Sunday, August 25, 2024

Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

(Joshua 24:1-2, 15-17, 18; Ephesians 5:21-32; John 6:55, 60-69)

The Olympics left us viewers with our mouths agape. How can Simon Byles jump so high? How can the Chinese lift such enormous weights? How can Noah Lyles run so fast? All the athletes demonstrated the triumph of the body over lethargy and mediocrity.

However, in the end the body cannot achieve what is most desirable. After all is said and done, we don’t long for a medal or international fame. No, we human beings desire eternal happiness. It is something spiritual that knows no end. As Jesus says in today’s Gospel: “It is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh is of no avail.” Somehow, we must obtain the Holy Spirit if we are to achieve eternal happiness.

Throughout the “Bread of Life Discourse,” we have heard what we must do to obtain eternal life. Since Jesus, the true Bread from heaven, knows the Father and reveals His will, we must believe in Him and put into practice what He teaches. Does this seem impossible?  Well, it is if we were left solely with our own natural resources. However, because we cannot achieve this through human efforts alone, Jesus has left us His Body and Blood. The Eucharist strengthens us on the journey to eternal life just as steak and milk nourished the athletes’ bodies for the Olympic games.

Jesus wants a definitive response from us to His offer of eternal life. Like Joshua in the first reading, no half-measures. Unfortunately, many today want to follow Jesus only until the path becomes rough. Then, like the murmuring disciples in the Gospel, they turn their backs on Him. They are like children who reject a dime to grab the larger copper penny.

Accepting Jesus means following His teachings, as we have seen in the readings from the Letter to the Ephesians in recent Sundays. His command in today’s reading is particularly relevant. Spouses must love each other wholeheartedly, always considering the other’s well-being. It cannot be denied that the letter teaches that the husband makes the final decision. But this does not mean that the husband is always right and should never submit to his wife’s will. Not at all. The two, as the reading says, are “one flesh.” The husband must always take to heart what his wife says. Sometimes, simply for the sake of variety, the husband will submit to his wife’s judgment.

This matter is crucial in a time that elevates individual well-being above that of the family. For example, in some places, schools can dispense contraceptives without parental consent.  In some places today, so-called “puberty blockers” (hormones that suppress the development of natural sex) can be given without communicating with parents. The vast majority of parents want to do what is best for their children. A wise person once said that the best thing parents can do for their children is to love each other. If we want healthy and wholesome children, parents must love each other with ever greater dedication.

Does it challenge us? Of course, but the strength to do so (it’s worth repeating) comes from Jesus in the Eucharist. It is His own Body and Blood that leads us pass the challenges of the world to eternal life.