Scriptures: Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15; Ephesians 4:17, 20-24; John 6:24-35
For months Judy and I anxiously
anticipated our trip to the “Defending the Faith” conference at Franciscan
University in Steubenville, OH. It was an
opportunity to hear from some of the greatest scripture scholars and spiritual
writers of our time like Scott & Kimberly Hahn, Patrick Madrid, Matt Maher
and so many others. It was an
opportunity to get to know better our fellow parishioners that traveled with us
and mingle with Catholic Christians from around the world. When we arrived in Steubenville the pace was
fast and furious, a mistake in registration made matters a bit more stressful,
than the torture of hours in a folding chair taking its toll on our butts, the
hills and numerous stairs all over campus and elevation change, challenged us
sea level flat landers considerably.
Yep! The grumbling was in full
force, despite the tremendous experiences, topics and powerful celebrations of
Mass and Adoration that were feeding us.
Our grumblings were much like the
Israelites on their journey to the Promise Land. Only a month into the journey, after being
delivered of their slavery in Egypt, witnessing the power of God to deliver
them from the Egyptian army at the Red Sea, they are grumbling against Moses,
even desiring to return the Egypt where at least the they would have “died...as
we sat by our fleshpots and ate our fill of bread!” (Ex
16:4).
One of my favorite sociology theories
is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. The
basic concept says that humans have needs and there are basic needs that must
be met in order for us to grow to the next level. The most basic need includes: air, water and
food. Think about it; better yet let’s
experiment with it. Go ahead and hold
your breath as long as you can, what happens?
Eventually your body will do one of two things automatically, create a
great desire for air so you intake a voluntarily breath or, if you're stubborn
enough to resist this desire for air, it will temporarily shut you down so that
it can recover involuntarily. Consider
the times you are hungry, how is your ability to focus? Did you have a good breakfast so you could
get the most out of the Mass, this homily?
Or did you skip breakfast and are sitting there with your stomach grumbling,
“I hope his homily is short so that we can get to brunch/lunch/dinner? Odds are, if you are hungry, you are
vulnerable to grumbling and focus challenged.
It was the Israelites need for food,
physical food, that God used to reveal his saving power and it is the physical
food that motivated the Jews to pursue Jesus in today's Gospel and Jesus knows
it, “Amen, Amen I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs
but because you ate the loaves and were filled.” (Jn
6:26) What Jesus wants them
to understand is that it wasn’t “man” providing their ancestors with their
“daily bread” but God, His Father and Jesus is not only concerned for their
bodily need for food, but also for their need for spiritual “food that endures
for eternal life.” (Jn 6:27) It is at this point that the Jews ask for
this spiritual food and Jesus announces, “I am the bread of life.” (Jn 6:35) Is
this not the bread we are seeking? Why
we come to Mass … To seek the bread and wine, the body and blood of our Lord
and Savior. To eat that we may share in
HIs eternal life?
What motivates us to come and receive
the bread and wine? We’ve shared from
this pulpit, several times, the statistics concerning the Catholics belief or
lack thereof in transubstantiation (the bread and wine, transformed into the
body and blood of Jesus) and the trend stating that Catholics are leaving the
Church because they feel they are not being fed. “These people are hungry for spiritual food,
they crave for it, but do not know how or where to get this substance.”[1] Many in the pews today are here to receive the
food yet are challenged to understand the Mystery as they ask the same
Israelite desert question from the first reading concerning the manna, “what is
this”? (Ex 16:15)
St. Paul challenges the people of
Ephesus that “their new life in Christ requires their abandonment of their
‘old-self’”[2]
that the moral requirements of Christian membership require us to put on a
“new-self”, “created in God’s way in righteousness and holiness of truth.” (Eph 4:24) In
other words, St. Paul and St. John are telling us our faith has to move beyond
our stomachs. Which begs us to ask the
questions: Do you believe that Jesus is life? … Do you believe that Jesus is
the bringer of abundant life? … Do you believe that Jesus is the true bread
come down from heaven? Then our faith
requires more of us than to come and receive the bread and wine! No longer can [we] live as the Gentiles do,
in the futility of [our] minds.” (Eph 4:17)
Our faith and moral code keeps us on the path to the
Kingdom of God, it is path that is often the narrow way that runs counter to
today's societal norms, it’s littered with challenges and suffering. It is a path that does not know political
party lines, it is a path that says if you are going to talk about or preach a
strict moral code, you have to be living one.
If you enter the debate concerning the sanctity of marriage then you
have to be modeling the self-giving love that Jesus models for his bride, the
Church. If you stand on the right to
life platform, you must embrace every aspect of from conception to natural
death. This is hard! It requires us to see through the eyes of
Jesus, to be Jesus in the world, to have the courage to challenge the norms of
society in such a way that the lost can find their way to Jesus, it requires us
to walk with and eat with sinners so they can find the all merciful and loving
God we crave. It calls us to believe in
and have faith in the Bread of Life who comes down from heaven, that we might
never hunger or thirst again.
