1.Kings19:4-8
|
Eph4:30-5:2
|
3.John6:41-51
|
“Jesus the bread of
life”
There is a story of a
stonecutter who was bored and unhappy with his job of cutting stones. One
morning, as he was cutting stones, he saw the king pass by. He prayed to God: “Lord,
please make me that king because I am tired of being a stone cutter. It seems
good to be king.” The Lord made him king instantly.
While he was a king he
was walking along a road one day, he found the sun much too hot that he was
walking along a road one day; he found the sun too much hot that he could not
sustain its heat. He said to God: “It seems the sun is more powerful than the
king. I would like to be the sun.”Instantly,
the Lord made him the sun. As he was shining brightly one morning he found that
clouds were blocking his sunshine, and then he thought to himself: “It seems as
though the clouds are better and powerful than the sun because they can
obstruct my sunshine.” So he said: “I want to be the clouds.” He became the
clouds. Later on, he became the rain that poured down on the earth causing a
flood. He said: “I’m now very powerful.”
Afterwards, he noticed
a big rock that blocked his flow. He said to himself: “it seems the stone is
more powerful than I am. I want to be this stone.” Then he became the stone.
One morning, a stone cutter started to cut him to smaller pieces. He said: “it
seems the stone cutter is more powerful than I am. I want to be stonecutter.”
Then he instantly became what he originally was.
From our gospel today,
we get a message that sometimes we are people who love to complain. We are
people who love to murmur. The gospel starts by saying that as soon as the Lord
said to the Jews: “I am the bread of life that came down from heaven, “ the Jews
murmured to one another. They started to say: 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?’”
As human beings we love
to talk too much. We have to shut up so that God can talk to us sometimes too.
Elijah discovered that God didn’t speak in the thunderstorm or in the
earthquake or the noise of the mighty wind. God spoke in the gentle breeze. But
the challenge is that how are we going to hear the gentle breeze of the Lord
when the stereo is turned up to full volume or the television is blushing away or nobody stops talking long enough to
listen to himself or to anyone else or to anyone else or to the Lord? How can
we listen to the Lord if our cellular phone is still turn on while we are
attending Masses?
According to
psychologists and social Scientists, there are four kinds of gossip. The first
is angry gossip. Suppressed anger is one of the most common causes of malicious
gossip. People cannot admit themselves that they are angry nor can they let
their anger directly and still keep their dignity so they let their anger out
in malicious gossip. To cure this is to discharge it in a harmless manner and
get busy about something else.
Such envious people are
not really happy. Their very act of gossiping only serves to increase their
feelings of self-hatred. Actually, they want to be like them but they are not
free.
The third kind of
gossip is Entertaining or Amusing Gossip. Some people feel they have to gossip
in order to be entertaining. They try to give impression that they have access
to private information. They gossip only to be admired and according to
experts, their gossip is really just a kind of compensation for low
self-esteem.
The fourth and last
gossip is Insecure Gossip that tries to impress us with its importance by
approaching us with a juicy tidbit of gossip. Usually these people have few
real friends. They regard all others as potential enemies. Gossips who act in
this way are basically insecure. They have an obsession to be liked. This is
the only way they have of feeling safe.
The point for
reflection here is that, murmuring, talking so much and gossip do not solve the
situation. Let us stop doing all these and talk to God and in this sense we may
be able to discover enlightenment and grace.
However, what Jesus says
that He is the living bread that came down from heaven and gives us eternal life
is not a gossip but true. In our lives as Christians we need to adjust something
in order that we may fit into the life of Christ. These are the elements of our
proximate preparation. For example concerning our clothing: Does our attire
remind us that we are about to receive the king of kings and the Lord of lords?
Or does it remind us of something else?
Concerning our
thoughts: As we come down the isle at Communion time, do we focus our thoughts
on Jesus? Or are we thinking about what we are planning to do after Mass? Or
are we focused on the people around us?
Concerning our actions:
Do we approach the altar with hands folded? Do we make an act of reverence
before we receive if receive in the hand, do we make a fitting throne for the
Lord and do we step to one side and consume the host reverently at the foot of the
sanctuary?
Concerning our words:
When the priest or extraordinary minister says, “The body of Christ,” do we
respond with a faith-filled and enthusiastic “ Amen”?
Fruitful reception of
the Holy Eucharist makes a big difference. According to Jesus, it not only
gives us spiritual strength for this life, it also brings us one step closer to
heaven. May all of us prepare properly and then receive fruitfully as often as
possible.
0 Response to "HOMILY FOR 19th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (YEAR B)"
Chapisha Maoni