{"id":2619,"date":"2018-08-19T12:53:15","date_gmt":"2018-08-19T16:53:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=2619"},"modified":"2018-08-19T12:53:15","modified_gmt":"2018-08-19T16:53:15","slug":"20th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-b-homily-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/20th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-b-homily-2\/","title":{"rendered":"20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

20th<\/sup> Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B<\/a>
\nProverbs 9:1-6
\nPsalm 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7 (9a)
\nEphesians 5:15-20
\nJohn 6:51-58
\nAugust 19, 2018<\/p>\n

Last week we heard about how the Jews murmured about Jesus saying, \u201cI am the bread that came down from heaven.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 They thought it was impossible for him to have come down from Heaven because they knew him as son of Joseph and Mary.<\/p>\n

This week we hear the that \u201cThe Jews quarreled among themselves<\/em>,\u201d because Jesus told them that he will give his \u201cflesh for the life of the world<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 This didn\u2019t make sense to them.\u00a0 How could he do this?\u00a0 Why would he want to?\u00a0 Even if he could, taking at face value, it would sound like cannibalism.\u00a0 That\u2019s disgusting.<\/p>\n

Jesus goes on to say that we must \u201cdrink his blood.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 That too would seem disgusting.\u00a0 Speaking in terms of the Jewish law, Deuteronomy 12:23 prohibited the drinking of the blood of the animals.\u00a0 To do so was to take on the life force of the animal.<\/p>\n

This is exactly why we need to eat Jesus\u2019 flesh and drink his blood but not in the sense that the Jews are thinking.\u00a0 We come to receive the Eucharist to become more like Jesus.<\/p>\n

Before we fault the Jews for not getting this, we need to realize that they do not have the perspective that we have.\u00a0 We know what Jesus is talking about to be the Eucharist.\u00a0 The Jews knew nothing of the Eucharist as the bread of life.\u00a0 How could Jesus\u2019 words to eat his flesh and drink his blood make sense to anyone except in the light of the Eucharist.<\/p>\n

Many will leave from the crowd and turn to their former way of life because of their inability to understanding what Jesus says his Bread of Life Discourse.\u00a0 I wonder why they never said to Jesus, \u201cWhat do you mean?\u00a0 This makes no sense to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wisdom starts with admitting that we don\u2019t know everything.\u00a0 Do we understand all that Jesus says?\u00a0 Do we really think that we can fully<\/em><\/strong> comprehend God, God who is infinite, God who is all-knowing?<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think so.\u00a0 We need to open ourselves to \u201cmake the most of the opportunity<\/em>\u201d that God gives us to \u201cnot continue in ignorance<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 So, we must \u201ctry to understand what is the will of the LORD.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet, we must accept that we will not always understand.\u00a0 Some of the people left because they did not understand what Jesus meant when he said, \u201cUnless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

I think the same is true today.\u00a0 Many of those who leave the Catholic Church do so because they don\u2019t understand the mysteries of our faith.\u00a0 People want clear and factual knowledge.<\/p>\n

There is no clear and factual knowledge of how the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Jesus.\u00a0 There is no change in what we see or the chemical make-up of the bread and wine.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because the change does not happen on a physical level.\u00a0 We are called to believe in the mystery of the Eucharist not because of scientific evidence but because of Jesus\u2019 own words at the Last Supper when he said, \u201cthis is my body\u2026.this is my blood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why does he give us his flesh and blood?\u00a0 Again, the answer comes in Jesus\u2019 own words, \u201cFor my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 The food we most need is food for eternal life, food for our soul.<\/p>\n

It takes an act of faith.\u00a0 Next week we will hear that many of the disciples left because they couldn\u2019t understand.\u00a0 When Jesus asked the Twelve, \u201cDo you also want to leave? Simon Peter answered, \u201cMaster, to whom shall we go?\u00a0 You have the words of eternal life.\u00a0 We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Peter didn\u2019t understand but he did believe.\u00a0 We are called to do the same.<\/p>\n

What we celebrate in the Eucharist is a mystery.\u00a0 We come into the church from a physical world.\u00a0 In faith we are called to look beyond the physical.\u00a0 We may not understand the Real Presence in human terms.\u00a0 Even before we come to the Eucharist, we might struggle some to understand what we hear in the readings at Mass.\u00a0 What does this mean for us today?<\/p>\n

To open ourselves to what God offers us at Mass, I encourage you to put a little preparation into it.\u00a0 Look at the readings before or after Mass and ask God to help you understand.\u00a0 I encourage you to come early enough for Mass to say a prayer before we Mass begins to ask God to help you open yourself to what He offers you.\u00a0 We come here in faith but a faith that might not be perfect.\u00a0 When your faith seems weak, pray the words of the father of the boy with the demon, \u201cI do believe, help my unbelief!<\/em>\u201d (Mark 9:24).<\/p>\n

It is Jesus in the Eucharist!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B Proverbs 9:1-6 Psalm 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7 (9a) Ephesians 5:15-20 John 6:51-58 August 19, 2018 Last week we heard about how the Jews murmured about Jesus saying, \u201cI am the bread that came down from heaven.\u201d\u00a0 They thought it was impossible for him to have come down from Heaven …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B – Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[104,113,82],"tags":[492,478,493,102],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-Gf","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2619"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2619"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2621,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2619\/revisions\/2621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}