beautiful things I love about our parish Oktoberfest is how it gives each person an opportunity to serve and be generous with their time, resources, and hospitality. Studies show that the more a person shares generously of their time, finances, and kindness…the happier they are. The happiest people I know are also the most generous people I know. A lack of generosity is usually based on fear – a fear that I won’t have enough money or time for other things.
One of God’s greatest attributes is generosity. We see God being outrageously generous in the works of his Creation – from bountiful harvests to the vastness of the oceans, to the precious life of each new baby. Jesus was constantly practicing generosity in how he treated people, going out of his way to care for the sinner and those unwelcomed by others. Two of our scriptures today reveal God’s generosity that we are called to practice our self.
The first image of generosity we heard is what God did through Moses as he blessed the seventy elders. From the Book of Numbers, we hear this great depiction of God taking “some of the Spirit that was on Moses...and spread it out among more leaders so that they too could prophesy.” In other words, God decided to not limit his graces to one person or small group. BUT some of the people reacted with fear, worried about who might get some of the Spirit’s blessings. Moses steps forward and speaks from his generous heart saying, “would that the Lord bestow his spirit on them ALL!”
Similarly, when Jesus’ disciples saw that some people, who were not in ‘their group,’ were healing people through Jesus’ name, they complained that others would have such authority. They had a fear that someone else who was not a part of them… would “use up” the healing power of Jesus name…as if it has a limit! Of course, both stories are about US...often prejudging or complaining about who God might include in the work of the Kingdom. Sometimes we just can’t imagine that God would let some of the gifts of his Spirit come upon her? In him?
And all the while, God is recklessly pouring out his Spirit beyond the boundaries and categories that we create. Like the disciples of Moses or Jesus, we can get frustrated when see the workings of the Spirit flow outside of our confined ideological or theological boxes. It’s not that God doesn’t care who serves in his name; it’s just that God’s Wisdom of choosing his servants or witnesses is not based on our human way of thinking; and it can shock us that God would be so generous and inclusive of the Spirit’s blessing and as coworkers in the Kingdom.
In this context, two ways that we can all practice Christ-like generosity is through open-mindedness and gratitude. Starting with the virtue of gratitude, when we notice the blessings in our life and the gratuitous abundance of God’s graces in all of creation, gratitude helps us realize that God’s Goodness has no limits. Practicing gratitude helps us want to be more generous with what we have…and be grateful for the gifts in other people. These scriptures call us to be grateful for the extravagant way that God showers his blessings upon people we never imagined.
And this leads to “open mindedness,” asking the Holy Spirit to help our minds and hearts be more receptive to seeing some spark of God’s goodness in others. We know from Salvation History, that the Holy Spirit has been constantly surprising the world by whom the Spirit chooses to get involved. From prophets like Eldad and Medad, to Job, to the Virgin Mary, to uneducated fisherman of Galilee, to you and me in this very room. And all the while, we try to set up boundaries and boxes about who WE think should be counted as ‘in’ or ‘out’ of God’s limitless graces.
One of the great joys of being a pastor is to see how diverse the personalities and gifts within a parish community are! In order for our parish community to thrive, we each have to ‘let go’ of any own preconceived notions of who God might send into the vineyard of parish life. Jesus teaches that even with the human limitations of the diverse personalities of disciples that we are…we must let go of fear or judgment and let the Holy Spirit lavishly dish out blessings and graces...beyond the peripheries of our imagination.
Come Holy Spirit! Enkindle within us the fire of Your Love!
TWENTY FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
FR. JIM DEITERS
Although she died before some of you were even born, Mother Theresa, now “Saint Mother Theresa,” made a global impact by her love and care for the poorest of the poor, starting in India, but establishing her Religious Order throughout the world. Such was her influence, that when she was invited to speak to the United Nations in 1985, owning nothing but a sari and pair of sandals, she was introduced as the “most powerful woman in the world.” Mother Theresa was the antidote for people chained with greed…and the medicine for anyone stuck on the ladder of power and prestige. One of her most inspiring stories embossed in my mind is when she described that she literally carried in a man from the streets who was close to death and covered with worms on his flesh. As she washed his body, he looked up and said, “Even though I was treated like an animal on the street, I can die like an angel, cared for and loved.” Moments later before he died he said, “I am going home to God.”
We have to keep the memory of Mother Theresa alive in our world today, as we are tempted to buy into the culture’s clamor for fame and wealth, while casting aside the poor, those with addictions, and the stranger seeking a safe place to live. Mother Theresa, along with other saints like Elizabeth of Hungary and St. Vincent de Paul, teach us to develop the virtue of humility THROUGH specific actions of caring for people in need. Selfless love makes humility grow.
Since all three of our readings today address the sins of pride and jealousy, it gives us the opportunity to reflect on the virtue of HUMILITY, the main virtue that counters these vices. The letter from St. James today, particularly rebukes those who let jealousy and self-ambition cause divisions in the community. And in the Gospel, the disciples get ‘caught’ by Jesus in their ambitious conversations about “who is the greatest.” Of course, the scriptures are always meant to serve as a ‘mirror’ that challenge us to examine our own life as to how these same un-Christian behaviors play out in the way we sometimes let jealousy and self-ambition take us down paths that are opposite of what Jesus modeled for us.
So how do we grow in the virtue of humility to counter our false pride? First, humility requires an awful lot of honest self-awareness. St. Bernard of Clairvaux writes, “There is nothing more effective for acquiring humility, than to find out the truth about oneself.” This means a daily self-examination before God in prayer, asking God to make us more aware of our own failings and less time counting the sins of others. THIS is very difficult since our minds are always noticing other people’s shortcomings.
We are not talking about a ‘false’ humility…in which one puts themself down or doesn’t get involved thinking they don’t have much to offer. True humility recognizes one’s dependence on God…and allowing GOD to take our lowly lives and raise us to a Gospel-kind of ‘greatness’ that is grounded in humble service and care of others. This is why Mother Theresa, in her days, was called the “greatest woman in the world.” She would sit in front of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament every morning for an hour, beginning her day by placing her “small life” before the face of God…and then letting the Holy Spirit ‘raise up’ her life to do ‘great things’ in caring for those most in need. Now, we can’t all be just like her, but we ARE called to find our own path to sainthood…and make the sacrifices it takes to practice one holy moment at a time.
In this Gospel, Jesus flips the conventional idea about who is “great” by saying greatness is acquired and learned by being a “servant” of others. This radical teaching of Jesus is so important for all of us, and especially significant for all younger persons discerning how to be ‘successful’ in life. But many of us who spent years climbing the ladder of society’s idea of greatness, hear this Gospel and realize we want and need to be ascending toward something more fulfilling. Here at the Altar we admit that the only ladder we need is the one that leads to holiness and heaven --- who IS Jesus Christ.
As we pray for the Holy Spirit to help us grow in the genuine humility that Jesus taught us, listen and pray with me a small section from an ancient Litany of Humility that many saints used in their own spiritual path:
From the desire of being esteemed and honored by others, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being praised, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being approved by others, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of looking more important than others, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being greater than others, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being humiliated if I use my gifts, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being laughed at if I do what is right, Deliver me, Jesus.
Oh Jesus, grant us the grace to become more humble like you.
TWENTY FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
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WATCH THIS HOMILYFR. JIM DEITERS
At the beginning of each Mass, after the Sign of the Cross and greeting, we pray what is called the Penitential Rite, asking God’s forgiveness. It is appropriate that in order to praise God with full heart and mind in the rest of Mass, we first need this time to acknowledge our sins and selfishness as we seek God’s Mercy to heal us and make us worthy of the Eucharist. When we pray the Confiteor, we ask for God’s Mercy for “what we have done and what we failed to do.” But notice that we also ask forgiveness for any “thoughts and words” that have hurt God and others. The Confiteor prayer helps us recognize not only our external misdeeds, but also…any inner thoughts that may not be as loving as Jesus asks of us.
Basically, we start the Mass asking God for a clean heart. And a cleansed heart is what God creates when the priest says the absolution prayer, “May almighty God have mercy on us and forgive us our sins.” Then we chant, “Kyrie Eleison…Lord Have Mercy” as a sign of our accepting God’s forgiving love. The rest of the Mass, starting with the Gloria, is praising God for His infinite goodness, shown especially to us through his Son, Jesus.
Now if you connect this to Jesus’ words and actions toward people in the Gospels, he is always looking inside a person, trying to call out their inner goodness. But in this Gospel, Jesus is also acknowledging that usually our outward sins stem from some ‘mischief’ going on inside of us. In psychology terms one might ask, “what is BEHIND these sinful thoughts and actions?” Jesus uses the example of the Pharisees who were preoccupied with all kinds of external Jewish rules they had determined were sinful…while not paying attention to the need for inner conversion.
Jesus is trying to turn the spiritual question…to what is going on in our heart and soul - our interior life. We can put all kinds of energy and time trying to change selfish behaviors, but until we address the source of the problem inside, it can lead to blaming something or someone else for the problem. This is where good soul-searching is needed with the help of a friend, counselor, or spiritual director. In addition to good, honest prayer conversations with God about our inner weakness, having someone to challenge us to delve deeper inside can be very helpful.
Jesus says that sins of unchastity, adultery, greed, anger, deceit, envy and arrogance come from within a person, some deeper cause. Sure, we can fall into sin because of things around us like… the internet, or gossiping conversations, or other temptations, but if our heart is centered in God’s pure, chaste love...we can refrain from ‘external’ sinful behavior through an inner, self-disciplined power that comes from God.
In our second reading, the Apostle James offers us two ways to become “pure and undefiled before God.” The first is by keeping Jesus WORD, his message of pure love and forgiveness, as the core of our being. Very interestingly, the second way to stay pure he writes is by “caring for orphans and widows.” In the first century, ‘widows and orphans’ were the outcasts of their day, and so James is saying that when we care for the outcasts, God’s “least ones,” it can pull us OUT OF our ‘inner’ impure thoughts. Therefore, the more we do acts of justice and charity to help others, it actually purifies our own heart and soul.
This is the kind of ‘religious observance’ we try to bring to our worship each time we gather for Eucharist. The Christian goal is to spend our days doing good for others...and then bring those acts of kindness and sacrifices of love to the Altar as part of our worship! Following St. James’ advice, we come here to be re-grounded in God’s Word and his commandment of helping those in need, admitting the times we have failed to do so. Then, cleansed of our inner weakness by Jesus’ Saving Blood, we are sent from the Eucharist back into the world…with a heart and mind more centered in God’s love. In other words, as the Eucharist cleanses our ‘inside,’ we become better ‘agents’ of God’s Peace on the ‘outside’ of these doors.
Of course we need laws, Commandments, and religious rules to guide us to a more just society and to become more like Jesus. But simply following those rules is not what makes us pure and ready for heaven. Since our ‘inner self’ is always striving to be Christ-like in our thoughts, words, and actions, we always return to the grace of this Holy Sacrament…and, realizing how much we need God’s help, we pray, “Kyrie Eleison, Lord have mercy” on us with your healing love.
TWENTY FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
WATCH THIS HOMILYHOMILY BY FR. JIM DEITERS
This past spring our parish promoted a spiritual book called, “33 Days to Eucharistic Glory,” which 140 adults and 26 teenagers participated in for study and prayer. The book invites the reader to delve more deeply into the great gift of the Eucharist that Jesus gave us and then make a ‘consecration’ to Jesus in the Eucharist at the end of the 33 days of prayer. One of short section is titled, “Those who believe don’t leave.” The point being made is that once a person really believes in the miracle of the Eucharist, they will stay with their Catholic faith, realizing no other religion offers such a unique gift from God. People also ‘stay’ with the Catholic Church for other great reasons such as its stance on justice issues, pro-life, charitable works, liturgy, and its history. But Jesus’ teachings on the Eucharist, which we have been reflecting on for the past four weeks, is central to those of us who have stuck with the Catholic Church, even with its rough history.
When the disciples listened to Jesus talk about eating his Body and Blood they said, “this saying is hard to accept.” One could apply this ‘hard to accept’ statement to many of Jesus’ other teachings as well such as “Love your enemies,” “sell all you have and give to the poor,” and his practice of radical non-violence. Indeed, Jesus’ teachings and his Way are hard to accept, especially living in a secular world of selfishness, violence, and revengeful thinking.
Both today’s Gospel and first reading from Joshua basically tell us that we have to make some difficult choices about what we believe and how we practice those beliefs. In the Joshua passage, the decision-making process we all face is described as sort of a ‘river’ we have to cross and not go back.
Briefly summarized, if you remember, Moses had led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt; before he died, Moses turned things over to Joshua who was the one who actually led the people across the Jordan River into the “promised land.” By the way, this area where Joshua gave this sermon is right in the middle of the Middle East war going on right now. Toward the end of Joshua’s life, he wants to make sure the Israelites are going to stick to their covenant with God and basically asks them, “Are you going to serve the LORD, or go back to the other side of the river and turn to false gods?”
In a sense, Joshua is saying, “if you believe, you won’t leave.” God, Moses, and Joshua had led the people from one side of the river with false gods and slavery…to the other side of the Jordan that represented a new life of freedom centered in the one, true God. This was the first mono-theistic religion being formed. But often times, we humans look back…to the former side of the river where we once were… with false gods that give us temporary pleasure …and fantasize that maybe it was better. We waffle… in truth, commitment, and really believing… that the Holy Spirit is always leading us to new places and opportunities for growing in love…and closer to God.
This is exactly what Jesus is getting at by saying such bold things as consuming his Body and Blood are essential for “remaining in him” and gaining “eternal life.” When many of his followers thought about the sacrifices it would take to go ‘all in’ and believe this teaching on the Eucharist and follow Jesus’ Way of selflessness…sadly they turned away…and it says, “they went back to their former way of life and no longer accompanied Jesus.” On Jesus’ side of the river bank are indeed some difficult teachings to accept. And yet, once you acknowledge and believe that Jesus is the “Holy One of God” - that His Way and Teachings are truly what we were made for, then you can’t go back…to the other side. Every word from Jesus’ mouth IS the truth…including that this bread and wine change into his Body and Blood; including that caring for the poor and stranger are required to get into heaven; including that dying to self is the way to being a saint. In scriptural language, Jesus IS the “land of milk and honey” that humans have been seeking since time began.
But, many Christians try to have their feet on both sides of the river. We want to cross over and believe…but we get one foot stuck…thinking my own ways, my own truth, and my own rights give me a sense of security. The Good News…is that Jesus will forever have his hand out to us…waiting for us take it and be secure on his ‘side.’ And once we come to His side of the stream and admit how much we need his truth, we humbly stand with St. Peter and say, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
The fact that we are HERE today…is a sign that we are tired of the ‘other side’ and our “former way of life.” As we ask for the Holy Spirit to increase our faith and stay with Jesus, we also ask for the Spirit’s gift of courage…to keep inviting those who went back to the other river bank…to come and know the peace and joy we have found in Jesus and his Holy Eucharist.
TWENTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
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HOMILY BY FR. JIM DEITERS
Words matter. What we say and how we say words, matter. While growing up with seven siblings that included our share of arguing and wrestling matches, our parents insisted on words of kindness, love, and encouragement. The words we speak and listen to…form and affect our whole being…and who we become. This is why verbally abusive relationships are so damaging. God only speaks words of love and creativity…as we know that God himself brought Creation into existence with powerful words like “Let there be light, the seas, and living creatures…and God saw it to be very good.”
Our whole Judeo-Christian religion is based on how and what God spoke…from his speaking Creation into existence… to words spoken to Moses and Abraham, to his own very Word becoming a human in the Person of Jesus Christ. Since Jesus IS God’s Word in human flesh, we must forever let Jesus’ Words impact our own words and life choices. Those who sow words of hate, violence, and revenge cannot be of Christ since such things never came from his mouth.
Interestingly, when we listen closely to the unique words in today’s scriptures, both this Proverbs passage and the Gospel speak about unique kinds of ‘food’ with which God wants to feed us. Proverbs paints a poetic image of God as a kind of chef, preparing meat and mixing wine. But did you notice the main ingredient mixed into the menu? Understanding. How beautiful that God says he wants us to come and eat… to “advance in the way of understanding.” Imagine the impact in our relationships when we let God feed our heart and mind with the Spirit’s gift of understanding!
The scriptures continually give us images of God ‘feeding’ us with the gifts of the Spirit that our body and soul really need. Jesus continues this tradition of feeding, but drastically changes up the ingredients by putting his very Self INTO the bread and wine and says, “whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.”
We have been studying this sixth chapter of John’s Gospel for four weeks now, and in this section, which I am calling lesson # 4, Jesus ‘doubles down’ and uses strong ‘words’ to teach that what we consume here IS his Body and Blood. This teaching of Jesus is so central to our Catholic faith that we call the Eucharist the “Source and Summit” of who we are. Meaning, the Eucharist is the SOURCE of our strength, hope and love, while it is also the SUMMIT toward which we climb back to time and again to be fed by God with his very Spirit of Love.
But like the people in the Gospel story, our logical, scientific minds want empirical ‘proof’ of how something that looks and tastes like bread and wine, could actually be something else – Jesus Body and Blood. We have to come back to the power of God’s Word, and that when God speaks, he can bring things into existence that were not there before…like God did in creating the universe. This is why the part of the Mass called the Eucharistic Prayer is so powerful, led by the priest representing Christ at the Altar. Most of the words being spoken in that prayer are actually Jesus praying to the Father on our behalf. And when Jesus himself says, “This is my Body…this is my Blood,” His very WORDS have the power to change the substance of what we are looking at and eating.
Now, this is where FAITH comes in – truly believing that Jesus’ WORDS can do such a miracle…right here in front of us. Since God can do such miraculous things like ‘speak’ new complex galaxies into existence each day, why would God NOT use his Word to change bread and wine into his Body and Blood for us to eat and become like Jesus? In other words, while our prideful mind want to cling to its need to decide if God really has the power to do miracles beyond our imagining, the Holy Spirit wants to give us a humble FAITH…to simply kneel and be in awe of the miracle God wants to do right here in front of us. Simply put, GOD says words…that bring Jesus right here into our midst.
We have to continue to help our children and grandchildren know and believe in this very unique part of our Catholic faith, that in the Mass we receive Jesus’ Body and Blood that gives us eternal life. Otherwise our young people will foolishly spend their life seeking other kinds of bread that leaves them feeling empty.
On a more personal level, think about how beautiful it is…that God “spoke” you into existence the moment you were conceived in your mother’s womb. Today in these scriptures, God’s speaks this personal message to each of us, “Come, eat, and advance in the way of understanding; for when you eat my Body and drink my Blood, you remain in me and I in you.” Stay with this image…of GOD remaining in YOU.
Watching some of the Olympics has been so inspiring. As one spectator said in an interview, “it’s not so much about who wins, but seeing the incredible potential of what the human body is capable of.” The other part of what makes the Olympics special to me is the coming together of people from so many nations. Even though they are competing against each other, it is beautiful to see the athletes of different countries hugging each other after the event, role models for good sportsmanship for our youth. It is amazing to hear these athletes talk about their years of training and the strict discipline of their exercise and diet.
On this feast of St. Clare of Assisi, our patroness, one can marvel at her own self-discipline, with an incredible dedication to her ‘exercise’ of hourly prayer and simple diet of water, bread, and vegetables…a regiment she found to help her stay close to Jesus’ own life of simplicity. Clare was a version of an Olympian athlete, as her 40 years of training in prayer and simple lifestyle… led her to a ‘gold medal’ intimate friendship with Jesus.
The athletes of the Olympics and the famous ‘spiritual olympians’ of our Catholic faith both remind of the incredible potential of our human nature and what our bodies and minds are able to accomplish if we stay focused on a clear goal. Most of the time we are not clear on our life goals…and sort of ‘let’ life happen to us.
Jesus came to earth as the Son of God with a clear goal of saving the human race…and teaching us humans the best way to live a happy, blessed life of our fullest potential. The problem is that most people, including many of us Christians have not been fully convinced that Jesus’ Way of selfless love, forgiveness, justice, and care for the poor IS THE Way to live out our fullest potential for a most blessed life. It is so difficult to stay committed to a ‘regiment’ of this Gospel of Life and Love in all of our words and actions on a daily basis…and too easily give in to what ‘feels good’ at the moment. And yet, no one gets a medal for that.
Of course, the ‘gold’ we are striving for is the Blessed Life of Heaven, even though this world offers us many fake medals that tempt us to seek other forms of ‘success’ to get approval from others. So how DO we stay disciplined in the Way of Jesus, and keep our eyes on the finish line of Paradise with God?
Precisely by the gift and ‘superfood’ that Jesus is talking about in this 6th Chapter of John’s Gospel. In the past two Sunday’s Gospels, I preached on Jesus’ first two lessons on the Eucharist from this chapter; and in this next section today, Jesus’ lesson #3 is about how this “Bread from Heaven” allows us to “live forever.”
As people spend billions of dollars a year on things they are told will help them live longer, we Catholics have not done a very good job of ‘marketing’ this miraculous ‘product’ that Jesus gave us so that we can “live forever!” Imagine… you arrived here today for various reasons…but did you know or remember that what you are about to eat will allow you to “live forever” with God in heaven? These words are straight from the mouth of Jesus, our spiritual ‘coach’ to achieve our fullest potential and our goal of heaven.
When is the last time we told someone else about this miraculous “bread from heaven” that helps us ‘reach’ Eternal Life with God, the ultimate goal the human soul is searching for?
While accepting our physical limitations at times, we often underestimate our potential to BE a fully alive human: created by God, to live like God’s Son Jesus, and return to God to live with him forever.
Jesus wants to feed us with himself as Bread from Heaven…in order that we can attain these virtues that St. Paul speaks about in our second reading today when he teaches us to “remove all anger, bitterness, and malice…and to be kind to one another, compassionate and forgiving.” With God’s grace in the Eucharist, it is really possible to be as kind, compassionate, and forgiving as Jesus.
Since Jesus is the ‘gold standard’ for living as a human, we must always keep it a goal to become like Him in all things and forever strive toward our goal of heaven with him. We must never underestimate our potential to become like Jesus …especially since we are blessed to consume into our bodies the “spiritual superfood diet” of Jesus own Body and Blood.
In prayer this week, ask the Holy Spirit to help you reexamine what are your real life goals. May this “bread from Heaven” help us reclaim our potential to be like Jesus, make the sacrifices it takes to stay committed, and be filled with JOY over the real gold Jesus has won for us…to live with God forever.
EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
HOMILY BY FR. JIM DEITERS
I find it interesting how often people like to talk about their new ‘diet’ plan, either assigned by their doctor or convinced by something they read that will improve their health and weight. It is definitely important to learn and follow through with the right foods that are best for our body…which God created to be a holy temple of his Spirit of Love. Which is why I find it doubly interesting that from our first reading today, the diet God chose to give the grumbling Israelites in the desert consisted of two things: “quail” and “hoarfrost.”
Well, at first it ‘looked’ like basic frost…similar to what we find when the combination of dew and a cold chill create a white covering on our plants. But, in reality, God had sent down these tiny white “flakes” of bread which the Israelites called “manna.” From the Garden of Eden… to manna-frost in the desert…and fish from Galilee, God talks a lot about food. Mostly, because God created in us…a HUNGER…that gives us pleasure when we satiate it with good, healthy things.
Last week, the scriptures switched from Mark’s Gospel to John’s, as the Church inserts five Sundays, five teachings that are focused on the Eucharist in this 6th chapter of John. Last Sunday, we reflected on the Eucharist as ‘abundance’ and what to do with all the ‘extras’ that God gives us. In this section of John, Jesus’ second lesson is this: the Eucharist IS “bread from heaven…given to us from God…for life.” Let’s delve deeper into this lesson.
The crowd came to Jesus asking for some “sign” of his power, like the sign God gave through the manna-hoarfrost in the desert. We have to remember, that many people in the First Century believed in various ‘gods’ who would do things for you if you made sacrifices to them. If you just did the right thing for the ‘gods’, they would give you ‘stuff,’ like a good harvest, a child, or other forms of prosperity- “signs” that your god must like you. The challenge of our human condition, even today, is that we also want a ‘god’ to give us “stuff.” We live on the surface…and want surface things to make us feel good temporarily. We become anesthetized and numb to what our heart really longs for…and so we develop addictions to temporary pleasures…or ‘bread’ we think will satisfy our senses. Jesus comes along and teaches about Himself as the “true bread” that satisfies the deeper longings of our heart.
What is so powerful about the Eucharist, the “true bread from heaven,” is that it is so simple. A little piece of what still looks and tastes like bread…becomes a new kind of ‘bread’ that is from God. Just like the Israelites first thought the manna-bread just looked like morning frost, many will challenge us to think what we eat here is just basic bread since that it what it looks like. Just like God used the appearance of frost to become manna to eat, Jesus uses what simply looks like a bread wafer to become a whole new kind of “bread… of God.” In the next three weeks, we will hear more details about this heavenly bread in this John section… as Jesus clarifies that this ‘bread’ …is his own Body and Blood.
Mother Church connects Jesus' teachings on his ‘bread from God” with the Exodus version of it to help us see how God wants to satisfy our hungry desires…and give us a new ‘diet’. We know the story: the Israelites arrive in the desert to begin the exodus-journey to a new life…but they complain about how difficult this new life is. They even ask to go back to their life of slavery…since at least ‘there’ they had full bellies. This is us…as we know this ‘map’ from personal experience! We WANT to be freed from our enslavements…to food, alcohol, pornography, or other addictive selfish behaviors; but going through the desert to get there is difficult. It is hard to adjust to a new way of living after we walk away from our old ways…as our bodies want to go back…to the pleasures we knew. What Jesus focuses on in this short passage is how THIS bread from God gives us a “new life” …a new freedom from what we thought our bodies needed. Jesus is always leading us to new beginnings.
God knows our addictive, complaining behaviors and wants to free us and feed us with his very SELF…and be transfigured to a new life in Jesus. While we falsely think that our old self-centered ways are satisfying, Jesus promises a new freedom when we let this saving bread from heaven inebriate us differently…with his love!
What is our lesson on the Eucharist from this second week of John’s Gospel? The Body and Blood of Jesus is “true bread” from God, to help us leave behind our old ways of living and thinking. The Eucharist moves us from self-centeredness and a focus on MY needs…to an intimate relationship with God and active concern for the needs of others. Jesus gives us a new ‘diet’ of his very Self. And so we pray with those first disciples, “Sir, Jesus, give us this kind of bread always.”
SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
FR. JIM DEITERS
Some of our parishioners and I experienced many powerful moments through participating in the Eucharistic Congress last week. To be in the sports stadium with 55,000 Catholics for Eucharistic Adoration and Mass was truly a Holy Moment. One of the highlights for me was the privilege of helping distribute Holy Communion at Mass, and you can imagine the organizing that took for such a large crowd. Led by well-trained seminarians, each of the 1000 priests was led to different parts of the stadium, and I was escorted to the one of the highest levels of seating. When I finished with my two sections close to the roof, I saw one of the other escorts waving to me to bring them Communion as well. Fortunately, I had plenty of consecrated hosts still in my paten and went to her area. I had tears in my eyes when I got there and saw that this was the section for the elderly and those with disabilities. Here they were, Christ’s flock… in wheelchairs and walkers, all with their hands extended in hunger for this Bread from Heaven.
When I think of the vast crowd that came to Jesus 2000 years ago on that mountainside, it is safe to assume that the majority of the people that day in Galilee had various kinds of sickness and hardships, similar to our own inner poverty, sinful habits, and physical limitations that we bring to Jesus here at every Mass.
The bible is filled with stories of hunger. We humans became hungry in the Garden of Eden, hungry through the desert with Moses, hungry on the hillside with Jesus, and hungry for God around the Altar we are today. Each time the story’s plot is similar: we admit our need for God…and he feeds us with grace, mercy, and food. But we discover in both our first reading and Gospel, there is a ‘third act’ in the God-human drama, which is…what to do with the leftovers.
In both the Book of Kings passage and John’s Gospel multiplication miracle, each narrative has a mysterious ending… with details about leftovers after the meal. It is a small, but very important detail that the authors want us to notice and figure out why they tell us this feature about leftovers.
The two authors definitely want us to think about the ‘extras’ and ‘leftovers’ in our own life that we often misuse, or think are ours to keep. Of course, it is GOD who gives us all we have and feeds us with more than enough. We all have so much abundance in our life…but often fail to ‘gather it up’ and make sure it is used for some good purpose that God has in mind. Sure, God wants us to use our ‘resources’ to meet our own basic, human needs…such as food and shelter; but the number of ‘barley loaves’ that God gives to each of us…is way beyond what we need for ourselves.
In this sense, the phrase “leftovers” is a very holy concept…that gets us to think about what our basic needs are…and what we have ‘left’ to share with others in God’s Pasture. From a Catholic “Stewardship” perspective, every single thing we have belongs to God. He gives us more than plenty…and with gratitude for our blessings, we have to choose how we will “distribute” and give away all that is beyond our basic needs. Because in reality, we really “need” very little. Here is the point: we confuse our ‘needs’ with our “wants.” Everything around us keeps telling us to ‘want’ more…and thus we THINK that we ‘need’ those things…so we just keep trying to consume as many ‘barley loaves’ as possible. This of course leads to gluttony, excessive materialism, addictions, and a bunch of ‘stuff’ …that creates a sad kind of ‘starvation’…even though we are full.
The ‘leftovers’ highlighted in both of these scripture miracles beckons us to review our list of needs and our insatiable list of wants. This is not just about our material surplus, but reviewing how we use the sacred TIME and talents that God has given to us. After attending to our basic needs, we each have baskets of abundance that have overflowed into our life from God… that are “holy leftovers” to give to God, the Church, the poor, and so many other versions of hungry people in our world. In other words, what am I doing with the short life God has given to me?
It was no coincidence at the Mass in the stadium that my paten had loads of extra hosts…definitely meant to be taken to that extra section of God’s hungry flock. Here in the Eucharist, God pours an overflowing measure of grace into your heart and soul. The Holy Spirit joyfully asks each of us: what are you going to do with it all?