Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 25, 2023

When doing what God calls you to do, do not be afraid

Matthew 10: 26–33

“So do not be afraid of them. Everything now covered up will be uncovered, and everything now hidden will be made clear. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the daylight; what you hear in whispers, proclaim from the house tops. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; fear him rather who can destroy both body and soul in hell. Can you not buy two sparrows for a penny? And yet not one falls to the ground without your Father knowing. Why, every hair on your head has been counted. So there is no need to be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. So if anyone declares himself for me in the presence of human beings, I will declare myself for him in the presence of my Father in heaven. But the one who disowns me in the presence of human beings, I will disown in the presence of my Father in heaven.”

Music Meditations

• Be Not Afraid—Vince Ambrosetti
• It Is Well With My Soul—Andre Assad
• You Are Near—Vince Ambrosetti
• Whom Shall I Fear—Chris Tomlin (Praise and Worship)

Opening Prayer

Jesus, when I get a chance to acknowledge you before others today, help me to trust I am doing your will. Give me the strength and the courage to believe in myself and in my value to you and to live my life with honesty and with compassion for others. Help me to do your work in your world.

Companions for the Journey

From “First Impressions”, a service of the Southern Dominican Province:

Matthew’s community must have been going through an experience similar to Jeremiah’s in the first reading—living and speaking about their faith were causing pain and fear among them. Like Jeremiah in the first reading, they may have even been quite vocal in their bewilderment and disappointment because things weren’t turning out the way they had hoped. Otherwise, Matthew would never have recorded these frank and consoling words of Jesus. Jesus is reminding his followers that because of him, they will suffer persecution. The saying about the sparrows has ominous tones: God knows when even a minuscule sparrow “falls to the ground.” There is a hint here of the disciples themselves having to face even death (“fall to the ground”) as Jesus’ followers. I don’t know if I have to fear being killed or imprisoned for my faith; but living that faith does have its costs and may even cause pain, or at least daily sacrifice and inconvenience.

They are not to be afraid because of the small, seeming insignificance of their project in the light of the world powers around them. Now—the good news is “concealed” and “secret,” known by only a few. Now—Jesus speaks in “darkness” and his message is “whispered” to them. But someday all will be “revealed” and “known.” In our modern world of high speed internet access, million-dollar television commercials and “gliterrati,” living out our faith in Christ can make us feel out-shouted, overridden and insignificant. Judging from the more dominant voices and forces around us, our Christian approach to life can seem diminutive and without influence as the world makes decisions that affect the destinies of present and future populations and of the planet itself.

Jesus promises his message will be “proclaimed on the housetops.” How? Some people in our history have been very forthright proclaimers, they have been like people standing on roof tops for all to see and hear. But most of us are afraid of such heights and our call might be less spectacular, but still requiring courage. I read this Brazilian proverb recently, “Your head thinks from the spot you plant your feet.” We have planted our feet with Christ and he invites our heads to think and our hearts to feel from that spot. We must, if we are standing with Christ, acknowledge him by lives and words that are recognizable as having him as their source.

Jesus predicts a sign by which we will know we are being faithful to him—when we are standing on his side of honesty, concern, forgiveness, trust, community, etc—we will stir upon opposition. His message will stir up strife. He is aware that, just as he found resistance to his teaching, so will his followers. So he tells them, “And do not be afraid of those who kill the body...,” for they have power, but only over the body. God’s power is more sweeping and total, in fact, Jesus says, God “...can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.” But the disciple is not to fear, because God cares about each of us and every part of us, right down to the hairs on our heads. If birds fall under God’s care, how much more do we?

This reminder about God’s care for us isn’t a guarantee we will have an easy ride as God’s servants. Jeremiah has already voiced the feelings of abandonment, disappointment and dismay one might feel in the face of the rejection God’s witnesses often experience. Jesus uses the example of sparrows falling and dying and God’s concern for them, to reassure us that in the face of trials and even death, God will care for us. Jesus is not going to leave us alone, however, he will not exempt himself from our struggles. He says he will “acknowledge” us before God. This image suggests he stands with us and claims us as one of his own. When the going gets tough, he is right in the thick of things with us.

Last week Jesus once again called us and sent us out. If we have reflected on our lives this past week, we know being sent into the world to live our beliefs in Christ is “easier said than done.” It’s a rough world out there for those who want to practice their faith. We come back here this Sunday for a breather from some harsh realities; but also to be refueled so we can do what we know Jesus would have us do.

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today’s session…

Do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

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

• What part does fear play in the actions of the world, say, in economics, in political decisions, in war, in individual defensive behaviors?
• Have you ever taken on a worthwhile project only to discover that you have bitten off much more that you could chew?
  What did you do?
• What frightens you most and causes you to lose hope at times?
• Do you have a special image (like the sparrow) that restores your confidence and hope?
• Where do you find Christ in your life and in the world around you?
• “Jesus did not call us to be successful, He called us to be faithful.” (St. Teresa of Calcutta) Do you agree?
• Have you ever at any time allowed fear of someone or something to control you so that you were unable to speak the truth?
  How did you feel?
• Have you ever been intimidated by peer pressure so that you did something you did not want to do or failed to do something you thought you should do?
• Have you ever had an opportunity to acknowledge to Jesus before others?
  How did it turn out for you?
• Describe a time when you were anxious about an event and it turned out fine.
• Can I remember that I do not have to have an answer for everything in the world that is difficult or confusing?
• Can I trust in God and let God take care of the things that I cannot?

Meditations

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:

Let us explore the notion of fear and the power of fear. There was a very popular TV show called Monk, that explored the adventures of an obsessive-compulsive genius detective who had at least 38 documented phobias.  On the show’s website a tongue-in-cheek dictionary of phobias was provided.  Among the phobias listed were some creative entries:
Altophobia: Fear of heights.
Arachibutyrophobia: Fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth
Ballistophobia: Fear of missiles or bullets.
Ecclesiophobia: Fear of church
Frigophobia: Fear of cold
Gamophobia: Fear of marriage
Glossophobia: Fear of speaking in public or of trying to speak
Homilophobia: Fear of sermons
Obesophobia: Fear of gaining weight
Peladophobia: Fear of bald people
Phalacrophobia: Fear of becoming bald
Phasmophobia: Fear of ghosts
Testophobia: Fear of taking tests
We all have fears. Many things we fear for no reason.  Some things we don’t fear that we should.  In this Gospel Jesus describes the proper locus, or place, of fear. What is it?  What things do I fear that I should not, and what things do I not fear that I should?

A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Relationship:

Julian of Norwich was a medieval mystic who had revelations from Jesus she called “Showings”, and which are considered some of the classic writings of Western Spirituality. This is taken from one of her “Showings”:

And these words: “You will not be overcome”, were said very insistently and strongly, for certainty and strength against every tribulation which may come. He did not say: “You will not be troubled, you will not be belabored, you will not be disquieted”; but he said: “You will not be overcome”. God wants us to pay attention to these words, and always to be strong in faithful trust, in well-being and in woe, for he loves us and delights in us, and so he wishes us to love him and delight in him and trust greatly in him, and all will be well. (Julian of Norwich, Showings, p.315).

It is easy to trust God when things are going reasonably well. Trust in God, and especially hope in God, are harder to come by in times of stress or sorrow. Think of something that is worrying you right now, and try to read over these words of Julian, praying for a greater faith and hope in the God who loves us so much.

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Imagination

Psalm 69 (from 12th Sunday, year A)

1 Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck.
2 I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold. I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me.
3 I am worn out calling for help; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God.
4 Those who hate me without reason outnumber the hairs of my head; many are my enemies without cause, those who seek to destroy me. I am forced to restore what I did not steal.

5 You, God, know my folly; my guilt is not hidden from you.

6 Lord, the Lord Almighty, may those who hope in you not be disgraced because of me; God of Israel, may those who seek you not be put to shame because of me.
7 For I endure scorn for your sake, and shame covers my face.
8 I am a foreigner to my own family, a stranger to my own mother’s children;
9 for zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me.
10 When I weep and fast, I must endure scorn;
11 when I put on sackcloth, people make sport of me.
12 Those who sit at the gate mock me,  and I am the song of the drunkards.

13 But I pray to you, Lord in the time of your favor; in your great love, O God, answer me with your sure salvation.
14 Rescue me from the mire, do not let me sink; deliver me from those who hate me, from the deep waters.
15 Do not let the floodwaters engulf me or the depths swallow me up or the pit close its mouth over me.

16 Answer me, Lord, out of the goodness of your love in your great mercy turn to me.
17 Do not hide your face from your servant; answer me quickly, for I am in trouble.
18 Come near and rescue me; deliver me because of my foes.

19 You know how I am scorned, disgraced and shamed; all my enemies are before you.
20 Scorn has broken my heart and has left me helpless; I looked for sympathy, but there was none, for comforters, but I found none.
21 They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst.

22 May the table set before them become a snare; may it become retribution and a trap.
23 May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever.
24 Pour out your wrath on them;  let your fierce anger overtake them.
25 May their place be deserted;  let there be no one to dwell in their tents.
26 For they persecute those you wound and talk about the pain of those you hurt.
27 Charge them with crime upon crime; do not let them share in your salvation.
28 May they be blotted out of the book of life and not be listed with the righteous.

29 But as for me, afflicted and in pain—may your salvation, God, protect me.

30 I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving.
31 This will please the Lord more than an ox, more than a bull with its horns and hooves.
32 The poor will see and be glad—you who seek God, may your hearts live!
33 The Lord hears the needy and does not despise his captive people.

34 Let heaven and earth praise him,  the seas and all that move in them,
35 for God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah. Then people will settle there and possess it;
36 the children of his servants will inherit it,  and those who love his name will dwell there.

One thing we forget about the psalms is how honest and raw they are. The Jewish people, in speaking with God, in lamenting their situation, do not necessarily use their “inside voices”. This shows us how close the Jewish people felt to God that they could be truly authentic in their despair and anger, and truly trusting that they would be heard.

In the preceding psalm, imagine that you are listening to the psalm writer as she is complaining to you. What is the situation that has him so upset and afraid? Which of her complaints to you really sympathize with? Which seem to be exaggerated? Is the exaggeration understandable, given his humanity? Have you ever been in a situation where you have been overwhelmed by despair and fear? If not, can you think of some instances in which someone might feel this way? How do you react to his desire to have his tormentors punished and really hurt? How do you think Jesus would respond to verses 22-28? Which of the verses in this do you identify with; which do you disown? Now imagine that you are God, listening to this kind of anger and fear constantly. What does it tell you about the love and understanding of God that God has so much patience with all of our kvetching? What do you want to say to God in return?

Write you own psalm to God (short or long) about your life right now… Be honest.

Poetic reflection:

This poem is a revision of an earlier set of Paradoxical Commandments by Kent Keith. A related version is engraved on the wall of Mother Teresa's home for children in Calcutta:

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies. Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you. Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight. Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous. Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow. Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough. Give the best you’ve got anyway.

You see,  in the final analysis it is between you and God; it was never between you and them anyway.

Poetic Reflection:

What do you fear?

“Fear”

Fear of seeing a police car pull into the drive. Fear of falling asleep at night. Fear of not falling asleep. Fear of the past rising up. Fear of the present taking flight. Fear of the telephone that rings in the dead of night. Fear of electrical storms. Fear of the cleaning woman who has a spot on her cheek! Fear of dogs I’ve been told won’t bite. Fear of anxiety! Fear of having to identify the body of a dead friend. Fear of running out of money. Fear of having too much, though people will not believe this. Fear of psychological profiles. Fear of being late and fear of arriving before anyone else. Fear of my children’s handwriting on envelopes. Fear they’ll die before I do, and I’ll feel guilty. Fear of having to live with my mother in her old age, and mine. Fear of confusion. Fear this day will end on an unhappy note. Fear of waking up to find you gone. Fear of not loving and fear of not loving enough. Fear that what I love will prove lethal to those I love. Fear of death. Fear of living too long. Fear of death. I’ve said that.

—Raymond Carver

Further reading:

Sayings of Mother Teresa of Calcutta >>

Closing Prayer

I give thanks to you, Lord, for what I have learned about myself and about you in my prayer this week. I pray also for the courage I need to let my experience of you, Jesus, be evident in my life. Help me to turn fear into resolution, turn despair and hopelessness into joy.

Sayings of Mother Teresa of Calcutta

“If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”

“Peace begins with a smile.”

“We fear the future because we are wasting today.”

“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”

“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.”

“Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.”

“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.”

“Do not think that love in order to be genuine has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired.”

“The most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved.”

“It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.”

“A life not lived for others is not a life.”

“I prefer you to make mistakes in kindness than work miracles in unkindness.”

“If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.”

“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.”

“God doesn’t require us to succeed, he only requires that you try.”

“The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.”

“Be happy in the moment, that’s enough. Each moment is all we need, not more.”

“‎Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.”

“Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at His disposition, and listening to His voice in the depth of our hearts.”

“I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things.”

“Life is a song, sing it. Life is a struggle, accept it.”

“True love is love that causes us pain, that hurts, and yet brings us joy. That is why we must pray to God and ask Him to give us the courage to love.”

“I’m a little pencil in the hand of a writing God, who is sending a love letter to the world.”

“If you are humble nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are.”

“Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.”

“Be kind and merciful. Let no one ever come to you without coming away better and happier.”

“One of the realities we’re all called to go through is to move from repulsion to compassion and from compassion to wonderment.”

“Life is an opportunity, benefit from it. Life is beauty, admire it. Life is a dream, realise it.”

“Let us make one point, that we meet each other with a smile, when it is difficult to smile. Smile at each other, make time for each other in your family.”

“If you can’t feed a hundred people, feed just one.”

“Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time and always start with the person nearest you.”

“Love to be real, it must cost—it must hurt—it must empty us of self.”

“Do not allow yourselves to be disheartened by any failure as long as you have done your best.”

“Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.”

“Life is a challenge; we must take it.”

“Poverty was not created by God. It is we who have caused it, you and I through our egotism.”

“People are unrealistic, illogical, and self-centr “Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.”

“Joy is a net of love in which you can catch souls.”

“Work without love is slavery.”

“The way you help heal the world is you start with your own family.”

“We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.”

“Yes, you must live life beautifully and not allow the spirit of the world that makes gods out of power, riches, and pleasure make you to forget that you have been created for greater things.”

“We must know that we have been created for greater things, not just to be a number in the world, not just to go for diplomas and degrees, this work and that work. We have been created in order to love and to be loved.”

“I used to believe that prayer changes things, but now I know that prayer changes us, and we change things.”

“We do not need guns and bombs to bring peace, we need love and compassion.”

“The person who gives with a smile is the best giver because God loves a cheerful giver.”

“One filled with the joy preaches without preaching.”

“I do not pray for success; I ask for faithfulness.”

“I know I am touching the living body of Christ in the broken bodies of the hungry and the suffering.”

“Each one of them is Jesus in disguise.”

Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 18, 2023

We have a mission to the world, not just nurturing personal spirituality or even that of the Church

Matthew 9:36—10:8

Chapter 9:36-38 At the sight of the crowds, Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples: “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to sent out laborers for his harvest. Chapter 10:1-8 Then he summoned his twelve disciples* and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness.a The names of the twelve apostles* are these: first, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus; Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him. Jesus sent out these twelve* after instructing them thus, “Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town. Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.

Music Meditations

• We Are His People, the Sheep of His Flock Francesca LeRosa
• Christ Has No Body Now But Yours John Michael Talbot
• Whatsoever you do-Robert Kochis
• Be Thou my Vision-various- Enya is especially prayerful
• Servant song-Maranatha

Opening Prayer

Jesus, your good news of the love and forgiveness of God being poured out on people like me is both a comfort and a challenge. Help me to reflect your care and compassion to all those I meet. Help me to be disciple.

Companions for the Journey

From ‘First Impressions’ 2023, a service of the Southern Dominican Province:

Recently a woman described her work to me and brought this gospel to mind. She works for a charitable foundation that addresses the needs of homeless families, with special attention to poor children. As a baptized person she takes her vocation as a Christian very seriously. She said, “I never think of religion as something I do once a week at church – with a few prayers thrown in during the week for good measure. I realized years ago that my faith has to be the center of my life and influence every thing I do, every decision I make – that I had to look out at the world with the eyes of Jesus. That’s what my baptism means to me.”

My friend said she wanted to look out at the world with the “eyes of Jesus.”

I think of her because of what Jesus saw in today’s gospel. It begins: “At the sight of the crowds Jesus was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned like sheep without a shepherd.” The woman I described said she became very aware of the needs of the poor. She felt that things were stacked against them. When budget cuts were made they were the first to suffer; they were the bottom of the totem pole – especially the homeless and those who had no political clout. So, she took a position with a small agency, an advocacy group for homeless families. “Frankly,” she said, “I earn less money than I would have elsewhere; but I believe I have a call.” She works and advocates for homeless families, working to get yearly grants to serve them. She has to raise two million dollars a year. She has a board of 30 volunteers who must work on that project of fund raising with her.

“And that’s the rub,” she said, “those 30 people! They are very nice, but some drive me crazy! They are not always efficient and available. This last time, as we got down to the wire finishing off the paper work, I had the hardest time gathering their necessary signatures. A few left for vacation trips and hadn’t signed the proposal. I went chasing after them so we could meet the deadline and raise the crucial two million dollars we needed to serve our clients. We would collapse without the money and people would suffer. Some people could drive you crazy! The only thing that holds us together is our vision of the needs of others – those needy families. We have a project and we think alike on it. Thank God, otherwise there are days when I could strangle some of them!”

Jesus sees the “troubled and abandoned” crowds and he has a concern. He must have help to address their needs, So he calls together the Twelve – his first official disciples. He shares his vision with them; he invites them to see what he sees. They accept his invitation to follow him and to see with his eyes. But that doesn’t mean they would have gotten together socially – joined a bowling club together, or had each other over for a 4th of July barbecue. We know that from the list and brief descriptions Matthew gives of the first disciples.

Simon and Andrew were brothers. They probably got along, but what did their families think of their dropping their fishing nets to go off with the itinerant preacher? Not all families share our ideals. The woman I described said that her parents thought she could make more money working for a bank, or a brokerage house: after all, she has the skills necessary to lead a team and raise two million dollars.

James and John were also brothers. Mark says Jesus gave them the nickname, “sons of thunder” – Boanerges. It doesn’t take much imagination to deduce how they got that name! Then there was Matthew himself, a tax-collector, a traitor to the cause of Israel because he collected taxes for the Romans. Simon was of the Zealot party. Zealots were super-nationalists, burning with zeal for the liberation of Israel. Some were terrorists against the Romans. I wonder what it would be like to invite the tax collector and the Zealot over for tea!

There are moments in the gospel when the apostles’ diverging personalities flared and Jesus had to reign them in. How did he do that? By continually keeping their vision clear; reminding them of the purpose for which he invited them and by urging them not to follow their own interests and priorities. He said that if they wanted to follow him they would have to make personal sacrifices, put aside their differences and focus instead on the needs of others. “Pick up your cross daily.”

Jesus brings this unlikely group together, he and his vision are the binding elements that keep them from fragmenting. Little by little he helps them look out at the world around them – with his eyes. He knows who they are; how different they are. And even though he is not finished with them yet; even though they may feel inadequate to the task, without degrees in Philosophy and Theology, not religious experts – he sends them out. They have been learning to see with his eyes and to notice and tend to those who are sick, those considered unclean, the lepers of society; the dead in body or spirit; those possessed of other spirits, who are “not themselves,” because they are crazed and distracted. Those Jesus sends are to invite the very ones Jesus would have invited, so that they too will learn and receive what the disciples learned and received from Jesus.

Many of us here in church today probably aren’t part of the same social circles. We certainly aren’t all family members. Probably there are some here we’d wish would just go to another church! We are here, not because we are naturally drawn to each other, but because we were baptized. The same water was poured over us and the same words said, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” We have been called out, named the way the Twelve are named for us today. And like them, we too are sent. We are like that woman who works for the homeless. As she said, “Each of us has to look around us.” In some way, where we live, work, recreate and go to school, we are called to see with Jesus’ eyes, and act accordingly.

No one can tell us exactly where and when we are to respond to Jesus’ call. We will just have to look out and see and hear the way Jesus did. And through our baptism, that is what we are being prompted and empowered to do. Today we pray for each of us: “Help us see what you want of us, help us not settle on being just occasional Christians, but “full time Christians.” Give us sensitive sight, your eyes, for the world. We pray too for those recently baptized, that our example will help them have vision and sensitivity to those who need them.”

Further reading:

• List of Apostles in the New Testament >>

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today’s session…

Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.

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

Do I ever feel in need of the Lord’s compassion? Do I truly experience the compassion of Jesus in the difficult events of my life? Who are the troubled and abandoned in my little corner of the world? Do I know anyone who is lost, rudderless, like a sheep without a shepherd? Has there ever been a time when I felt overwhelmed by issues I had to deal with or tasks I had to accomplish? Did I seek help? How did I handle it? Do I trust God? Do I believe that God really loves and cares for me? How has God demonstrated “kindness” to me? What gifts have I received “without cost”? What gifts have I given to others thus far in my life? What is left for me to give? How has God called me, specifically, to be a divine representative? With whom have I shared God’s love? Do I ever unconsciously blame people for the demons they are wrestling with such as addictions, mental health, loneliness, poverty? Because of the failings of contemporary religious and political leaders locally and globally, who in our times are like “sheep without a shepherd? Has there ever been a time in my life when it was clear that I was called upon to help another, or others? What excuses do we commonly give for our inaction on behalf of those who need our care? In this gospel, Jesus tells his apostles to go out only to the lost people of Israel, not to Samaritans or Gentiles. Does this bother you? Do I understand the meaning of "the people of God"? Who belongs? Why? Jesus suggests that the way to proclaim the fact that the Kingdom is at hand is to cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons. What does this mean for me as a disciple in everyday terms ? Jesus calls his disciples to “give without cost”. How does this mandate affect my attitudes about money? What does this tell me about charitable giving and generosity to others? Do I think of my money/possessions as mine or as God’s?

Meditations

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Imagination:

From Sacred Space:

I travel in imagination with Jesus as he make his journeys. I ask him what gives him so much energy to serve the sick, many of whom must have been frightening to look at and to touch. He chats with me about compassion, and I ask that my small heart may to be as compassionate as him. I sense his compassion towards me, and it comforts me.

A Meditation in the Franciscan Style/Action:

What are we to do with the mandate given to the Apostles, and by inheritance given to us? A good place to start is with the corporal works of Mercy: to feed the hungry to give drink to the thirsty to clothe the naked, to give shelter to travelers, to visit the sick, to visit the imprisoned, to bury the dead. (This can include being present to those who are grieving) Spend some time at the end of each day reflecting on when you did more than avoid sin; but reflecting on the positive good you created by reaching out to others.

Poetic Reflection:

Father Ed Ingebretsen, S.J., captures the spirt of the gospel:

“Lonely Christ”

Lonely Christ
I pray to you.
You are a puzzle to me
as those I love
always are.

My soul is at odds
with the words.
What mad reach of mine
touches any thread of you?
Or what of mine, arms or eyes,
ever shares with people
where they may lie—
as they always do—
in a hard place!

What of mine shall make good
their taking of a breath,
their rising, caring, feeding
their sleeping in fear—
what shall make good
their slight faith,
their enormous promises
made in iron
for a child, man, a woman—

what of mine shall be with the people
as they caress a special grief
fondled again and again
In bludgeoned love?

What do I bring
with which to clutch
the merest hint of your shadow?

Literary (sort of) Reflection:

Three very powerful movies tell the stories of those Jesuits and Trappists who, in times of oppression and danger, risked their lives—gave their lives, even, to help those who needed help and care: The Mission Silence Of Gods and Men

Closing Prayer

Adapted from Sacred Space 2923, a service of the Irish Jesuits:

Jesus, in this gospel account I see you engaging with vigilant eyes and ears to the cry of the suffering in your world. To them you were the compassionate one, bringing balm to the wounded places in their lives. Lord, the cries of the poor and broken-hearted are evident in the news beamed into my living room daily. Let me not forget that you summon me today, to be your eyes, your ears, and your hands of compassion to all whom I meet.

Apostles in the New Testament

Matthew

Simon Peter, Andrew, his brother
James and John, the sons of Zebedee
Philip
Bartholomew
Thomas
Matthew the tax collector
James the son of Alphaeus
Thaddeus
Simon from Cana
Judas Iscariot

Mark

Simon Peter
James and John sons of Zebedee/”Sons of Thunder”
Andrew
Philip
Bartholomew
Matthew
Thomas
James, the son of Alphaeus,
Thaddaeus,
Simon, the Zealot,
Judas Iscariot

Luke

Simon (the one Jesus named Peter),
James and his brother John, the sons of Zebedee
Andrew
Philip
Bartholomew,
Matthew,
Thomas
James, the son of Alphaeus,
Thaddaeus,
Simon, the Zealot
Judas Iscariot

John:

Only some named:
Andrew
Simon Peter
Philip,
Nathanael
Thomas
Judas
Judas, son of Simon Iscariot (6:71).
Unique to John, someone called “the beloved disciple” appears in prominent roles.

Acts:

Peter, John
James and Andrew
Philip and Thomas,
Bartholomew and Matthew;
James son of Alphaeus
Simon the Zealot,
and Judas son of James.

The Body and Blood of Christ, June 11, 2023

Christ is with us in the Eucharist; we are the body of Christ

John 6:51–58

Jesus said to the crowds: “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.”

The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us [his] flesh to eat?”

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.

“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.

“Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

Music Meditations

• I Am the Bread of Life (by John Michael Talbot) [YouTube]
• We Remember (by Marty Haugen) [YouTube]
• Panis Angelicus (by Franck; sung by Luciano Pavarotti and Sting) [YouTube]
• Ave Verum Corpus (by Mozart; sung by Catholic Community at Stanford "virtual" choir) [YouTube]
• One Bread, One Body (by John Michel Talbot) [YouTube}
• O Salutaris Hostia (by Werner; sung by Cathedral singers, Richard Proulx, conductor)

Opening Prayer

From The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius: A Literal Translation and a Contemporary Reading, by David Fleming, S.J.:

Take Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding and my entire will—all that I have and all that I call my own. You have given it all to me. To you Lord, I return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will. Give me only your love and your grace. That is enough for me (p.141)

Companions for the Journey

From Father Michael Marsh: “Do You Have Life?”

A friend of mine called last week. She asked, “How are you?” It’s a common question, one we ask and are asked every day. You and I both know the standard answers and I gave them. I said, “Fine. I’m doing well. Things are really busy right now. I’m good.” She laughed and said, “Are you trying to convince me or yourself?”

I suspect I’m not the only one who’s had this type of conversation. Most of us have these kind of conversations several times each day. We offer the usual answers. Sometimes we add something about our family, our health, where we have been, or what we have been doing. More often than not those conversations focus on the circumstances of life. We might be fine and busy, getting our work done, meeting deadlines and commitments, fulfilling obligations, volunteering our time, and loving and caring for our families but there is a difference, a vast difference, between doing life and having life within us.

Doing life or having life; that’s the issue Jesus is concerned about. That’s the focus of today’s gospel. It is important enough that it has been the subject of the last several Sundays of gospel readings. Each week has brought us closer to the unspoken question behind today’s gospel: Is there life within you?

That’s a hard question and one which many will avoid or ignore. They will turn back and walk away rather than face the question. “Fine,” “busy,” “good,” and “doing well” do not answer the question. They cover it up. The question pushes us to discover the hunger within us and the life Jesus wants to feed us. That’s what Jesus has been after these last few weeks.

Three weeks ago 5000 hungry people showed up. They were fed with five loaves and two fish. They didn’t understand. They thought it was about loaves and fish. It was really about life and where life comes from. Two weeks ago Jesus challenged us to consider the bread we eat. Is it perishable bread or does it endure to eternal life? Last week Jesus declared himself to be the bread of life, the living bread they came down from heaven.

Today he says, “Eat me. Drink me.” This is the only way we ever have life within us. Jesus is very clear and blunt about it. His flesh is true food and his blood is true drink. Any other diet leaves us empty and hollow, hungry and bereft of life. “Very truly, I tell you unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you have no life in you.” Those are ominous words, words that haunt and challenge us to consider whether there is life within us.

Jesus is talking about more than just physical or biological life. He’s talking about that life that is beyond words, indescribable, and yet we know it when we taste it. We get a taste of it when we love so deeply and profoundly that everything about us dies, passes away, and somehow we are more fully alive than ever before. Sometimes everything seems to fit together perfectly and all is right with the world; not because we got our way but because we knew our self to be a part of something larger, more beautiful, and more holy than anything we could have done. We were tasting life. There are moments when time stands still and we wish the moment would never end. In that moment we are in the flow, the wonder, and the unity of life, and it tastes good.

Most of us spend a fair amount of time, energy, and prayer trying to create and possess the life we want. In spite of our best efforts sometimes we live less than fully alive. Sometimes the outside and inside of who we are don’t match up. We ask ourselves, “What am I doing with my life?” We wonder if this is all there will ever be. Is this as good as it gets? We lament at what has become of us and our life. Nothing seems to satisfy. We despair at what is and what we think will be. Despite family and friends we find no place in which we really belong.

Those questions and feelings are not so much a judgement on us, but a diagnosis of us. They are symptoms that there is no life in us. We are dying from the inside out. There is, however, treatment for our condition and food for our hunger. Life in Christ, not death in the wilderness, is our destiny. The flesh and blood of Christ are the medicine that saves; what St. Ignatius called “the medicine of immortality.” One dose, however, is not enough. We need a steady diet of this sacred medicine, this holy food.

Jesus is our medicine and our health. He is our life and the means to the life for which we most deeply hunger. We don’t work for the life we want. We eat the life we want. Wherever human hunger and the flesh and blood of Christ meet, there is life.

In the eating and drinking of Christ’s flesh and blood he lives in us and we live in him. We consume his life that he might consume and change ours. We eat and digest his life, his love, his mercy, his forgiveness, his way of being and seeing, his compassion, his presence, and his relationship with the Father. We eat and drink our way to life. So leave nothing behind. Push nothing to the side. Clean your plate!

“Whoever eats me will live because of me,” Jesus said.

Further reading:

• Another Commentary on John 6:51–58 >>
• Transubstantiation / Consubstantiation / Real Presence: A Little Theology Lesson >>

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today’s session…

I have life because of the Father; so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.

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

• Do I see Jesus as the face of God actually near at hand—“God with us”?
  What does it mean to live in Jesus?
• How easy is it to get snarled up in the theology of the Real Presence on this occasion?
  How can this be an intellectual exercise and a distraction?
• Some early believers were horrified at this assertion of Jesus. How do Jesus’ statements about eating his body and drinking his blood challenge me?
• Do I spend more time trying to understand this mystery than actually experiencing this mystery?
  What message do I take from this gospel that I can use in my everyday life, my everyday relationship with God?
• What is the difference for me between doing life and having life?
  What do I want from life?
  Do I think it is what Jesus wants for me?
• This passage follows an earlier and very famous one on the feeding of the five thousand.
  How does the motif of God feeding his people enrich my appreciation of Eucharist?
• What is the reason for keeping people from this table of life we call Eucharist?
  Whose table is it?
  Who gets to decide who is welcome at the table and who is not?
• When I receive communion, do you think of union with Jesus or union with those around me? Both?
• How do I respond to the living presence of Jesus within me?
  In what ways do I make the Eucharist truly meaningful for those in my life?
• When I receive the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist, do I reflect on my identity as a member of the body of Christ?
  What is my response to this gift of Jesus?
• Who are members of the body of Christ?
  What are our obligations to others in the body of Christ?

Meditations

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions

Adapted from “Sacred Space”, a service of the Irish Jesuits:

In the Eucharist, we deepen our relationship with Jesus, not mechanically, but by becoming more and more like him over the years. We meet God in this mysterious and dramatic way: God gives himself to us, and we try to shape our lives into a loving gift for god. In heaven there will be no Eucharist as we know it, because our bonding with God will then be complete.

So I ask myself:
How am I fostering my relationship with Jesus?
Have I become more like him? What do I need to let go of or what do I need to do to be more like Jesus?
Do I consider my life a loving gift for God? What can I change about my life that makes the gift of this life of mine more truly loving?

A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Memory:

From Father Paul O”Reilly, S.J.:

“I am the living bread that has come down from heaven.”

I think I know how John the Baptist must have felt when everywhere he went people kept asking him “Are you Elijah – come back from the dead?”. Everywhere I went in Guyana, people always used to ask me: “Are you related to Bryan O’Reilly?” To which I had to respond: “only as brothers in the Lord”. It seemed to disappoint them hugely. Even so, it was a great joy to be able to report to Bryan the great love and affection that people in Guyana still felt for him after his many years of service to them as a Jesuit missionary priest. Fame may be a passing bubble, but love is not. After he retired from the Missions (at the age of 82) he went to work in our parish of “Corpus Christi”, Bournemouth in England. For the patronal feast of his parish he wrote a short poem for his parish newsletter, expressing something of what it means to him to have served the Eucharist all his life. Believing it worthy of a wider audience, his superior sent it out to our Province Newsletter. And, believing it worthy of a still wider audience I am sharing it with you here.

(For the best effect, take it somewhere quiet on your own and say it slowly and aloud.)

“Corpus Christi”

All absolutely empty.
Feelings have gone.
I gaze upon the crucifix.
And strive to ponder on the Eucharist.
Thoughts move along to the view
my window of the church of Corpus Christi.
The garden, the bushes and the trees
A strange vision will appear at times
As I hear the chimes, and these
Remind me of so many things.
Our Lady sings in the breeze
That blows across the garden and the trees
And I listen to a voice that speaks most clearly
“This is my Body – This is the cup of my Blood.”
A flood of memories pour into my mind.
The very fabric of my being.
And now I am seeing bright clear
The vision that is mine here – at Corpus Christi.
No one will ever understand – why should they?
Contrition – Compassion – Wish-filled yearning – explains it all.
I hear the call “Come Lord Jesus – come”.

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Imagination:

Read Matthew 14:13-21 (The first story of the feeding of the four thousand). Imagine the scene in which the people follow Jesus to a “lonely place” and then are stranded without food. Try to place yourself in the story as one of the disciples. At which point do you become concerned enough about all these people that you speak to Jesus? What concerns you? That the crowd will become restless and angry, that it might turn on Jesus and as disciples you might get caught in the middle? Are you afraid that some will fall ill? Are you afraid that some will take food from others? How do you respond when Jesus tells you to handle the problem? What does this story reveal about my attitudes of scarcity vs. abundance? What Eucharistic overtones do you read into this story? What does this say to you about Eucharist and the world? What does this story say to you about bread (real bread) for the world and our obligation to provide it?

A Meditation on the Franciscan Style/Action:

This excerpt is from Justice Notes for Corpus Christi from the Southern Dominican Province in 2007. It is still relevant today.

“Whoever eats this bread will live forever”(John 6:51)

Each of today’s readings speaks of being fed and they lead us to think about the growing crisis of world hunger. “Rising food prices are fueling the global hunger crisis. It is taking an immense toll on the world’s poorest people, who typically spend up to 80 percent of their income on food. As many as 100 million more poor people could be made worse off by this burgeoning hunger crisis. After 30 years of progress against hunger and poverty, that is a setback that the United States and the rest of the world cannot afford to let happen.” (http://www.bread.org/learn/rising-food-prices.html [page no longer available])

“The prayer which we repeat at every Mass: ‘Give us this day our daily bread,’ obliges us to do everything possible, in cooperation with international, state and private institutions to end or at least reduce the scandal of hunger and malnutrition afflicting so many millions of people in our world, especially in developing countries.” (Sacramentum Caritatis, Pope Benedict XVI, 2007)

Did you know:

• 854 million people across the world are hungry, up from 852 million a year ago
• Every day, almost 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes—one child every five seconds.
• 35.1 million people in the US—including 12.4 million children—live in households that experience hunger or the risk of hunger.
• The U.S. Conference of Mayors reports that in 2006 requests for emergency food assistance increased an average of 7 percent. The study also found that 48 percent of those requesting emergency food assistance were members of families with children and that 37 percent of adults requesting such assistance were employed.

What can you do? Pick a concrete action. Do it.

Poetic Reflection:

Enjoy this lovely act of faith so movingly expressed by Mary Oliver:

“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.

Poetic Reflection:

This poem is just as appropriate for Corpus Christi as it is for Pentecost and for Holy Thursday. Enjoy.

"Gather the People"

What return can we make
for all the Lord has done in our lives?
We bring bread, wine, our clay dishes
and our clay feet
to this altar
and we pray that we may here
make a beginning—
that somehow in our days
we can begin to see the promises
the Lord has made us.

The promises do not always
glow with obvious light, or
overwhelm us by their obvious truth.
No matter what anyone says,
it is difficult to understand an invisible God
and belief is not always
the easy way out.

So we gather the people
and we tell the story again
and we break the bread
and in the memory of the one
who saves us,
we eat and drink
and we pray and we believe.

We gather, we pray, we eat.
These things are for human beings.
God has no need of them.
Yet he himself gathered the people,
prayed, broke bread
and gave it to his friends.

And so the invisible God became
visible
and lives with us.

—Ed Ingebretzen, S.J., from Psalms of the Still Country

Closing Prayer

Lord, you have given me everything, my life, my loved ones, my faith; you have given me your very self. Help me to do the same for all whom I meet. Help me to be the Body and Blood of Christ for others.