To whom shall we go?

The scripture readings for today can be found at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/082315.cfm.

People sometimes say, "Decisions, decisions! Too many decisions!" I'll bet that this happens most often in Starbucks by someone who is there for the first time. Cappaccino or Frappuccino? If the latter, which of the 28 varieties? Then there are Lattes - a lotta, lotta Lattes. And Expressos: six of them, and that's just  the type, not the flavors. Hot chocolates, plural of course. Can you get just coffee? Well, yes, and I'll also bet  that's the choice most people who don't understand anything on the menu and don't want to look stupid by asking questions and holding up the line. Fortunately, our readings from the book of Joshua and John's Gospel don't give us multiple, mind blowing choices. They give us a simple either/or.

Christians do, of course, face many choices. Underneath them all, however, is the radical, fundamental choice: Do I accept and follow Jesus, (in Peter's words) the Holy One of God, or not?

In our first reading from Joshua, he lays out pretty clear worship possibilities. Do they choose the gods their ancestors worshiped across the river; the Amorite gods of the territory they were now in, or the one, true God - the Lord? Wisely, they responded, “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD for the service of other gods." (Joshua 24:16)

In the gospel we read the final part of the bread of life discourse in John, chapter 6. Many of Jesus' disciples had a hard time accepting the fact that Jesus expected them to eat His body and drink His blood. They couldn't understand that Jesus WAS the bread of life - quite literally. But that was not the only teaching of Jesus that caused eyeballs to roll and hands to fly in the air. I'm sure Jesus' teaching on "Love your enemies" got many responses similar to, "You've got to be kidding? Me love those people that I hate the most?" As a result, many walked away from Jesus.

I've heard many people say that if they were only there, they would not leave Jesus. They would accept and embrace his teachings! History proves otherwise. Many people today leave the Church - not only the Catholic Church, but many other denominations as well. Many leave what we call "organized religion" altogether. Judgmental urging or  nagging stands almost no chance of bringing them back. What does? Seeing the comfort, strength, and joy we experience in our faith!

Our faith in Jesus, our decision to follow Jesus' teachings, and our committal to His way of life must be primary in our lives. We must commit ourselves, first and foremost, and radically, to Jesus, not to a stack of statements or even a collection of ideas, good as those may be. At the very heart and soul of this commitment is the person of Jesus, through whom we return to the Father, in the life of the Holy Spirit.

Every time we receive Jesus in the Sacrament of Holy Communion, let us re-commit ourselves to him and pledge our loyalty! “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."

Love of God and Love of Neighbor!

Scripture readings for today's reflection can be found at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/082115.cfm

Today on the church calendar we commemorate Pope Pius X. Born in 1835 in the village of Riese in the province of Venice. He was bishop of Manua and patriarch of Venice; then, in 1903, was elected as Pope. The motto he chose as pope was, "renew all things in Christ." To me this means to have Christ at the center of all who we are and all that we do.

In the gospel reading for today's Mass Jesus explains how are are to renew all things in Him. He was asked what was the greatest commandment. Jesus' response was, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:34-40) These are pretty strong words for us to follow. Jesus is telling us that, to be His true followers, we are to love others as much as we claim we love God!

Loving God, it would seem, should be easy for most all of us. We go to church, we pray and do our devotions and rosaries. Yet, when we leave and come in contact with the people around us, we get upset and annoyed at them, whether it's our spouse, our family members, our neighbors or our co-workers. When at work, we may get wrapped up in gossip about our co-workers! Instead of being charitable towards those in our lives, we tend to judge them!

We all need to work on Jesus' command to love our neighbors as ourselves! That includes everyone, and most especially those who we find most annoying and unattractive in our lives. Love them and respect them as you would love and respect God. In this way, we can renew all things in Christ.

Bread of Heaven

The readings for the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, (Sunday, August 16th) can be found at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/081615.cfm. 

We continue reading the sixth chapter of John in our Scripture readings for mass today. Known as the bread of life discourse, Jesus goes on to teach His followers that we are to eat His body and drink His blood in order to have eternal life.  “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you." (John 6:53) We can understand the people's shock and horror when they heard these words for the first time. They are so physical and blunt about eating flesh and drinking blood. This saying of Jesus is not shocking to us since it is so routine that we receive the Body and Blood of Jesus at every mass we attend. Maybe it is too routine for us?

With today's readings we should focus on something that we as Catholics take so much for granted, the meaning of the red lamp by the tabernacle in every Catholic Church around the world. This red lamp reminds us of the true presence of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ that can be found in the tabernacle.

The Church is a large world wide organization with many  layers of structures. It's a worldwide institution with many apostolates and ministries, and millions and millions of people on every continent. Yet at the heart and center of all this activity is the Eucharist. That is the heart of the Church. The Eucharist is something that we take for granted but it is essential for our Catholic life, like the beating of our hearts.

We have much in common with other Christians such as affirming "Jesus as Lord and Savior," "God's Word in Sacred Scripture" and the truths of the Creed. But what makes Catholic life and Catholic spirituality unique is the Eucharist. It is the center of our life, more than we realize.

In all we do, let us not take the Body and Blood of Jesus as routine. Let us remember that it is truly the Body and Blood of Jesus we receive at Holy Communion. Let us then take the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ with us into the world to serve others in our life. In this way, Christ is truly present in the world. Let Christ use us in our daily life!

Jesus, The Living Bread

The scripture readings for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time can be found at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/080915.cfm.

The miracle of the loaves and fish and Jesus' teaching about Himself as the "living bread" or the "bread of life" in chapter six of St. John's Gospel calls us to look at several aspects of the Eucharist, the center and heart of our Catholic life and identity.

In the miracle itself, we read how Jesus gathered the people, taught them and fed them. This happens at every Mass as Jesus gathers us, teaches us through scripture and feeds us as surely as He gathered, taught, and fed the people on that mountainside.

In today's Gospel, Jesus speaks of that spiritual hunger that the Eucharist satisfies. As the people sought bread that filled their stomachs, Jesus speaks to them of a different kind of bread, the living bread. Malnutrition is rampant in our world. There are two kinds of ways a person can suffer from malnutrition. One is from not having enough food to eat, which is true of what we call the "Third World." The other is from eating the wrong kind of food, which is a problem here in the United States. Either can lead to physical deterioration, emotional problems, depression and death.

All of us also have spiritual hungers that are as real as the hunger of the body. All of us needs companionship, affirmation, respect, loyalty, and purpose. Beyond these emotional needs there are needs of the soul for cleansing, forgiveness, spiritual rebirth, inner healing,and union with God.These hungers can happen in the most wealthy of nations. In fact, material prosperity  can sometimes mask spiritual starvation.

When we place more importance on material wealth, and deny our spiritual growth, we start to die from spiritual malnourishment. When people are starving spiritually, they will grab for anything. We have a "spiritual marketplace" filled with all kinds of spiritual "junk food," new age literature filled with broad, unfocussed generalities, books about superstitions, accounts about the preternatural that give the illusion of spiritual nourishment but only make it worse. Jesus "satisfies the hungry heart" at each Mass with His truth and with Himself through the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

If we pay attention to the daily and Sunday scripture readings at mass, we discover a journey, like Israel's journey through the desert. Our journey will lead us to heaven, while we continue to perform our mission on earth.

In all that happens to us in our daily life, we can either let it help us or hinder us on that journey to heaven. We are taught that we are destined for union with God not only in eternity but now through grace. We are taught that a life of prayer and service can deepen that union.

At Mass we are fed with the very body and blood of Jesus Christ. It is at Mass that we make contact with the Jesus of the Gospels, the Jesus of History, the Jesus Who is the center of our Church. During Holy Communion He comes to us personally with all the graces and strength we need, in our own personal way, for our individual journey of life.

During Holy Communion bring to Jesus your particular hunger. Then Jesus will give you strength for the journey you have yet to make.