Twenty-second Sunday - 2024

Many of us spend so much time shining the outside of our cup - ensuring what we project to those around us is life in order. The important thing is what is inside of us - where is our heart? What is the state of our soul? Are we truly “clean” on the inside?  The Word Among Us had a nice perspective. "Sometimes we need cleaning up on the inside as well. We may exert all our energy in doing godly things, but we do them with the wrong attitude or disposition. For example, you might be serving the poor at a homeless shelter, but in your heart, you are judging how some of the people there got to such a low point. Or maybe you are attending daily Mass, but instead of listening to the readings, you find yourself criticizing the way the lector speaks. You don’t mean for these thoughts to rise up in you, but they sneak in anyway!”  Pope Francis has this wisdom for us to consider. "You Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. It is a concept, that Jesus “repeated many times in the Gospel”, offering certain people a clear warning: “Your interior is bad, it is not just, it is not free. You are slaves because you have not accepted the justice that comes from God”, which is the justice that Jesus gave us. It is an interior freedom, which leads to doing “good in secret, without sounding the trumpet”: indeed, “the way of true religion is the same way of Jesus: humility, humiliation”. And as Paul says to the Philippians, Jesus humiliates himself, empties himself. And, this is the only way to take selfishness, greed, arrogance, vanity and worldliness, away from us. Faced with this example we find instead the attitude of those whom Jesus reproaches: “people who follow the religion of makeup: the appearance, to appear, pretending to seem” a certain way “while inside...”. (…) Let us ask the Lord that we never tire of going down that path; that we never tire of rejecting this religion of appearances, this religion of seeming, of pretending.... We must instead be committed to proceed “quietly, doing good”, and doing so “freely as we have freely received our interior freedom”. May He guard this inner freedom for all of us. Let us ask for this grace.”  (Santa Marta, 11 October 2016)      By Dave Weber

Twenty-first Sunday - 2024

As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. Jesus then said to the Twelve, "Do you also wish to leave?" Simon Peter answered him, "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God." John 6:66-71                       Today’s gospel text brings to a close our reflection on chapter six of John’s gospel, which has been our focus these past five Sundays - and it ends in a serious crisis. “Many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.” Things started out wonderfully when Jesus feed the large crowd with only five loaves and two fish. When the people saw this, they identified Jesus as the prophet all Israel was waiting for. They were going to make him their king. But Jesus avoided this and left them. The next day Jesus rejoins the crowd who are still looking for him, but now everything is about to change. Jesus tells them that he has come to feed them with the bread of life – they all acclaim, give us this bread. Jesus then announces that he is the bread come down from heaven – the bread he has come to give his flesh to eat. “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him”. To the Jewish ears there could not be a more repugnant idea – eating human flesh – disgusting, totally pagan and evil. The crisis is struck, and many walk away.  What is striking here is that Jesus does not try to soften his language – explaining “Transubstantiation” – it will still look and taste like real bread. Jesus in no way wants anyone to think of the “Communion Bread” as merely a symbolic recalling of the Last Supper. The Eucharist is Jesus’ flesh and blood. What are we to make of “Many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him” in today’s experience? Even though we see the Eucharist still in the form of bread and wine, many people have a problem connecting it to Jesus’ truth flesh and blood. And if all it is is a symbol, why is coming to Mass and receiving Communion all that important?  So many no longer come to this table. Each year at this time the liturgy takes us back to this chapter six of John’s gospel and it does this so that we can examine our position on this profoundly important question regarding the Eucharist. When I take this Eucharist into my hands and then eat it, what am I thinking? Is my body and Jesus body now becoming one - a true and mystical "Union"? We are living in a time of crisis in the Church - a crisis of faith. What will get us through this crisis?  "The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life. Butthere are some of you who do not believe." "For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father." Faith is after all a work of grace. There is a plan to be sure, and when it is revealed the Eucharist will be at the centre of it.

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Twentieth Sunday - 2024

REASONS WHY ONE ATTENDS MASS

1. To Encounter Jesus - His Real Presence - Source of Faith - Giver of life -Answer to Prayer

On a personal level, the motivation that draws one to attend Mass is rooted in a true ... personal ... connection with Jesus and his gift of Grace. One goes to Mass because they are certain that Jesus is present. They go to meet him, to take their place at the Heavenly Banquet, to sit at his table to listen to his voice speaking to their hearts, and to nourish and renew their spirit by partaking of the One Bread and the One Cup from his table.

All of this is cloaked in liturgical forms, rituals that are meant to support the expectations of faith one brings to the Mass. These liturgical forms bear a serious burden of  responsibility to clearly and faithfully point to the realities hidden within their forms.

2. To hear the Voice of God - Seeding the heart with true Wisdom

In the General Instruction of the Roman Missal we read "When the Sacred Scriptures are read in the Church, God himself speaks to his people, and Christ, present in his word, proclaims the Gospel." #29 General Instruction of the Roman Missal.  

This is not bible study, it is the "act of listening". Think of the times, in communication with another, you would have to say: "That is not what I meant. Listen carefully to my every word, to what I am saying." Words are instruments, like a brush in a painter's hand, forming a picture, so that we can see what he sees. The more you gaze upon it, the more you see. Listening is contemplation with the eyes/ears of the heart. Movement of the heart becomes the measure of understanding.

The homily that follows is not a sermon reciting lists of codes of conduct. The homily is a fellow contemplative's take on the message revealed in the words - understanding that has been mined after much contemplation. "Now here is what I see ..." Clearly, those who minister in the liturgy of the word must be true contemplatives.

3. To be Nourished in Spirit - The Eucharist ... the Bread of Life.

I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” Jo. 6:51

Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. vs. 53

 “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” … Then many of his disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” … As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. … Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?”

All life must receive nourishment if its life is to survive. Cut off from its source of nourishment, it will surely parish. True faith is not just a bunch of ideas, it is something living, growing, maturing - something that bears fruit as it lives. In nature, the relationship between that which lives and its source of nourishment is called nutrient assimilation. In the spiritual life it is called Communion.

Jesus answered the question, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” at the Last Supper. Jesus takes the bread and cup, which are natural instruments of nourishment that we understand, and transforms them into an instrument of Communion, to nourish the Life of the Spirit he has placed within our spirits. With the eyes of the flesh we see natural food and drink. But with the eyes of faith we see Jesus nourishing this new life he has given us. Nowhere else can we find such a Communion than here in the Eucharist.

How ironic are Jesus words, “Do you also want to leave?” as people withdraw from the "Table" and leave the church, not to return. Our answer is that of Peter's,  “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.” Jo. 68-69

4. To Become - One Body - Corporate Unity - Become the Body of Christ

 For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. 1 Cor. 12:12

For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. Rom. 12:4

We do not go to church for ourselves alone. This may sound odd to this age that asks, "... what is there in it for me?" Jesus tells Peter, "I will build my Church." We go to church because we have been called there. We are one of the many building blocks that Jesus uses to build his Church. Each one has a vocation given them by Christ. We have our part to play in God's plan for the world. In a way we go, not to get but to give ourselves up as Christ gave himself up to the work of salvation. "It is no longer I who live, but Christ living within me"

For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. Rom. 12:4

Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. 2Cor 5:5

My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Gal 2:20

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Cor. 5:17

Spend some time in prayer with these points meant for your prayer time.

Nineteenth Sunday of the Year - 2024

Each year in mid summer for five consecutive Sundays the gospel passage is taken from chapter 6 of John's gospel where we focus on the mystery of Jesus as the Bread of Life. If there is one thing we may be certain of it is the absolute necessity of food for life. No bread no life. We also understand the way food works in our body – we ingest the bread, then it is changed and absorbed into our bodies – this is known as metabolism – and the bread become us. We also know that in the spiritual world we cannot of our own effort rise up into heaven and see God – to discover who God really is. But God wants us to know him, so God chose to come to us – to take on a body the same as ours, so that we could see Him, listen to Him, learn all about Him. Yet God wanted even more than that – God wanted to have a deep, personal, loving union with us – an intimate communion with him – person to person. So God became flesh and dwells among us in Jesus. Now in Jesus this union with God can take place. St. John of the Cross, a profound mystic and teacher of the spiritual life, describes this total union with Jesus in a poem; the title of the poem is The Dark Night. In his poem John describe how in secret he steels away in the night from his compound to go and rendezvous with his beloved waiting his coming – the lover and his beloved unite. The poem reads; Upon a darkened night The flame of love was burning in my breast And by a lantern bright I fled my house while all in quiet rest Shrouded by the night And by the secret stair I quickly fled The veil concealed my eyes While all within lay quiet as the dead Oh night thou was my guide Oh night more loving than the rising sun Oh night that joined the lover To the beloved one Transforming each of them into the other But how was this communion of God and man to be seen so that everyone could understand it and experience it? Jesus chose a perfect way. Jesus gives us a simple sign, one we all know very well – bread – food and body and life; a common sign but now to become a sign of a profound mystery. Jesus transforms bread into His body so that when we consume this bread the two of us become one body – Jesus in me and I in Jesus (Transforming each of us into the other) In the Offertory of the Mass as the the priest is preparing to offer the bread and wine he says prayers which we may not be familiar with because he says them quietly. He pours wine into the chalice, then he takes the cruet of water and pours a few drops into the wine in the chalice quietly saying this prayer: " By the mystery of this water and wine may we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity." As this drop of water descends into the wine it is no longer water, it has become wine. So when we receive Holy communion our soul, like the drop of water is absorbed  into union with Christ. Now we say with St. Paul, "It is no longer I who lives but Christ who lives in me." (Gal. 2:20) Once when I brought communion to someone in the Villa and as she received the host into her mouth she exclaimed. “Oh how beautifully sweet this communion is in my mouth, Jesus I love you.” It is Jesus who causes this communion of persons to happen, we have only one part to play – to come with the eyes of faith to see, to see through the dark night, to see our lover. As we will hear in the gospel readings for the next couple of Sundays people complained about what Jesus was offering them. Faith had not yet come to them. And in our day as well so many no longer are coming to this table to eat the Bread of Union with God because of the same lack of faith – a dark night is overtaking many these days. But thank God, like John of the Cross, with the eyes of faith we will see through the dark night of doubt and will come to this table and see he who is our lover – and here each of us will become the other.

Link to Audio Version of the 

Dark Night

Eighteenth Sunday - 2024

 When Jesus provided bread to feed the multitude, they expected that their struggle to acquire their daily bread was over. Now their life was secure. Never again would they have to face hunger, for Jesus would feed them.

It is easy to see how people would be drawn to Jesus. Here is someone who is able to secure life itself, proof positive that he is truly a man of God, a prophet like the great prophets of old, the one God had promised to send.

But now confusion is about to set in. Jesus is missing. Where is he? Finding him on the "other side", (note the significance), does not seem to help for his message has changed, he seems to be distancing himself from "the provider of bread". "On the other side you welcomed us, sat us down and fed us. Now on this side you tells not to work for this life's bread. We are confused."  

Food that perishes

We are alive because we eat the bread that grows up out of this earth. But the life it gives will soon perish. Jesus tells us that there is a bread that comes down to this earth from heaven. This bread gives eternal life.

Food that endures for eternal life

The people now try to regain the other Jesus, the one who provides this world's bread, the one with whom they could identify. At this point Jesus makes a startling claim, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst”. What is he saying? Are we to eat Jesus?  

We understand the process of the metabolism of food. We ingest the wheat in the form of bread, then our bodies use its components to make new components, compatible with our bodies. (In metabolism some substances are broken down to yield energy for vital processes while other substances, necessary for life, are synthesized - definition) 

In "Communion" There are two mysteries taking place. Firstly, the substance that is bread is changed into the substance of Jesus' glorified bodily presence. Secondly, in the act of "Communion", the communicant's substantial form co-mingles with that of Jesus, in a profoundly intimate way . Remember, the glorified Jesus is now freed from the constraints of natural world as we know them. Eternal life is a radically new form of life.

Communion in Jesus is the summit of every possible meaning we give to to what is intimate. Jesus uses our experiences of things that are intimate to help us get a rough idea of what the intimacy of "Communion" in him really is. 

In the celebration of the Eucharist, at the offertory, the priest lifts up the bread brought to altar for consecration saying: "Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation, for through your goodness we have received the bread we offer you: fruit of the earth and work of human hands, it will become for us the bread of life."
Then a few drops of water are mingled into the chalice of wine with these words; "By the mystery of this water and wine may we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity."

These drops of water sink into the wine until they too become wine. In the act of taking Communion, our being sinks into the being that is Jesus, and we share in the very divinity that is Jesus'. This is the COMMUNION that is the experience of the faithful sharing in the Eucharist - what we mean by the Communion of Saints.

The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a “Communion” in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a “Communion” in the body of Christ? Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf. 1 Cor. 10:16,17