19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 11, 2024

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Jesus was the unexpected messenger of good news; He WAS the good news!

John 6:41–51

The Jews murmured about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven,” and they said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”

Jesus answered and said to them, “Stop murmuring among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. It is written in the prophets: ‘They shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.

“I am the bread of life.

“Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. 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.”

Music Meditations

Opening Prayer

Lord, how easy it is to put our hopes in things of this world. You promise us something far more satisfying, far more lasting… Help us to treat transitory things as just that, and help us to hope in that which cannot perish: your goodness and your love.

Companions for the Journey

Homily from Fr. Brendan McGuire 2012:

In today’s gospel, we continue to read from this long passage in John’s Gospel called “The Discourse of the Bread of Life.”
It is one of the largest discourses in John’s Gospel. And we are reading it for several weeks during the summer.

The Evangelist John has multiple layers in which he always writes: There is a meaning and then double meaning;
where there is often a meaning underneath; there is irony and double irony that goes on. Quite frankly, it is a fun gospel to
read because one almost has to decrypt what he is saying.

In today’s gospel reading for example, we have to take note of the triple denial that the would-be disciples or the hearers of Jesus are going through. It is important to break it open just a bit because it is the rich meaning for this gospel today.

The first denial is that the hearers of Jesus are disbelieving or denying that God would speak to them;
they had the Torah;
they had the Prophets
but they did not believe that God would speak to them; that they were not that special; number one.

The second denial is they did not believe that God had anything new to say to them. There was no freshness.
In other words, what was said in the Torah and what was said by the Prophets was it.
That was the message. There was nothing new to be added.
That is the second denial.

The third denial, which is emphasized in today’s gospel, is that if God was to talk to us;
and if he was going to give us something new, it most certainly would not be in the person of Jesus Christ.
And why? Because we know him.
He is too ordinary.
He is from Nazareth.
He is the Son of the carpenter.
We know his mother and his father!
How could it be from him?
How could he “Come down from heaven?”

This is where it starts to really be fun to watch them; fun in the sense that we can see ourselves in this.
If we are really honest, we too have that triple denial. I mean we often do not believe that God would speak to us.
Why would he speak to me? I am just a regular parishioner.
I am married.
I’ve got kids.
Or I am a priest or a child or just ordinary.
God isn’t going to speak to me!

And if God does speak to me, he doesn’t have anything new to say to me; why would God say something new to me?
Don’t we have the scriptures?

We do not even believe that.
As Catholics, we believe that yes the scripture is a preeminent place but we believe God is always talking to us
to every single one of us.
And here is the most important part:
Who is he speaking to us through?
Is Jesus going to speak directly to us?
The answer is yes.
And how does he come to us? He comes to us in the most ordinary voices of those around us.
Just like Jesus came in the most ordinary voice at that time.

Who is that ordinary voice when God is speaking to us? It might be just a stranger who says something kind to us;
or maybe something challenging to us that we have not heard. Or maybe it is from a familiar voice; maybe our spouse, who we often discount as not having anything relevant to say in our lives, right?
Or maybe it is a child and we might think; “What would a child ever know?”
Or maybe it is a parent or a relative or a close friend.
You see God is constantly breaking open and speaking to us through those around us
and he has something fresh to say to us every single day.
If we have ears to listen, we will hear.
If we have faith to believe, we will see how he is operating.

One of the problems we have, and I do not think it is our generation only, but particularly our generation is that
we believe that when God created us, it is a past-tense event. In other words, God created us and he’s done.
You see, that is not Catholic theology at all.
Catholic theology is that yes, God created us in his image
but he is creating us still now. And that creation process is where we come in
because we become co-creators with God primarily of ourselves and then of the world. But we have to cooperate with that.

In the Eastern Church, they have a term for this; it is called the divinization process or a theosis, which means that we become more like God every day that we live. Some cooperate in the opposite way and become less like God.
But we have to cooperate with God’s work in our life to become more like God and
then we become more Christ-like in our daily life.

This is what the letter to the Ephesians was talking about in today’s second reading written in Paul’s name. They are saying “Be very clear; here is how we know we are part of this divinization process and here is how we know we are not.”
It says, if we are part of malice, deceit, divisiveness, we are not from the Holy Spirit.
We are not participating in God’s way in the world. Now think of what we are experiencing in our world today
and all the division; and all the words that divide us; the malice, and deceit that is happening. We have to say
there is a lot of nonparticipation in the divinization process. But then the letter says “If you want to know if you are part of God’s process of purification, of goodness then you will be kind and compassionate and good towards others, forgiving, forgiving towards others as God is forgiving towards you. Be imitators of God.” Wow! This shouldn’t be a surprise but it is for us.
Our role as Christians is allowing God to continue the creation process within us with the Bread of Life we partake in;
that we become more like God as each day goes on. Now I do not know about you but one of the hardest parts about getting older is we think “What’s the point, I’ve done the best I can. I am finishing here.”
No.
The way God works is that we are like an unfinished art work until the last day. If you have ever watched artists at work,
sometimes the final touches to a piece of artwork are the most brilliant of all because they are the ones that add the color and the depth; or that last little bit of sculpture that removes this hard edge. And suddenly, you go “It pops! Oh my gosh that is beautiful!”

That is what you and I are.
We are unfinished art work and until the last stroke; and until the last sort of chip off the block; and until the last smoothing out,
the Lord is not done with us. And we want to co-create with him the beauty and the art that he is creating until our very last breath. Sometimes the last strokes are the most important ones.

So today, as we come to the table to receive the Bread of Life once more, know what we are doing. We are participating in this divinization process that we are becoming more like Christ and our role is to cooperate with it;
it is to be kind;
it is to be gentle;
it is to be compassionate;
and to be forgiving and loving towards all.
That is our process.
That is the exciting process, which stays true until the last breath of our life.
We are still being created by God, a work of art.
Today, we receive the Bread of Life because he is the Bread of Life and he continues his work of art within us.

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today’s session…

Amen, Amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today’s reading and discussion?

Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions or the meditations which follow:

Reflection Questions

  • Does it matter to me what the source of a message about life is?
    If I like or admire a person, am I more likely to hear that person’s message?
  • When we think we know everything there is to know about someone and his/her origins, we can be closed to something he/she might say. Is it harder to hear an important and maybe difficult message from someone who was “one of us” and now is seen in a different light?
    Has my sense of awe ever been blunted by familiarity?
  • Has prejudice ever gotten in the way of my true listening and responding?
    Have I ever resisted hearing a message of truth because of who delivered it?
  • Those that followed Jesus did not really know what he was all about, and were very confused about what was happening in their lives; how easy is it to criticize the crowds that followed Jesus for doing the same thing that I have sometimes done?
    Have I ever felt lost and confused and asked for a sign from God about what to do next?
  • How difficult is it to hear things I do not want to hear, or things that are hard for me to understand?
    What growth am I missing out on if I simply dismiss such messages?
  • Has there been a time when someone’s advice or prophetic words have come back to haunt me?
  • Do I ever sort of require that Jesus prove who He is by doing something magical for me or another?
  • Do we really believe that God understands the real human hungers and needs which we have and does not consider them trivial?
    Is it hard to believe that God has not left us lost and hungering, but is there to nourish us when we need it?
    Do we trust that God knows our deepest needs and will not let us down?
  • What part of life feels strained and testing these days?
    How is God feeding your hunger and fatigue these days?
  • How is Jesus the Bread of Life for us? Is it surprising that people did not, and probably still do not understand the meaning of this phrase?
    What does it mean to eat the Bread of Life and live forever?
  • Do I ever thank Jesus for the gift of Himself in our Eucharist?
  • Have I ever failed to realize that it is God, not others or my own efforts, that has been the source of bountiful things in my life?
  • What do I think it means that I am drawn to Jesus though the Father?
    Do I see God the Father as somehow not connected to Jesus?
  • Do I complain to God a lot, expecting God to mend my life?
  • What are my hungers? Where have I gone to satisfy them and where have those choices led me?
  • Have I ever been the “Bread of Life” for anyone else?
  • Have I ever connected the Sunday Eucharist to the events in this passage from John?
    How does it sustain me throughout the week?

Meditations

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:

“I am the Bread of Life”.

In the gospel of John we hear the words of a Jewish mystic called Jesus. Sometimes, because of his mystical and poetic imagery, it is difficult to discover the real meaning of what He is saying. The crowds also had a difficult time as well, in trying to understand what He was saying. Because we have heard this passage over and over, we tend to think of this as ordinary language, and we never try to unpack what it actually might mean for us. But what, exactly, does it mean to you when Jesus calls himself the Bread of Life? What exactly, is Bread of Life a metaphor for? What things in your life have assumed the importance of “Bread of Life”? Where does the bread of the Eucharist fit in?

Did you notice that Jesus started with the words “I AM”? this is the first of several sayings in the gospel that use that phrase. Now think back to the term YHWH—I Am Who Am, as it refers to God in the Jewish scriptures. In this gospel of John we are made aware of the close identity between YHWH and Jesus himself. Are you taken aback by ths claim of Jesus? Are you more comfortable dwelling on the human Jesus or the divine Jesus? How hard is it to do both? When we are tempted to make Jesus something other than who He is (a provider of necessities or favors, a teacher who tells us what we want to hear, for example—as opposed to a true and sacrificial gift for the life of the world) we might be missing His message. Can I follow Jesus for who He is rather than who I want Him to be?

A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Relationship:

Read the following excerpts from Psalm 34, then write your own psalm, addressing it to Jesus (I will bless you Lord at all times). Add any other phrases or words that come from your heart:

2 I will bless the LORD at all times; praise of him is always in my mouth.
3 In the LORD my soul shall make its boast; the humble shall hear and be glad.
4 Glorify the LORD with me; together let us praise his name.
5 I sought the LORD, and he answered me; from all my terrors he set me free.
6 Look towards him and be radiant; let your faces not be abashed.
7 This lowly one called; the LORD heard, and rescued him from all his distress.
8 The angel of the LORD is encamped around those who fear him, to rescue them.
9 Taste and see that the LORD is good. Blessed the man who seeks refuge in him.
A Meditation in the Franciscan Style/Action:

Reread this passage from Father Brendan’s homily and examine your life to see where, in at least one small way this week, you can become more Christ-like:

So today, as we come to the table to receive the Bread of Life once more, know what we are doing. We are participating in this divinization process that we are becoming more like Christ and our role is to cooperate with it;
it is to be kind;
it is to be gentle;
it is to be compassionate;
and to be forgiving and loving towards all.
That is our process.
That is the exciting process, which stays true until the last breath of our life.
We are still being created by God, a work of art.
Today, we receive the Bread of Life because he is the Bread of Life and he continues his work of art within us.

Poetic Reflection:

In this poem, Mary Oliver captures the connection between Jesus as the Bread of Life, and the Jesus we experience in the Eucharist:

“The Vast Ocean Begins Just Outside Our Church: The Eucharist”

Something has happened
To the bread
And the wine.

They have been blessed.
What now?
The body leans forward

To receive the gift
From the priest’s hand,
Then the chalice.

They are something else now
From what they were
Before this began.

I want
To see Jesus,
Maybe in the clouds

Or on the shore,
Just walking,
Beautiful man

And clearly
Someone else
Besides.

On the hard days
I ask myself
If I ever will.

Also there are times
My body whispers to me
That I have.

—Mary Oliver, from Thirst

Closing Prayer

When I am drawn to something good, Lord, it is you who is drawing me. Open my heart and mind, open my very soul to the beauties of the Eucharist as not just a sign, but as the reality of your ongoing love and presence in my life.