Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
(Joshua 24:1-2.15-17.18; Ephesians 5:21-32;
John 6:55.60-69)
In an episode of "The Simpsons," brash Bart says
grace at family dinner. He prays, "Dear God, we paid for all these things
ourselves, so thank you for nothing!" The ingrate does not want to
recognize God as the source of any good as long as it can be accounted for in
other ways. Is it so with us? Do we credit God only the benefits whose origins
we cannot explain? Or do we believe that God is in the middle of everything we
do bringing them to a satisfactory end?
In the first reading the Israelites realize that it has been
the hand of God that has got them where they are. Although they have never seen
God leading them out of Egypt or facilitating their occupation of the Promised
Land, they believe that He was responsible for these unexpected achievements.
They intuitively know that it would never have been possible for them to stick
together, much less see Pharaoh's army drown in the sea, if God had not accompanied
them. Certainly Joshua, their leader, does not doubt that this is the case. He
declares in front of everyone: "'As for me and my family, we will serve
the Lord.'"
Now we should ask ourselves about something similar. Since
the gospel refers to the presence of Christ in the Eucharist, we have to ask if
we believe it. Also, do we believe that Mass brings us closer to God and will
eventually allow us to enter eternal life? Or would it be better for us to
spend an extra hour of rest on Sunday or maybe watch a movie about Jesus?
Each one has to answer these questions for himself. I
believe that most of us will answer that "yes" Christ is present in the host and
that it is beneficial for us to receive him at mass. We say this because, like
the disciples in the gospel, we know that he has "words of eternal
life." In his autobiography the great Hindu leader Mahatma Gandhi describes
how he came to know Christ from his words of wisdom.
Gandhi tells how he disliked the first Christians he had met
in India. He saw Christian missionaries there making fun of the Hindu religion
and insisting that converts eat meat, a disgusting thing for the most devout
Hindus. However, later, when he was studying in London, he met a vegetarian
Christian. The man implored him to read the gospel. When he did - he says - the
Sermon on the Mount touched his heart. Gandhi never accepted Christ as we do, but
he recognized him as the supreme teacher for his lessons on love. Like us,
Gandhi could see that Jesus practiced what he preached when he died on the
cross.
The second reading asks for such love from you husbands.
"So husbands should love their wives ..." This love makes you give of
yourselves for the good of your wife, even when it costs you much to do so.
Last year it was reported that an old man confined himself to a nursing home
during the Covid lockdown. His motive was to give his wife with Alzheimer's already
restricted to the home the care she needed. His love certainly answers the call made in the Letter to the Ephesians.
This is the last Sunday this year that we reflect on the
Eucharistic discourse of the John’s Gospel. But it is hardly the last time that
we are going to touch the subject. For the Eucharist is "the source and
the summit of our Christian life." It is the source because it presents
afresh Jesus’ sacrifice of himself for our sins. It is the summit because in it we encounter
Christ whom we hope to meet at the end of time to raise us from the dead. Consuming
the Eucharist, we become more like him.
We become more kind and more loving, more willing to give of ourselves
for the good of others.
