Don't Pull a Fast One on God (20th Sunday, Year B)

To listen to this homily, click here.

One of the things every kid does growing up is to try and outsmart their parents. This might take the form of lying about homework that isn’t exactly completed, procrastinating on chores in the hopes of parental amnesia, or moving food around a plate to give the appearance that unpopular veggies were actually eaten. Why do we do this? Sometimes, we don’t agree with what is being asked of us. Other times, we don’t like the choices we are given, we might just enjoy the feeling of rebelling, or, often, we think we know better than mom and dad and can pull a fast one on them. 

This dynamic of trying to “improve on” whatever we are asked to do, is not restricted to our parents. We do it with God as well and sometimes we approach the Lord as if we can manipulate or fool him into doing what we want. I am reminded of an anecdote where a man asked God, “What does a billion dollars mean to you who are all powerful?” “Less than a penny.” God said. Then the man asked God, “And what are a thousand centuries to you?” God answered “Less than a second!!” Thinking he had God backed into a corner, the man said, “if that’s the case, O Lord, give me a penny!!” “Sure,” God replied. “Wait just a minute.” God sees our heart and knows what we are up to!

In our first reading, we hear about God’s Wisdom, personified as a hostess who prepares a lavish meal full of every good thing and invites anyone who is humble, docile, and ready to be taught. In other words, there is a free, all-you-can-eat spiritual buffet waiting for anyone who rejects the notion they know better than God. Through this understanding, not only is the person fed, but they actually find a life and understanding that cannot be taken away. The first reading is pleading with us to resist the tendency we all have to try and do things our way, apart from God, based in pride and self-satisfaction. The author of Proverbs reminds us that true wisdom isn’t outsmarting God, wisdom is living in and with God. Wisdom is being in Christ and surrounded by Christ. Wisdom is eating and drinking from the feast which God has prepared for us. 

In his wisdom and care for us, God has provided many different ways to feed our hearts, minds, and souls. Some of our spiritual nourishment comes through the Scriptures, God’s timeless Word that speaks to us in ways both personal and yet also universally true. Other sustenance arrives through the teachings and Traditions of the Church and the Magisterium who applies them to the issues of our time. Finally and most perfectly, we are fed by the Lord himself, every time we receive the Eucharist in Holy Communion. This is the Bread from heaven which will lead to eternal life when received with proper respect and gratitude.

How often do we approach these gifts with humility and docility? With a spirit of openness and simplicity? Not trying to change God’s spiritual food and moral laws to the way we want them but accepting them as God offers, trusting in his wisdom and generosity? Aren’t there times when we react in the way the crowd does when Jesus offers them the treasure of the Eucharist? We rebel, we revise, we disagree, we try to pull a fast one on God?

It is good for us to reflect on our disposition towards all the spiritual food that God offers us. But in particular, we should make sure that we are truly mindful of the treasure we receive in the Eucharist as we near the end of the Bread of life discourse.

This is why the Church gives us five weeks to reflect on the Bread of Life Discourse of St. John’s Gospel. She wants us to come to a deeper understanding and appreciation of the gift we routinely receive every time we come to communion. The Church begs us to be humble so God can feed us the way our souls need to be nourished. Even if we don’t fully understand or agree yet! 

God is the perfect father, and he knows his children need to eat, and they need to eat well. He provides us with the Body and Blood of His Son, along with His Word and timeless teaching, at each and every Mass so we can grow in his life and love. We need to take the food our Heavenly Father provides us without being picky, prideful, or stubborn. May we receive this gift with gratitude, never taking it for granted, never receiving it unworthily. Let us heed the advice in our psalm today and “taste and see the goodness of the Lord.”

 

Let God Nourish and Encourage You! (19th Sunday, Year B)

  If we didn’t know the background of today’s first reading, we might be tempted to think of Elijah was a melodramatic crybaby, throwing a spiritual temper tantrum. The whole story is a bit more crazy. Immediately before the passage we heard, Elijah triumphed over 450 prophets of Baal in an epic showdown of whose God was real. In front of all the people, who were waiting to decide which god they would follow, Elijah was vindicated in a dramatic display which left no room for doubt. After God showed his favor with heavenly pyrotechnics, Elijah ordered the crowd to destroy the 450 prophets for serving a false god. This victory infuriated the evil queen Jezebel and she sent a message to the prophet that she would never rest until he was hunted down and wiped off the earth. So Elijah did what any reasonable person would do when a powerful, bloodthirsty queen wants to destroy them; he ran off into the desert to hide. But Elijah was no Bear Grylls! After just one day in the barren, unfriendly wilderness, he was afraid, hungry, tired, and began to despair. “Just take my life,” he exclaimed, and lays down to die. God had a better plan and sent an angel with food and a message: “Eat, drink, and get ready for your journey”. Elijah enjoys the tasty food and refreshing drink but then gets overwhelmed and lays down again, defeated. The pestering angel comes back and makes Elijah eat and drink some more and with this encouragement, he was able to journey the 40 days and 40 nights it took to cross the desert and reach the safety of God’s holy mountain. Something he thought was impossible became doable after God nourished him and encouraged him!

I had a similar, although much less dramatic experience last week. Don’t worry, it didn’t involve mortal combat with prophets serving false gods! It was something seemingly much more benign. The Archbishop sent us a memo about a recent priest appointment he made for one of our older monsignors to serve the clergy who are retired and in their 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s. Currently there about 210 diocesan priests in St. Louis and these are the ones, like Fr. Braun, Fr. Bauer, and myself who serve our parishes, say mass, hear confessions, celebrate weddings, lead funerals, and so on. Of these 210 priests, the memo casually mentions that 143 of them are 70 yrs old or older! I started thinking about what that meant in the next handful of years, when many of my esteemed older priest brothers will start meeting God face to face! How will so few priests serve so many people??!! I am ashamed to admit it but the more I thought about these numbers in the Archbishop’s memo, the more I felt like Elijah who just wanted to lay down and call it quits. 

Thankfully, my prayer and the scriptures have been helping me get past that first reaction of panic and despair. God is not asking me to figure how to solve the problem of fewer and fewer priests. He is not asking me to plan for what my life and my calendar will look like 5 or 10 years from now. What he does promise is that he will give me and each of us, the encouragement and nourishment we need to get through today. And then we will wake up and do it again tomorrow. And the day after that. And repeat until we reach the place God wants us to be. This is how Elijah was able to cross that terrible, dangerous desert and arrive alive and well, at God’s holy mountain, long after he had reached what he thought was the limit of his strength and ability.

While the details of your story and your struggles might be different than mine or Elijah’s, haven’t you felt the same way at some point? Like you cannot go another step or do one more thing? Like you have tried to do your best for God and others and yet it is still not enough? In my seven years here, I have been amazed and inspired by so many of your stories of dedication and love. Some of you quietly serve as caregivers for an elderly parent or a child with profound needs. Others are exhausted from working multiple jobs to provide for your family, still others are at their wits end as a single parent, or a first-time parent and you can’t help but wonder if you can do all that is asked of you. Even our young people struggle with overwhelming feelings of anxiety and unworthiness, from never-ending comparisons and crushing expectations while still putting on a brave face for those around them. 

Our readings during these weeks of reflection on the Eucharist encourage us with the reminder that God wants to feed us, lead us, and be with us as he guides us to a place of spiritual contentment and safety. The Scriptures say to you and me that God is faithful and capable. What seems like too much and too far will be conquered step by step, day by day in little acts of faithful prayer, service, and humble obedience. Perhaps the biggest danger for us right now is to try and look too far ahead, to attempt to control and plan according to our own wisdom and resources. Certainly when we do this, what God asks is beyond our ability and comprehension. Despair soon follows.

The remedy is found in the Eucharist, which is the fulfillment of the food and drink given to Elijah for his journey. It is a long road from this life to heaven and much of it feels like the desert: unknown, frightening, difficult, and sometimes endless. True devotion to the Eucharist involves letting God lead us, letting God teach us, letting God feed us for what we need today. And then doing that over and over again until we reach where he wants us to be. Perhaps today we can keep our prayer very simple, knowing that God will do a better job filling in the particulars of what exactly we need. And so we simply ask, “Lord increase our faith in you! Help us to trust, more than anything else, that you will provide the strength and encouragement necessary to be faithful and fulfilled today. And with your grace, I will do the same tomorrow. Amen!”

Gratitude and Fighting for Good Spiritual Food (18th Sunday, Year B)

 To listen to this homily, click here.

The first reading never ceases to amaze me! The Israelites had just been delivered from slavery, a brutal captivity where they were literally worked to death for hundreds of years. Their slave masters were so cruel and fearful that they even put their baby boys to death in the hope of stopping a future insurrection. As they were being set free, God’s people saw miracle after miracle, from the ten plagues to Moses parting the Red Sea as well as Pharaoh’s entire army destroyed by the hand of God. The Lord himself resided with them in the desert in a pillar of fire and a majestic cloud. 

After only a short while, these mighty deeds were forgotten, taken for granted, and the Israelites started thinking back to the good old days…when they were slaves. Those days were great they said, because at least then, our masters gave us food. Forgetting the great gift of freedom, God’s people were willing to give it all back in exchange for an old way of life they were used to. Never mind it was literally killing them and their future! 

This sort of blind ingratitude reminds me of a story of two old friends who bumped into each other on the street. One looked heartbroken, almost on the verge of tears. His friend asked, “What has the world done to you, dear friend?” The sad one said, “Let me tell you. Three weeks ago, an uncle died and left me $40,000.”     “That’s a lot of money”, said his pal! “Then, two weeks ago, a cousin I never even met, died, and left me $85,000 with no strings attached.” “Sounds like you’ve been blessed”, his friend exclaimed! “You don’t understand!” he interrupted. “Last week my great aunt passed away. I inherited almost a quarter of a million from her.” Now his buddy was really confused. “Then, why do you look so upset?” “This week … there has been nothing!”

Today’s readings encourage us first to foster gratitude for the ways God frees and feeds us. The Lord loves us so much that he is willing to work incredible miracles to address both our physical hunger and our spiritual starvation; He is not indifferent to either. I suppose that is what makes the first reading so outrageous. God brought them out of slavery and oppression so they could be free; free to love Him, free to love each other, free to enjoy a Promised Land that would give them everything their hearts desired. If they realized how much God cared for them, they would have known that he would provide something as basic as daily food. But instead of acknowledging past favors with humble gratitude and then asking for what they needed with confident faith, they complained. Even worse, they wished to go back into slavery rather than trust in the One who had already brought them so far. Each of us can easily fall into this same spirit of ingratitude, complaining, and slavery. In many ways, we have received far more than the Israelites and the crowds that followed Jesus. We have the Eucharist, the sacraments, the teaching of the Church, the example of the saints, and the blessing of Scripture. But how often are we grateful? Do we thank God for taking care of us and trust that he will continue to provide what we need? Or do we act like the Israelites, quickly forgetting what he has done for us as soon as we experience hardship? Like them, are we quick to return to slavery, to what we know and are comfortable with, even when those familiar things cause us pain, heartbreak, and destroy our spiritual future?  

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is pursued by the crowd he just fed with a bread-making miracle. He admonishes them, not because it’s bad to want to eat, and even better, to eat for free. He reproves them because they are relentless in their pursuit of earthly food but much less motivated in their search for the spiritual food that will give them eternal life. Once again, how close does this hit home for us?!

It would be an understatement to say that most Americans eat well. To have three full meals a day, if we want it, is not uncommon. Indeed, many of us eat five or six times a day, if coffee breaks, evening snacks and other times of grazing are counted. Drive down any major road or highway and count the number of fast-food places and restaurants that are found. Along a block or two of a busy thoroughfare, you may find a dozen eating establishments. Go into a major supermarket and count the variety of products that are similar. The only discernible difference often is in the brand name. For us, this is normal but to most of the world, our supermarkets must appear as temples to food and eating. 

Once again, there is nothing wrong with restaurants, fast-food dining, and supermarkets; each of them address the need to feed the body and nurture the earthly life we have been given. But compare the quantity and quality of places that address our worldly needs with those that serve our spiritual cravings. As more parishes close for lack of membership and fewer people are willing even to give one hour a week in worship, it does not appear that people share the same eagerness to be fed spiritually as they are to be fed physically! In John 6, Jesus takes the preoccupation of the crowds with food and drink as an occasion to remind them of the more important needs of the spirit. Nourishment is needed for our spiritual life and growth. And since our souls will live forever, we should be dedicating significant time and effort to make sure they are being fed properly and often!

The great news is that this spiritual food is not restricted to the wealthy, powerful, or perfect! It is not affected by inflation, drought, or supply chains. Jesus cannot wait to give us what we need for body and soul if we are willing to trust Him and follow where he leads us. This trusting faith begins with gratitude, acknowledging that the God who loved us into existence, the God who provided for us yesterday, will continue to provide what we need today. As we continue with this Eucharist, a word that literally means “thanksgiving”, let us grow in gratitude for what God has done for us and pursue the spiritual food God offers with the same intensity and enthusiasm we do for our earthly food!