Homily originally presented Aigist 26, 2018
Are you ready for the quiz? Surely, you knew it was coming ... because
I reminded you of your homework assignment the last 4 weeks in a row.
I asked you to read just one chapter in the Bible and reflect on it.
The quiz is ... “Which chapter was that?”
I’ll give you a hint ... it’s one of the four Gospels (Matt. Mark, Luke or John).
So, tell me the author of the Gospel and the chapter number.
The answer is John 6. That’s the chapter we’ve been talking about for 5 weeks.
That’s the chapter I asked you to read again at home to grow your understanding.
You know there’s one woman who told me after the 2nd Sunday that she had done her homework and read all 71 verses of the 6th Chapter of John.
I gave her an “A” ... not for Alabama ... but for Awesome!
This woman is not Catholic ... but she has been coming to daily Mass now for almost one year ... attending each weekday at 6:45 AM & Saturday and Sunday.
She is also a regular visitor to our Chapel when we have our Lord exposed for Eucharistic Adoration on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 8 AM to 2 PM!
What do you think is going on for her? Why’s she doing all that?
To me, it’s very clear that she’s fallen deeply in love with Jesus ...
and therefore she wants to be with Him as much as possible.
It also shows me that she really believes what we’ve been talking about the last 4 weeks ... that Jesus is ... the Wisdom and the Power of God ... and ...
that He wants to share His Wisdom and Power with us.
Do you believe that? Do you believe that it’s here in the Catholic Church that
everyone has access to the Wisdom and Power of God on a daily basis?
I hope so ... because ... it’s absolutely true!
Sadly, there are many who don’t believe ... or haven’t taken the time to consider ...
that everything they need to nourish their souls is right here ...
in the one Church that Jesus started on the rock foundation of Peter.
Sadly too ... many of these are Catholics ... who have stopped going to Mass and
occasionally attend Protestant or non-denominational Churches or no church at all.
If you know someone like this in your family or circle of friends ...
what kind of counsel would you give them?
Where would you suggest they turn in Scripture to find guidance?
Well, hopefully you’d suggest that they turn to John chapter 6!
It’s there they’d be getting essential help and direction ... from God!
You know, one of the many wonderful things about the Catholic Church ...
is its great love for the Holy Word of God.
Where can we always go for answers?
To God’s revealed word ... what we call Sacred Scripture and the Holy Bible.
Listen to how the Catholic Church describes the Bible in its document entitled:
“Sacred Scripture in the life of the Church”.
“The Church has always venerated the divine Scriptures as she venerated the Body of the Lord, in so far as she never ceases, particularly in the sacred liturgy,
to partake of the bread of life and to offer it to the faithful from the one table of
the Word of God and the Body of Christ.”
How profound! We Catholics are often accused of having little regard for the Bible. And yet, here the Church affirms that she has always venerated the Bible
as she venerates the Body of Christ.
We demonstrate this at every Mass ...
by celebrating both: the Liturgy of the word ... and the Liturgy of the Eucharist.
So we can feed on both: the word of God ... and the word made flesh!
The above definition said that we partake of ... the bread of life.
What is the bread of life? If you’ve been following along for the past 4 Sundays where we’ve been contemplating what John reveals in Chapter 6 of his Gospel,
then you know that the Bread of Life ... is Jesus Christ!
Three weeks ago, in the early verses of this chapter, Jesus said,
“My Father gives you the true bread from Heaven.”
Here, Jesus is referring to Himself. Yes, Jesus is the true bread from heaven where bread was understood to be the wisdom of God! Jesus emphasized this by declaring, “I am the living Bread come down from Heaven.”
In other words, in Him
the wisdom of God was alive in human flesh right before their eyes!
And then, last week, week 4, in verses 51 –58 of John Chapter 6 ...
we went on to discover that Jesus, the true bread of the Father ...
gives us true food, which is His very own body and blood!
We discover these truths through listening to God speak to us in the Bible.
The Bible is Divine Revelation. It is the way that
our unseen God communicates with us through every age and in every time.
We Catholics definitely revere the word of God and we demonstrate this in the way we incorporate 3 or 4 readings into our daily worship of God at Holy Mass.
Notice too that the Priest or Deacon always kisses the page after proclaiming the Gospel ... as a sign of reverence and affection for God’s word!
There’s great wisdom and clear direction in the 6th chapter of John’s Gospel.
How beneficial for you to go home and read it once more all together.
This would really imprint it in your mind ... because you know,
you won’t hear it proclaimed again at Sunday Mass until the year 2021!
You see, there’s so much of God’s wisdom to share in His 4 Gospels ...
and only 52 Sundays in the year.
Now if you go to daily Mass, you’ll hear John 6 proclaimed each and every year during the 3rd week of Easter ... but only once every three years at Sunday Mass.
If you remember John 6, then you’ll know what to do when your spouse, or your son or your daughter or one of your friends informs you that they are thinking of leaving the Catholic Church.
It’s then that you can ask them to pray and study this 6th Chapter of John.
Hopefully they’ll come to see that Jesus feeds us with His Wisdom in the written words of the Gospel and Jesus feeds us with His Power in Holy Communion, when Jesus feeds us with Himself ... His very own Flesh and Blood!
No other church even claims that their communion is truly the body and blood of Jesus Christ. To them, their wafers and grape juice are merely symbols of their unity in Jesus. They are not the Flesh and Blood of Jesus!
None of the churches that operate apart from the Church Jesus established on Peter ... the Catholic Church ... have the power to provide the Flesh and Blood of Jesus.
Which means they don’t have the ability to do what Jesus said we must do.
Last week ... in John 6:53 Jesus said,
“Amen, amen, I say to you unless you eat the flesh
and drink the blood of the Son of Man you have no life in you.”
So the question that remains on the table is the same one that Jesus asked His disciples in our Gospel today, “Are you also going to leave me?”
Are you also going to walk away from the Church that Jesus started and find your own church?
Are you looking for something more comfortable?
Are you hoping to find something that will be a nice compromise between your beliefs and the beliefs of your spouse or your girlfriend or boyfriend?
Anything that you find will be a huge compromise. Because you will be forsaking the one opportunity you have to be in actual communion with Jesus Christ, who wants desperately to come into your body to nourish you and sustain you with Himself, with His power .... His love and His Strength.
Hopefully through prayer and study, you or your family or your friends would come to the same conclusion that St. Peter did and be able to say,
“Lord, to whom shall we go?”
If you are in the Catholic Church, you are home in the Church that Jesus established for your salvation.
If you are not in the Catholic Church, you are invited to come home through a process of formation known as RCIA that begins September 11th.
It’s here, in the Catholic Church, that you will have the fullness of all that Jesus wants you to have. It’s here that you will have ... the Menu and the Meal!
Protestant Churches have the Menu , the Bible, God’s word
but they don’t have the Meal ... the Holy Eucharist, God’s word made flesh.
In the Catholic Church, we have both the menu and the Meal.
In the Catholic Church we have the menu … the Bible, the Holy Word of God.
In the Catholic Church we have the Meal … the Body and Blood of our Lord.
Let’s hold on to both of these precious gifts.
Let’s hold on to them for dear life.
Let’s hold on to them for Eternal life!
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