Sunday, August 8, 2021

 Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

(I Kings 19:4-8, Ephesians 4:30-5: 2; John 6:41-51)

We think we know Jesus Christ. We say that he was born in the town of Bethlehem near Jerusalem. We tell that he lived about thirty-three years before he was executed on a cross. We also say that his mother was named Mary, his putative father was Joseph, and that John the Baptist was his cousin. We know these and dozens of other facts about his life.

But is it true that we know him? Or are we really like the Jews in the gospel today who don't know Jesus any more than they know Abraham Lincoln? If we do not realize that Jesus is the son of God who took our flesh to give us his kinship, we do not know him. Likewise, if we do not recognize that he gives us his own flesh to feed us on the way to God the Father, we do not know him.

Somewhat like milk making strong bones, the flesh of Christ forms us into loving persons. It is not enough that we refrain from vices of brutality, anger, and outrage to be incorporated into the family of God. As the second reading indicates, we have to develop charitable virtues. To be true children of God, we need generosity, understanding, and the willingness to forgive. These qualities flow from the Eucharist like water in a fountain.

The first reading presents a glimpse of the Eucharist. Elias can't go on. He is so exhausted that he wants to die. Then an angel comes with a bread and water. By taking them and sleeping for a while, Elijah can finish his way to meet the Lord on Mount Horeb. As the bread that the angel brought gave him the strength to fulfill his journey to God, so the Eucharist provides us with the grace to love others in fulfillment of God’s commandments.

Today Dominicans are commemorating 800 years since the death of their founder Saint Dominic. There is a story about Dominic that helps us understand the Eucharist as it is explained today at Mass. The saint was on a journey across the Alps with a young friar named John. Like the poor in those days, they were both traveling on foot. After several hours the young man told Saint Dominic that he could no longer continue. Despite the encouragement the saint offered him, the young man said that he was completely exhausted. Because Dominic had no bread to offer him, he began to pray. Then he told John that if he would advance a few meters ahead, he would find something of value. He did and found the whitest bread he had ever seen. As viaticum bread strengthens the dying to reach God in heaven, so the white bread friar John found gave him the means to complete the journey.

If we secure our place in heaven with good works, the Eucharist makes it possible for us to do them. You parents, do you want to be more understanding and helpful to your children? Prepare to receive Holy Communion at Mass by remembering how Jesus did not allow children to be stopped from coming to him. You married couples, do you want to be more patient and encouraging with your spouses? Receive the host and consider how Jesus gave the Samaritan woman time to reconsider her life. You young people, do you want to be less anxious and more confident about the future? Then when you take the host, ask the Lord to help you make priorities that conform to His Kingdom.

Two years ago a research center reported that almost 70 percent of Catholics no longer believe that the Eucharist is really the body of Christ. As much as it is correct, this statistic is tragic. It is as if seventy percent of the birds have forgotten how to fly or seventy percent of the policemen will no longer look for criminals. The Eucharist promises us eternal life because Jesus Christ is present at its core. Without Jesus we are scattered like leaves blown by the wind. With Jesus we are directed to our paternal home.