Homily Number 1 When
the Gospel opens, the Jews are murmering.
Murmer grumble murmer. Lets all
murmer. Murmer, grumble, murmer…
They murmer
because they are upset at Jesus. They
think He is puffing himself up and putting on airs, when they know He is
nothing special, just the carpenter’s kid.
They ask; “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’?” They want
to puncture Jesus’ balloon and bring him down to earth. They even take glee in setting Jesus
straight and deflating Jesus’ high-fallutin airs.
But Jesus is
not doing this in a proud or haughty or boastful way. Quite the opposite. He says of himself “I am the bread of life.”
Now bread is ordinary. Bread is
common. Bread is humble. It is not something extraordinary and special. But it is
vitally important.
Jesus could
have said he was the standing rib roast of life, or the moist BBQ brisket of
life, or the steak and lobster special of life.
But no, rather he says, “I am the
bread of life.” I am what sustains
and nourishes you.
Jesus states
simply but boldly, “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.” Jesus gives us Himself, as bread, so that we
might have His life, the life of God, in us.
Homily Number 2 Now
put that over on the side for a moment and let’s change our focus and look at
today’s second reading from St. Paul to the Ephesians, one of my favorite
letters of St. Paul.
Paul tells the
Ephesians, and us, “Do not grieve the
Holy Spirit of God, with which you were sealed for the day of redemption.” Who here has been sealed with the Holy
Spirit for the day of redemption???
Well, if you have been Confirmed, you have
been sealed with the Holy Spirit of God for the day of redemption. When a Bishop confirms, or when I confirm on
Holy Saturday, we say “Be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Notice the wording. Be sealed with the gift of the Holy
Spirit.
The Sacrament
of Confirmation is not something we do or accomplish, but is rather a gift
given to us. All the Sacraments are
gifts. We can not earn nor deserve
them. They are grace, which means
“free”. True, we make the high school
confirmation candidates go to a number of classes, learn the gifts of the Holy
Spirit, do a certain number of service projects, and generally treat the
sacrament as if it were a merit badge that the teens earn by doing all that
stuff. But that is our hang-up, not
God’s. Confirmation is God’s free gift. We don’t earn it, nor deserve it, nor have a
claim on it. It is gift. It is grace.
Anyway, those
who are confirmed by God are sealed with the Holy Spirit for the day of
redemption. When Jesus comes in His
glory, we will have our confirmation that we are members of His Body. Just like you need your confirmation number
when you reserve a hotel or book a flight, so your Confirmation confirms that
you are part of the Body of Christ, a member of God’s people.
But in the meantime,
it calls us to live in a certain way. A
very strange way. St. Paul tells us: “All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and
reviling must be removed from you, along with all malice.” Wow.
How odd! Because you know what I
thought of immediately upon reading
that statement as I
prepared for this homily? What do you
think it was? IT was our current
situation in this country with politics and the public sector. All you seem to get today is exactly what we
are supposed to get rid of: “all
bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling must be removed from you, along
with all malice.” How are we going
to enter into any political or social discussion and debate without any of that
stuff??
And yet, that
is what we are called to. St Paul tells
us: “And be kind to one another,
compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.” Oh my!
If we do this,
the likelihood that we will be misunderstood, misinterpreted, misrepresented,
deliberately skewed and mocked, is pretty
much guaranteed. Civility and
compassion will be misread for weakness, or simple-mindedness, or just plain
stupid.
And that
brings us back to Jesus in the Gospel, being misunderstood, mis-read, totally
missed. That is what Jesus
experienced.
It is tempting
to NOT follow Him. To not follow such a
foolish and difficult path. ¿Put aside all bitterness, fury,
anger, shouting and reviling along with all malice? ¿Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one
another as God has forgiven you in Christ?
That is a big challenge.
But it is the
way to life. LIFE. Jesus is the bread of life. He tells us:
“I am the living bread that came
down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever, and the bread I
will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” You can’t do better than that.
AMEN.
No comments:
Post a Comment