A Parable Written Just For Us

“The father threw his arms around the prodigal son and kissed him.”
(Lk 15:20)

A Parable Written Just For Us

 

September 2, 2012, 22^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8    James 1:17-18, 21-22, 27   Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23  

1^st reading from Dt. - the laws of Moses

Then Moses said to the people: "Obey all the laws that I am teaching you, and you will live and occupy the land which the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. Do not add anything to what I command you, and do not take anything away. Obey the commands of the Lord your God that I have given you. Obey them faithfully, and this will show the people of other nations how wise you are. When they hear all these laws, they will say `What wisdom and understanding this great nation has!’“No other nation, no matter how great, has a god who is so near when they need him as the Lord our God is to us. He answers us whenever we call for help. No other nation, no matter how great, has laws so just as those I have taught you today.”

The word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

Alleluia, alleluia.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark
Glory to you, Lord.

The traditions of the Pharisees

When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals without first purifying their hands. For the Pharisees and Jews in general follow the tradition of the elders and never eat without first washing their arms as far as the elbows. And on returning from the market place they never eat without first sprinkling themselves. There are also many other observances which have been handed down to them concerning the proper way to wash cups, pots, copper bowls, and beds.

So the Pharisees and scribes questioned Jesus, “How come your disciples don’t follow the tradition of the elders but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?”Jesus replied, “You bunch of hypocrites! Isaiah the prophet described you very well when he wrote, `These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts.’[1] You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.”

Then Jesus summoned the crowd again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand. It’s not what comes from without that makes a person unclean but what comes from within. For from within, from people’s hearts, come evil thoughts, impurity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within a person and make him unclean.” 

The Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Introduction

Back either to work or to school

Tomorrow, Labor Day, is a very definite turning point. Summer vacation is over. Tomorrow all go back either to work or to school. Before we know it, our thoughts will turn to Thanksgiving and then to Christmas. What used to be the new year of 2012 is rolling on and growing old, and so are we.

The `lawfulness’ of Judaism

The three great monotheistic religions are Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Judaism and Islam are much closer to each other than they are to Christianity. Both affirm a strong connection between obedience to religious laws and God feeling good about us. Christianity on the other hand (when true to its self) feels uncomfortable with such a strong connection .Both Judaism and Islam affirm also a strong connection between our disobedience to religious laws and God feeling displeasure with us. Again, Christianity (when true to its self) feels uncomfortable with such a strong connection.

In Jesus’ days the rabbis, seeking to ritualize God's presence in the smallest and most insignificant details of human life, imposed an unbearable maze of laws, rules and regulations upon the people. Today’s gospel alludes to that burdensome maze. The people had to ritually wash their hands before eating. They had to carefully cleanse anything brought in from the market. They had to meticulously observe the proper way to wash cups, pots, copper bowls, and beds. (Mk. 7: 3-4) And then there were countless dos and don’ts concerning the observance of the Sabbath, which frequently got Jesus and his disciples in trouble. (Mt. 12:1-14; Lk. 13: 10-17) We see that same spirit of meticulous religious observance of the Jew of old in the Hasidic Jew of today.

One writer speaks of the `lawfulness’ of Judaism of old; by that he means that Judaism of old was `full-of-laws.’ When the Jew of old scrupulously observed that burdensome maze of laws, God Yahweh felt very good about him. When, however, he didn’t scrupulously observe that maze, God Yahweh felt very displeased with him.

The `lawfulness’ of Islamism

That same connection (between man’s obedience or disobedience to religious laws and God feeling very good or very displeased) is present also in Islam. Six centuries after Christ, Mohammed gave Muslims 5 major laws (called `The Five Pillars of Islam’) to be religiously observed by the faithful Muslim: (1) The law of Shahada: a proclamation of personal faith that there is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet. (2) The law of Salat: ritual prayer five times daily. (3) The law of Zakat: a fixed percentage for almsgiving. (4) The law of Ramadan: the great fast. (5) The law of the Hajj: the once-in-a-life-time pilgrimage to Mecca.

 The same writer also speaks of the `lawfulness ‘of Islamism; by that he means that Islam also is `full-of-laws.’ When the Muslim faithfully observes the Five Pillars of Islam, God Allah feels very good about him. When, however, he doesn’t scrupulously observe them, God Allah feels very displeased with him.

The `lawlessness’ of Christianity

On the one hand there is the `lawfulness’ of Judaism and Islamism. On the other hand there is the `lawlessness’ of Christianity. When true to itself, Christianity is at heart `lawless.’ That is to say, it negates a strong connection between man’s obedience or disobedience to religious laws and God feeling good or displeased with him. When true to itself, Christianity is `antinomian.’

 That very strange word, coined by Martin Luther himself, comes from the Greek anti which means against, and from nomos which means law. When true to itself, Christianity has a negative feeling about religious laws. When true to itself, it is uncomfortable with religious laws. Christianity, however, is not always true to itself; sometimes and maybe often, it too makes a big deal of religious laws.

It is an antinomian spirit (an uncomfortable feeling about religious laws) that St. Paul is expressing when he writes: “Christ has freed us from the curse of the Law {with its 613 major laws and countless rules and regulations}.” (Gal. 3: 13) Paul expresses the same discomfort when he writes: "Christ has come to set us free from circumcision and the Law. So don't ever take up that heavy burden again." (Gal.15: 1) The apostle repeats his antinomian message when he writes: “A man is put right with God not by doing the works of the Law but only by faith.” (Rom. 3: 28)

 On the one hand there is the `lawfulness ‘of Judaism and Islam, and on the other hand there is the `lawlessness’ of Christianity.

 

Jesus’ antinomian parables

Moses comes with 613 major religious laws for Jews to observe, and observing them makes God Yahweh feel good about Jews. Mohammed comes with 5 great pillars for Muslims to observe, and observing them makes God Allah feel good about Muslims. Jesus, on the other hand, is an antinomian; He comes with no laws for us to observe in order to make God feel good about us. The two greatest of all Jesus parables are the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk. 10: 25-37) and the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Lk. 15: 11-32). The latter is imbued with an antinomian spirit. A lawless lad – a prodigal son - grabs his inheritance and takes off to a foreign land where he squanders his money on loose living. Then when broke and broken, he returns home and is received into the open arms of a father full of forgiveness.

Just before the story of the Prodigal Son, Jesus tells another antinomian parable.  It’s about a good shepherd who leaves ninety-nine obedient sheep behind and goes in search of the one sheep that’s gone astray. (Lk. 15: 4-7)

Judaism with its 613 laws and Islamism with its 5 great pillars are strong on obedience to religious laws; both do not warm up to parables that have God Yahweh or God Allah forgiving prodigal sons or straying sheep.[2] Both rejoice in obedient sons and sheep. Christianity, on the other hand, rejoices in prodigal sons who return home, and straying sheep who are found by the shepherd and carried home on his shoulders.

Conclusion

Written just for us

If we have not made any great big mistake in our lives which we deeply regret and can’t undo, if we have been faithful and have done everything right in our lives, if we have carefully fulfilled the 315 laws or the 5 great pillars – we are, indeed, rare birds! If, however, we have made some great big mistake in our lives, if we have done something we deeply regret but can’t undo, if we have not meticulously fulfilled the 315 laws or the 5 the great pillars – we can take heart: Jesus’ magnificent antinomian parables about prodigal sons who return home or lost sheep who are found were written just for us.

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[1] Isaiah 29:13

[2] This is not to deny that there are individual Jews and Muslims who rejoice (just as much as Christians do) in parables about prodigal sons and straying sheep,

Why We Don't Leave

Simon Peter answered, “Master, if we leave

You to whom shall we go? “ (Jn. 6:68)

Why We Don’t Leave

August 26, 2012, 21^st Sunday in Ordinary Time

Joshua 24:1-2, 15-18   Ephesians 5:21-23   

John 6:51-53; 60-61; 66-69

First reading from Joshua

Joshua gathered together all the tribes of Israel at Shechem, summoning their elders, their leaders, their judges, and their officers. When they stood in ranks before God, Joshua addressed all the people: “If it does not please you to serve the LORD, decide today whom you will serve, the gods your fathers served beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are now dwelling. As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” But the people answered, “Far be it from us to leave the LORD for the service of other gods. For it was the LORD, our God, who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, out of a state of slavery. He performed those great miracles before our very eyes and protected us along our entire journey and among the peoples through whom we passed. Therefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God.” (Joshua 24:1-2, 15-18)  

The word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

Alleluia, alleluia.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John  

Glory to you, Lord.

 

Jesus said to the crowds: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread he will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”At this the crowds began to argue fiercely among themselves, “How can He give us his flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them: “I tell you the truth:  if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you will not have life in yourselves.”

After hearing his words many of Jesus’ disciples remarked among themselves, “This sort of talk is hard to take. How can anyone take it seriously?” Jesus well aware of the disciples’ grumbling asked them, “Does this scandalize you?”

From that time on, many of his followers left Jesus and returned to their former way of life. Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?” Simon Peter answered, “Master, if we leave You to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that You are the Holy One from God.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Introduction

Like autumn leaves

Here we are at the end of August; this coming Saturday will be the 1^st of September. Autumn 2012 begins on the 22^nd of September. The pages are falling off the calendar like autumn leaves.

No better place to go

My dog Simeon was a typical canine; when he heard the car keys clanging, he would be up and at it, and ready to go. I always had to take him with me, because it was so much easier than having to get down on my knees and try to explain to his sad drooping face why he couldn’t come along. He simply wouldn’t understand. So when I’d go grocery shopping on a hot summer day, I always had to take him with me, then find a shady spot to park the car, and leave the car windows wide-open. One day a lady passing asked, “Aren’t you afraid your dog is going to jump out of the window and run away?” The words of Simon Peter in today’s gospel to Jesus (Jn. 6: 68) came to mind, and I said to her, “If my dog leaves me, to whom shall he go?” My dog Simeon, you see, knew he had it made; he knew he had no better place to go. For I always prepared three square meals a day for him, even though he never lifted a finger to help me cut the lawn in the summer, or shovel the snow in the winter.

Many of Jesus’ followers left Him.

Jesus makes the incredible claim that He is bread from heaven and that whoever eats his flesh and drinks his blood will live forever. That stirs unbelief among the crowds, and they start grumbling. Hearing their grumbling Jesus asks, “Does this scandalize you?” (It’s a literal translation of the Greek `scandalidsei.’) The common understanding of `scandal’ is `that which makes us raise our eyebrows.’ The scriptural understanding of `scandal’ is different: it’s not about what causes us to raise our eyebrows but about what causes us to stumble, or what shakes our faith. Jesus’ incredible claim that He is bread from heaven and that whoever eats his flesh and drinks his blood will live forever shakes the crowd’s faith; it causes them to stumble. Scripture says, “From that time on, many of Jesus’ followers left Him and returned to their former way of life.” (Jn. 6:66)

Sr. Joan chooses not to leave the Church.

Sister Joan Chittister OSB, an internationally known theologian, sees her Church as a scandal - a stumbling block. She says, “It   is riddled with inconsistencies, closed to discussion about those inconsistencies, and is sympathetic only to invisible women.” Sr. Joan, however, chooses not to leave the Church but to stay right where she is. One day a woman asked her out-rightly: “Why doesn’t such an unhappy woman like you choose to leave the Church?” In response she used the imagery of an oyster. The oyster defends itself against the irritation of a grain of sand within itself by secreting layer upon layer of gel over the grain, until it becomes `a pearl of great price.’ (Mt. 13: 44-45)  Sr. Joan says if she would rid herself of the irritation by leaving the Church, the process would be over, and at the end of the day there would be no pearl of great price, neither in her nor in her Church. By staying and speaking out, she says we perform a needed `ministry of irritation,’ like the grain of sand that irritates the oyster, but in the process becomes a pearl of great price.

Fr. Küng chooses not to leave the Church.

Swiss-German theologian Fr. Hans Küng (b. 1928) also sees his Church as a scandal - a stumbling block - for a litany of theological reasons. In a little volume entitled Why I am still a Christian, he writes that he cannot believe

1. that Jesus who warned the Pharisees against laying intolerable burdens on people’s shoulders would today declare all artificial contraception to be mortal sin;

2. that He who particularly invited failures to his table would forbid all remarried divorced people to approach the Eucharistic table;

3. that He who was constantly accompanied by women (who provided for his keep), and whose apostles, except for Paul, were all married and remained so, would today forbid marriage to all ordained men, or ordination to all women;

4. that Jesus who said “I have compassion on the crowd,” would have increasingly deprived  congregations of their pastors and allowed a system of pastoral care built up over a period of a thousand years to collapse;

5. that He who defended the adulteress and sinners would pass such harsh verdicts in delicate questions requiring discriminating and critical judgment, like pre-marital sex, homosexuality and abortion.

In that same little volume Fr. Küng tells why he chooses not to leave the Church, despite his long litany of complaints.

First of all, despite all my criticisms and concerns, I can nevertheless feel fundamentally positive about a tradition in which I live side by side with so many others, past and present. I would not dream of confusing the great Christian tradition with the present structures of the church, nor [would I dream of] leaving the definition of true Christian values to its present administrators.  In that great Christian tradition, I find a spiritual home on which I do not want to turn my back.[1]

 

Andrea chooses to return to the Church she left.

Andrea Palpant Dilley grew up in Kenya, the daughter of Quaker missionaries. She is a summa cum laude graduate, and the author of Faith and Other Flat Tires - a memoir about faith, doubt, and the search for truth. One Sunday Andrea’s Presbyterian pastor was preaching on Psalm 91, and in so many words said that a person just needed to pray and have faith in order to be protected from suffering. At that, Andrea suddenly found herself standing up, leaning over to her father and saying, “This is BS!” With that, she made her way to the end of the pew and marched out of the church, and left the Church. She was 23 at the time. It wasn’t just that sermon which ticked her off; many spiritual questions were also plaguing her: Why does the Church seem so culturally insulated and dysfunctional? Why does God seem so distant and uninvolved? And most of all, why does God allow suffering?

Those questions didn’t come from nowhere. In high school she had spent time volunteering in refugee camps in Kenya. In college she worked with families on welfare in central Washington. She saw hungry babies. She walked into homes that were piled with garbage and dirty laundry. In an orphanage in the slums of Nairobi, she held AIDS babies and worked with disabled kids who had been left at the front gate of an orphanage by parents who couldn’t afford to feed them. She saw things that didn’t make sense to a Christian. Walking out of church that day and leaving the Church was her way of saying “To hell with it all! I’m done!” For two years, she skipped church. Her Bible gathered dust on the shelf. The local bars became her temples. She indulged in the cliché rebellions of a Christian girl: smoking cigarettes and drinking hard alcohol. She got involved with men twice her age without thinking twice about it.  She wanted a break from being `good.’

And then, strangely, she woke up one morning at age 25, climbed into her car, and drove downtown to attend a 10 a.m. church service. She had decided to return to the Church! Simon Peter said to Jesus, “Master, if we leave You, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. At the end of the day Andrea like Simon Peter discovered that she had no better place to go. So she returned to the Church, because (despite all its faults) she saw the Church “as a place to ask unanswerable questions, and a place to search for God.”

Conclusion

No better place to go

Despite the clergy sex abuse, despite the refusal of the Church to deal meaningfully with the shortage of priests; despite her macho approach to the ordination of women, despite the Church’s pretense that gays do not exist or that the faithful don’t practice birth control--despite all that, we choose not to leave the Church. We choose to stay and, like Sr. Joan, engage in `a ministry of irritation’ which turns a grain of sand into a pearl of great price. We choose to stay in the Church, because like Fr. Küng we find in the Church “a spiritual home” on which we, like him, don’t want to turn our backs. Or we choose to return to the Church, as Andrea did, when she finally came to realize that the Church indeed is the place to “ask unanswerable questions, and the place to search for God.” Despite everything, we choose to stay in the Church with Sr. Chittister and Fr. Küng, or we choose to return with Andrea, because, like my dog Simeon who wouldn’t jump out of the open windows of my car on a hot summer day, we’ve come to realize we have no better place to go.

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[1] Why I am still a Christian was written back in 1986 when John Paul II was pope.

On Being Bread

“I Am the Bread of Life.” (Jn. 6:48)

On Being Bread

August 12, 2012, 19^th Sunday in Ordinary Time,
1 Kings 19:4-8         2 Ephesians 4:30-5:2          John 6:41-58[1]

 

Bread from heaven in the OT

Elijah went a day's journey into the desert, and sat down in the shade of a tree and wished he could die. “It’s too much, Lord,” he said. “Take away my life; I might as well be dead!” Then Elijah lay down under the tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, “Wake up and eat.” He looked around and saw a loaf of bread and a jar of water near his head. He ate and drank, and lay down again. The Lord’s angel returned and woke him up a second time and said, “Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.” Elijah got up, and ate the bread and drank the water. That gave him enough strength to walk forty days to Sinai, the holy mountain."

The word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

Alleluia, alleluia.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John
Glory to you, Lord.

Bread from Heaven in the NT

The Jews started grumbling because Jesus said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven," and they said, "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?'" Jesus answered, "Stop your grumbling! No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him to me, and I will raise him on the last day. It is written in the prophets: “All men shall be taught by God.”[2] This means that everybody who has heard the Father’s voice and learned from Him will come to me. (Not that anyone actually sees the Father, for only I have seen Him.) I tell you the truth: whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the bread in the desert,[3] but they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. 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: "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth: if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in yourselves. (Jn. 6:53). 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; it is not like the bread your ancestors ate and still died. The one who eats this bread will live forever."

The Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Introduction

Assumption - a harvest feast

The feast of Assumption this coming Wednesday August 15 is always a turning point. Summer is just about to begin to depart. Soon the kids will be going back to school. Soon we'll see and feel the first hints of autumn. Driving along a country road, we'll suddenly come upon a herd of red and golden maple trees grazing on a hillside. Soon from open windows at night, we'll drink in deep refreshing draughts of cool air, as we pull a little heavier blanket over ourselves, and listen to crickets singing of summer spent. Soon the fruits of harvest will come rushing in on us, and the older citizens among us will hasten to capture summer for winter in canning jars.

The Ascension of Jesus is a harvest feast; it proclaims that one of our own (a human being and a man) has been harvested – has ascended bodily to the heavenly throne, where He now sits at the right hand of the Father. St. Paul calls Jesus "the first fruits of the harvest" (I Cor. 15:20). The Assumption of Mary is also a harvest feast; it proclaims that another one of our own (a human being and a woman) has been harvested – has been taken up bodily to the heavenly throne. If Jesus is the first fruits of the harvest, Mary is the `second first fruits’ of the harvest.

Jesus gives bread and is bread

In the opening verses of this 6^th chapter of John, Jesus gives bread to 5000 hungry people, as He miraculously multiplies 5 loaves of  bread and 2 fishes to feed them. (Jn. 6:1- 13) He who said, “I am the light of the world” (Jn. 8:12), “I am the gate to the sheepfold” (Jn. 10:9), “I am the good shepherd” (Jn.10:11), in the second part of this 6^th chapter says, “I am the bread of life.” (6:48) In the opening verses of this chapter Jesus  gives bread as He miraculously feeds 5000 hungry people with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fishes. In the rest of this chapter Jesus is bread: “I am the bread of life.”

Being bread on State Street, Milwaukee

More important than giving bread to others is being bread for them.
On State Street. in Milwaukee, WI, between 9^th and 10^th stands the historic Church of St. Benedict the Moor. It’s the first Catholic church in Milwaukee dedicated to ministry in the African-American community. Daily in the church hall an operation called “Loaves and Fishes” takes place. It’s a reference to John 6:1-13.The story behind that operation is that of a lad[4] who had 5 loaves and 2 fishes which he wanted to share with the hungry people of Milwaukee. So he opened the doors of his little house (which he named Casa Maria) to anyone hungry. Soon there were 5, then 10, then 20 people off the street, `dropping in for supper.’ Soon also there were people from the suburbs who also wanted to share their loaves and fishes. With time the little operation grew so big it had to go in search of a more spacious banquet hall. It finally came to rest at St. Benedict the Moor Church in central-city on Friday 13^th November 1970. That Friday 13^th was, indeed, a lucky day; it made a dying parish in central city come to life!

Daily countless hungry people off the street `drop in for supper.’ Daily countless people from the suburbs come to give bread to the hungry in central city. But what is even more important, the suburbanites come to be bread for hungry people who’ve hit upon hard times. After serving the meal they’ve prepared and brought down to central city, they try to be bread for the hungry guests by sitting down and breaking bread with them. Like Jesus, they not only give bread, they also try to be bread.

Being bread on the streets of New York

Franciscan priest Fr. Mychal Judge was one of the four chaplains for the New York Fire Department, and the story of his death was one of the first to come out of the tragedy of 9/11/2001.  He had taken his helmet off to give the last rites to a dying fireman when suddenly debris came crashing down upon him.  He died there on the spot. His body was carried off to a nearby church and was laid upon the altar.

 In his own house, the church, Fr. Mychal was controversial and very unconventional, holding Mass in the most unlikely places, and frequently compelling a Monsignor in the New York Chancery to admonish him.

Unconventional Fr. Mychal had an absolutely encyclopedic memory for people’s names, birthdays and passions. He knew everyone from the homeless to Mayor Giuliani himself. Being himself a recovering alcoholic, he comforted other alcoholics. He assured them they weren’t evil people, but that they had an illness that needed to be cured. Though he was a true New Yorker, born and raised in the City, he lived on an entirely different plain of priorities than most New Yorkers. He wasn’t acquisitive or grabby. He was utterly unselfish and totally uncomplaining. In a word, he was the bread of  life for hungry New Yorkers.

On October 11, 2001 a `Month's Mind Memorial’ was held in Good Shepherd Chapel, on Ninth Ave.  An endless flow of priests, nuns, lawyers, cops, firefighters, homeless people, rock-and-rollers, recovering alcoholics, local politicians and middle-aged couples from the suburbs streamed into Good Shepherd Chapel to memorialize Fr. Mychal.  It was an evening of prayer, stories, traditional Irish music, and personal testimonials about Fr. Mychal. That legendary man and Saint of 9/11 not only gave bread to hungry people at the friary door, he also was bread for a multitude of people laboring under various hungers on the streets of New York. 

Conclusion

On being bread

Yes, indeed, give bread to the hungry people on the State Streets of your city, but above all be bread for them. Yes, indeed, give bread to your kids: give them a nice house to live in, a good education, and all the toys and things that kids feel they need, but above all be bread for them. Feed them with the bread of your unselfishness, kindness, forgiveness, patience, concern for others, etc. At the end of the day, such bread does double duty: it feeds not only others but yourself as well. 

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[1] I have combined the gospel reading for this 19^th Sunday (Jn. 6:41-51) and the gospel reading for 20^th Sunday (Jn. 6:52-58); they seem to belong together. Accordingly, there won’t be a homily for next Sunday August 19, 2012.

[2] Isaiah 54:13

[3] Exodus 16:4

[4] Michael Cullen

I AM - the Very Name of God

 I AM – the Very Name of God

August 5, 2012, 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15       Ephesians 4:17, 20-24     John 6:24-35        

Bread from heaven in the O.T.

There in the desert the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying to them, “We wish that the LORD had killed us in Egypt, as we sat by our fleshpots and ate our fill of bread! But you had to lead us into this desert to make the whole community die of famine!” Then the LORD said to Moses, “I will now rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather enough for that day. In this way I can test them to find out if they will follow my instructions. “

The LORD said to Moses, “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them that at twilight they will have meat to eat, and in the morning they will have all the bread they want. Then they will know that I, the LORD, am their God.” In the evening a large flock of quail flew in and covered the camp, and in the morning there was dew all around the camp. When the dew evaporated, there was something thin and flaky on the surface of the desert.  It was as delicate as frost. When the Israelites saw it, they did not know what it was and asked each other, “What is it?” Moses told them, “This is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat.”

The word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

Alleluia, alleluia.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John
Glory to you, Lord.

The real bread from heaven in the N.T.

When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
And when they found Him across the sea they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” Jesus replied, “The truth of the matter is that you want to be with Me because I fed you the loaves and fishes, not because you believe in Me. Do not work just for food that perishes, but also for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on Him the Father, God, has set his seal.” 

So they said to Him, “What can we do to accomplish the works of God?”

Jesus answered: “This is the work of God that you believe in the one He sent.” So they said to Him, “What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do? Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written, ` He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” So Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, what Moses gave you was not the bread from heaven; it is my Father who gives you the real bread from heaven. For the bread that God gives is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. So they said to Him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I AM the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never hunger, and whoever believes in Me will never thirst.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Introduction

The 8^th month of the rolling year

Here it is the 1^st Sunday of the August, the 18^th Sunday in Ordinary Time and the 8^th month of the rolling year. Noticeably the days are shortening and the nights are lengthening. One month from today (Wed., Sept. 5) Football Season 2012 will happily burst upon a nation worried by these hard economic times, and wearied by the ho-hum rhetoric of the upcoming presidential election on Nov. 6^th. With football soon upon us, life will be worthwhile living again (momentarily at least), as we watch the game on a gorgeous fall day, or even during a howling snowstorm. The pages are falling off the calendar like autumn leaves falling from trees. The new year of 2012 isn’t very new anymore.

I AM – the very name of God

In the Old Testament I AM is the very name of God. When God calls Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, he asks God, “When I go to the Israelites and tell them that the God of their ancestors has sent me to them, they will ask me what His name is? So what shall I tell them?” God said to Moses, “You must tell the Israelites that He whose name is I AM has sent you to them.” (Ex. 3:11-14)  

In the New Testament the scribes and Pharisees knew that I AM was the very name of God. One day when they were engaged in a rather lengthy and heated verbal scrap with Jesus (Jn. 8:31-59), He said to them, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad.” But they protested, “Why you’re not even fifty years old--and you claim to have seen Abraham?” Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I AM.” (Jn. 8:58).That was such a bold claim to the very name of God that the Jewish authorities picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and slipped out of the Temple precincts.

The seven great `I AM’s of Jesus

Scripture scholars speak of the “The Seven Great ` I AM’s” of Jesus, which are sprinkled throughout John’s gospel. Today’s reading quotes the first of the seven: “I AM the bread of life. (Jn. 6: 35, 48, 51) Then in chapter 8 Jesus says, “I AM the light of the world.” (Jn. 8:12)  In chapter 10 He says, “I AM the gate to the sheepfold. (Jn. 10:9)  In the same chapter Jesus says, “I AM the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep.” (Jn.10:11)   In chapter 14 He says, “I AM the way, the truth and the life.” (Jn.14:6)  Finally in chapter 15 He says, “I AM the vine and you are the branches, and my Father is the gardener. “(Jn. 15:5)

Last Sunday Jesus gives bread to 5000 hungry people. (Jn. 6:1-15)  This Sunday Jesus is bread: “I tell you the truth, I AM the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never hunger, and whoever believes in Me will never thirst.” (Jn. 6:35)

Arch. O’Malley – the bread of life

On July 30, 2003, Capuchin Bishop (now Cardinal) Sean Patrick O’Malley was installed as the 9^th Archbishop of Boston. O’Malley proceeded immediately to become the bread of life for the very hungry and confused sheep of the Archdiocese. Those sheep were reeling under the scandal of sexual abuse committed by priests of the Archdiocese. They were reeling also under the added scandal that the sexual abuse had been covered up by Cardinal Bernard Law, then the Archbishop of Boston. In his homily delivered with a deep mellow voice, Sean Patrick O’Malley lost no time in confronting the scandal of clergy sex abuse which had painfully shamed the faithful and countless good priests of the Archdiocese. Turning to a group of victims of priest-sex-abuse (who had been invited) O’Malley said, “I’m pleased that so many victims have come to this installation Mass. The healing of our Church is inexorably bound up to your own healing; you are the wounds on the body of Christ. We thank you for coming forward.”

The newspapers the next morning universally gave the new Archbishop very high marks. One commentator said that his style was not just about robes and sandals, but about the very core of the man: “It was evident there was a genuine source down deep within Archbishop O’Malley from which everything was flowing.” He was, indeed, the bread of life for all the very hungry and confused faithful in the cathedral that morning.

Bp Untener – the bread of life

Bishop Kenneth Edward Untener (1937- 2004) also was the bread of life for the hungry sheep of his diocese.  His first words as Bishop of Saginaw M I, to the people of his diocese were: "My name is Ken, and I AM your waiter. I will be your waiter for a very long time.” Then Bp. Untener proceeded to wait upon his people and break bread for them. He sold the bishop's mansion, and for the next 24 years lived in 69 rectories. The trunk of his car became his office. On the 25^th anniversary of Pope Paul VI's encyclical letter Humanae Vitae in 1993 (reaffirming the Church's stand against artificial birth control) Untener used the occasion to keep his promise to be a waiter serving his people. He invited his Church to reopen an honest and transparent discussion on birth control. (His invitation was not well received by his Church.) On the issue of divorce, Untener said, “I am not here to condemn divorced people, nor am I here to condone them. I am here to help them. Jesus did not come to condemn or condone the woman caught in adultery; He came to help her.”

Bishop Untener did such a wonderful job of being the people’s `waiter’ and of being the bread of life for his hungry flock, that a throng of 1800 people attended his funeral Mass on April 1, 2004. The church that day resounded with a strange mix of crying and laughing, and it joyously rang out with audible `Amens’ and a standing ovation.  

Good Pope John – the good shepherd

Pope John XXIII summoned his Church to the Second Vatican Council (Oct.11, 1962- Dec. 8, 1965). Vatican II dramatically changed the course of the Bark of Peter with its 16 conciliar documents. What John did for the Church was, indeed, important, but what he was for the Church was even more important. In his homily on the day of his `coronation’ he didn’t tell the crowds what he was planning to do, but what he was planning to be for the Church: a good shepherd. He told the crowds, “Your new pope has in mind the words of Jesus who said: `I AM the good shepherd.’” (Jn. 10:11) The next day, John went forth to be a good shepherd, visiting prisoners in a Roman jail and aged priests in a nursing home. His outstanding example of a good shepherd perhaps transformed the Church even more than the Council which John called.

When John lay dying, the whole world was there kneeling at the bedside of its good shepherd. (That is not an exaggeration.) Among them was Australian writer Morris L. West (1916-1999), who is well known especially for his books The Devil’s Advocate and The Shoes of the Fisherman. Though West often criticized the Church in his writings, he was, however, one of those sheep who lovingly knew the good shepherd, Pope John. In a little volume entitled A View from the Ridge West (writing out of his own personal life experiences in and with the Church) paints contrasting portraits of John XXIII and his successor John Paul II. West was a kind of man’s man, but when he writes of John XXIII he becomes quite emotional.

I am very close to tears as I begin to set down the words. What can I say of a man so manifestly good? In his hands the crosier of the bishop has meant what it was meant to mean—the crook of the kindly Shepherd, to whom the way-worn and the stragglers meant more than those penned up safely in the sheepfold.

I believe I can say with certainty that I remained in communion with the Church even when the Church itself excluded me, and I remain there still, principally because of the presence of John XXIII, the Good Shepherd, whom I never met, though I did meet his predecessor and his successor. Goodness went out from this man to me. I acknowledged it then. I acknowledge it again. We had had a surfeit of princes and politicians and theologians – even of conventional saints. We needed a man who spoke the language of the heart. We had John too briefly.

Conclusion

I AM – more important than I DO

What I DO as `doctor, lawyer, merchant or chief,’ or what I DO as pope, cardinal, bishop or priest is, indeed, important. What I AM, however, is more important than what I DO! When I AM bread for someone who’s hungry, when I AM light for someone who’s in the dark, when I AM a door for someone who’s knocking to get in, when I AM a good shepherd to some hungry sheep seeking a green pasture, etc. - that’s even more important than what I DO. Jesus’ seven great `I AM’s challenge me to define myself not by what I DO but by what I AM.