Today we have a recurring guest blogger: Fr. Arthur F. Rojas, pastor of PRESENTATION OF THE B.V.M CHURCH, PORT EWEN AND SACRED HEART CHURCH, ESOPUS. For more information on this parish, check out their website at Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary & Sacred Heart Churches - Port Ewen - Esopus, NY (presentationsacredheart.org)
Scripture readings for this reflection can be found at Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time | USCCB
Submission to the blog of Dcn. Thomas Tortorella for XXI Sunday of Ord. Time
© All Rights Reserved personally by Rev. Fr. Arthur F. Rojas, August 21, 2024 ©
As a pastor, I know well the temptation to water down the hard truths of the Gospel in my preaching and teaching to keep people coming to Mass and our other rites and further to sustain our parish practically and prayerfully. I can only imagine how this temptation besets my fellow pastors as we all try to keep our parishes going in body and soul whilst the Catholic Church and other faith communities are still recovering from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and even worse, from the blithe disregard of the needs of the human soul as well as our constitutional rights to the free exercise of religion, freedom of assembly, and free speech by various public authorities, leaders of public opinion, and corporate bigwigs – among others - as they mismanaged the pandemic and its aftermath. Luke 12:48.
I wonder if Our Lord Jesus was tempted to some linguistic sleight of hand regarding His assertions of His Real Presence in the Eucharist, per John 6, the source of our Gospel readings in the Ordinary Form these last five weeks and concluding today in Jn 6:60-69. Although we Roman Catholic priests promise celibacy before receiving Holy Orders, that does not mean that we let go of wanting to love or wanting to be loved (and liked), including by our parishioners. As almost all His followers deserted Jesus in John 6, I can imagine the heaviness in Our Lord’s question to St. Peter and the other Apostles, “Do you want to leave?” Heaviness, I dare to imagine. But He did not change His teachings.
Consider St. Peter’s response in Jn 6:68, “Master, to Whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” What a choice His Eminence, Cardinal Dolan, made when he chose “Ad quem ibimus” (Latin for “To whom shall we go?”) as his episcopal motto! Our Lord not only probes the faith of the Apostles in Jn 6 but also asks how much faith will be on Earth when He returns. Cf. Luke 18:8 (“However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on Earth?”). When encountering the preaching and teaching of the hard truths of the Gospel, especially on the controversies of today, and not getting hung up on how - or for how long - the message is made, may we strive to answer Our Lord’s question made to you and me while the Gospel today is proclaimed or sung at Mass, as St. Peter replied in Jn 6:68. May Our Lord’s questions meet your response and mine that Jesus will find your living faith (and mine), even if that entails trial and tribulation on Earth, so that we may attain holiness in this life and then our eternal salvation.
From Arlene B. Muller
ReplyDeleteTrue. When many of His followers were walking away because they could not understand or accept the truth of Our LORD giving us His Real Presence of His Body, Blood, Soul & Divinity, He never backed down or compromised. So we must "tell the truth in love" but never compromise or water down the truth. We need always to be eager to receive "the words of everlasting life" & to share these messages, first by our example & then by words as necessary.