Sacred Heart Parish

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18th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (B)

  1. Our world today is a hungry world: a majority of the world’s population hungers for daily bread; so many in our secular/consumerist society hunger for meaning. “What’s it all about, Alfie?” First you live, then you die: every human being, knowingly or unknowingly hungers for God – according to St. Augustine’s famous phrasing – “God has made us for himself and we will not rest until we rest in God”.

  2. As we began our Liturgy this morning, we said in prayer to the risen Christ – “You came in history to gather us into the peace of God’s kingdom”. We call this “objective redemption” – Christ the Lord, by his paschal mystery of dying and rising, has redeemed the world. We then said in prayer to the risen Christ – “You come now in word and in sacrament to strengthen us in holiness”. This is what we call “subjective redemption”. What good would objective redemption be if men and women down the centuries do not or cannot encounter the risen Lord who meets his people in word and in sacrament?

  3. The Church, as we have heard so often, has always venerated the divine Scriptures, just as the Church venerates the body of the Lord in the Eucharist, since, especially in the Sacred Liturgy, the Church unceasingly receives and offers to the faithful the bread of life from the table both of God’s word and of Christ’s body. Chapter 6 in John’s Gospel is an excellent example of how the risen Christ encounters his people and how they encounter him in word and sacrament. We should note how John structures his Chapter 6, which often bears the title “The Bread of Life Discourse”.

    1. The author first gives us an account of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, which was astounding to those who were present.

    2. Because Jesus feared that the people were going to try to make him king, some sort of political messiah to do battle with the hated Romans, he went off by himself after instructing his disciples to meet him on the other side of the lake. While they were rowing across the lake, the disciples were more than surprised to see Jesus approaching them while walking on the water. Why does the author narrate this incident? You will get the answer as you approach the end of Chapter 6, when Christ gives his own body and blood as nourishing food for his own disciples. If God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, can create the universe without much difficulty and if Jesus reveals himself as sharing with the Father and Holy Spirit the mystery of divinity, then, surely Jesus has the power to give us the great gift of the Eucharist.

    3. When the people find out where the Lord has gone, they followed him and he gives them the Bread of Life Discourse.

    4. The Bread of Life discourse means the wisdom of Jesus’ teaching, and faith in his word indicates that Jesus who is the Bread of Life now gives his people the Bread of Life which means the body and blood, soul and divinity of the risen Christ.

  4. How are we to understand our Gospel reading? The crowd for whom Jesus had worked the great sign of the loaves and fishes were looking for Jesus and found him across the Sea of Galilee. The Lord says to them – “You are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled.” He reminds them not to be overly concerned “for the food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you”. The crowd persisted in asking for a sign and reminded Jesus, as though he needed reminding, that their ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written – “he gave them bread from heaven to eat”. Jesus reminded them that it was not Moses who gave them bread from heaven – “It is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven, the bread of God which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world”. Spontaneously, his hearers said to him – “Give us this bread always”. At that, Jesus reveals himself by saying – “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst”. In Chapter 6 we have that part of the Bread of Life discourse as described under “c” in the above paragraph. In this section, Jesus himself is the living bread come down from heaven. He offers in his teaching God’s wisdom. Jesus himself is our way and our truth. He reminds his hearers – “Whoever comes to me will never hunger; and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” To drink of his wisdom means to see Jesus with the eyes of faith, to believe in him, to put one’s trust in him, to follow him as the great saints have done.

  5. Then comes the climax of Chapter 6. Jesus who is the Bread of Life gives us an astounding gift which we call the Bread of Life – the great gift of the Eucharist, so that Jesus can say – “I am the living bread come 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.” How does the risen Christ encounter us? How do we encounter the risen Christ? The answer is through word and sacrament. Both are necessary. The word of God enlightens our minds and tells us what the Lord Jesus has done for us. The sacraments are what give us a share in God’s life, nourishing us, strengthening us, helping us to grow in faith, hope and love and restoring our sharing in God’s life if we have lost it through sin. As we say at Mass so often in prayer to the risen Christ: “Lord Jesus, you came in history to gather us into the peace of God’s kingdom; you come now in word and sacrament to strengthen us in holiness.” Many of us our faithful to the Eucharist. Should we not be equally faithful through Lectio Divina which will help us enter into the wisdom of the saints?