{"id":801,"date":"2012-08-20T08:03:21","date_gmt":"2012-08-20T12:03:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=801"},"modified":"2012-08-20T08:03:21","modified_gmt":"2012-08-20T12:03:21","slug":"sunday-homily-bread-of-life-discourse-4-of-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/sunday-homily-bread-of-life-discourse-4-of-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday Homily Bread of Life Discourse #4 of 5"},"content":{"rendered":"

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B<\/a>
\nProverbs 9:1-6
\nEphesians 5:15-20
\nJohn 6:51-58
\nAugust 19, 2012<\/p>\n

Lady Wisdom has prepared a great meal and invited the \u201csimple\u201d and those \u201cwho lack understanding.\u201d\u00a0 One might think Lady Wisdom would invite only those who are wise like her but she invites all.\u00a0 She wants all to share in her wisdom.<\/p>\n

She also speaks of the \u201cfoolish\u201d.\u00a0 We should ask how she is defining \u201cfoolishness\u201d and \u201cwise\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0Sometimes,\u00a0what seems like human foolishness can be God’s Wisdom.\u00a0\u00a0It is God\u2019s Wisdom, a gift of the Holy Spirit that we are called to seek.<\/p>\n

For this Lady Wisdom invites us to her great banquet.<\/p>\n

Jesus invites us to even a greater banquet but, if like some of the Jews, we try to understand what Jesus is saying in human terms it makes no sense.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jesus tells them that they must \u201ceat his flesh\u201d and \u201cdrink his blood.\u201d\u00a0 In human terms this is awful.\u00a0 It\u2019s cannibalism.\u00a0 It\u2019s disgusting.\u00a0 So those who think in human terms find it \u2018foolish.\u2019<\/p>\n

Of course, at that point the people knew nothing of the Eucharist.\u00a0 But we do.\u00a0 When viewed with eyes of faith and in light of the Eucharist, \u201cEat my flesh\u201d and \u201cDrink my blood\u201d becomes a profound statement.<\/p>\n

Some would say the Jews who objected were taking Jesus too literally.\u00a0 In a sense they are but then we take Jesus very literally when he says \u201cThis is my body, this is my blood\u201d but we understand in faith that it happens on level that transcends the physical.<\/p>\n

This is the fourth week in a row that we have been reading from the discourse in Chapter 6 of John\u2019s Gospel that includes the Bread of Life Discourse.\u00a0 This is the week where I had been hoping to come up with some great argument that would serve as proof of the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.<\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t found a wise argument in human terms.\u00a0 Thinking that bread and wine could become the Body\u00a0and Blood of Jesus\u00a0could seem like foolishness in human terms.\u00a0 With faith, it is a profound wisdom to believe in the Real\u00a0Presence.\u00a0 So I would just like to share with you two specific experiences of mine and then a general experience of the Real Presence.<\/p>\n

First, as I was preparing for my ordination to the priesthood and presiding at Mass for the first time I reflected a lot on what the Eucharist meant to me and what it would mean for me to preside at the Eucharist.\u00a0 At that time (and still do!) I very much believed in the real presence.\u00a0 I prayed to God that the first time that I said the words of consecration at Mass that I very much be aware of that profound change of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus that we call \u201cTransubstantiation.\u201d\u00a0 And I was.\u00a0 I wish I could describe it for you but it can only be described in faith, not human wisdom.\u00a0 I simply knew something incredible was going on.<\/p>\n

The second experience involves Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament.\u00a0 For those of you not familiar with the practice, the Blessed Sacrament, a consecrated host, is placed in a monstrance on the altar for all to see.\u00a0 People come and pray individually.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The first couple of times I went to Exposition, it would hard and nothing really happened.\u00a0 I just kept waiting for something spectacular.\u00a0 Then, when I started in major seminary, I went one last time and said to God, this is the last time, unless this feels good, I\u2019m not doing this again.\u00a0 Well, God responded and it was the best hour of prayer I had had in several months.\u00a0 What was different?\u00a0 Well, I took some spiritual reading with me but didn\u2019t just sit and read.\u00a0 I\u2019d read a little, pray a little, and God spoke to me.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t a piece of bread.\u00a0 It was God\u2019s presence in a special way.<\/p>\n

Lastly a general experience.\u00a0 Sometimes, when I come to Mass, things haven\u2019t always gone the way I would like, and I might not be in a good mood.\u00a0 As Mass goes on, I let go of my bad mood and leave happier than when I came.\u00a0 When I say \u2018happier\u2019 it\u2019s not that everything becomes perfect or that I even get happy.\u00a0 It\u2019s more a sense of peace than happiness.\u00a0 I believe that happens because I am aware of the divine action in the Eucharist.\u00a0 The fact that I feel better after Mass than before proves to me the Real Presence.<\/p>\n

I hope you can relate to what I have said.\u00a0 You might not feel like you do but the fact that you are here proves to me that in some way you believe that something special does happen here.\u00a0 We might not understand it.\u00a0 We might not be able to describe it but we do believe and in our belief Jesus gives us grace.\u00a0<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B Proverbs 9:1-6 Ephesians 5:15-20 John 6:51-58 August 19, 2012 Lady Wisdom has prepared a great meal and invited the \u201csimple\u201d and those \u201cwho lack understanding.\u201d\u00a0 One might think Lady Wisdom would invite only those who are wise like her but she invites all.\u00a0 She wants all to share …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Sunday Homily Bread of Life Discourse #4 of 5’ »<\/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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[104,82],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-cV","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801"}],"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=801"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":802,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801\/revisions\/802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}