Aug. 19, 2018 20th Sunday B
Aug. 19, 2018 20th Sunday B
About a month ago, Pope Francis gave prophetic words for the Church during the solemn mass of Sts. Peter and Paul, "In Jesus, glory and the cross go together; they are inseparable. Once we turn our back on the cross, even though we may attain the heights of glory, we will be fooling ourselves, since it will not be God's glory, but the snare of the enemy." (Pope Francis, 6/29/18) In the Gospel reading from that day, Peter declares that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God.” While Jesus applauds Peter for this recognition, very quickly, he chastises Peter for swearing that he will not allow the crucifixion to happen to Jesus. In doing so, Peter became a stumbling block in the Lord’s path and thus Jesus calls him, “Satan.” Pope said, “Like Peter, we as a Church will always be tempted to hear those ‘whisperings’ of the evil One, which will become a stumbling stone for the mission.”
This is the fourth week we’ve heard the discourse on the Bread of Life from Our Lord. The first week, we heard about the miraculous feeding of more than five thousand hungry people. The second week, people seek after Jesus hungry for more physical signs and bread. Last week, Jesus taught the followers to focus on spiritual food that will give eternal life and not on transitory food of this earth. This week, Our Lord explains that we must eat his flesh and drink his blood to have eternal life. Throughout this discourse on the Bread of Life, Our Lord is redirecting our hunger for earthly food--earthly fame, glory, power, riches--to hunger for relationship with him. Through this discourse he is awakening within his hearers the thirst and hunger for relationship with Heavenly Father. Without this relationship, we often settle for a poor imitation of his love--lust, pride, gluttony, anger, envy, sloth, and greed. How does the recent news and this Gospel connect together?
With the scandal of former cardinal McCarrick and the grand jury reports on the Pennsylvania dioceses, the past couple of weeks have been a painful reminder to our bishops and priests that we have become stumbling blocks to Heavenly Father’s plan by giving into the temptations of the evil One--lust, careerism, cover-ups, cultures of dishonesty and manipulation. Our Lord has asked his apostles, successors of apostles, and priests to protect, feed, and guide His flock. As a priest and a disciple of Jesus Christ, I’m truly sorry for any harm that was done by my brother priests and church leadership. The abusive acts were criminal and morally reprehensible that betrayed trust and robbed survivors of their dignity and their faith. Those who commit such abominable sins certainly turned their back on the Cross and sought after earthly pursuits.
Since the news of the grand jury report, many tried to put in words their reaction. One Catholic journalist wrote, “This is the church I love. The church I was raised in. The church in which I had my child baptized. The church I want to raise her in. The church I look to for guidance. The church I turn to for comfort. The church I’ve worked for. The church I’ve lived for. The church, I hope, I’d have the strength to die for. But I’ve found myself not only becoming frustrated, disgruntled and angry but also sad, heartbroken and remarkably let down by this church...There is a deep, bleeding wound within this church—a wound caused by cover-ups and lies, rampant dishonesty, sickening selfishness and pride, sexual abuse and impropriety and perhaps worst of all, an attitude of ‘let’s quickly dismiss it as something that happened long ago’ as many seem to be going on the defensive to prevent further bleeding.”
Someone asked a priest if it was okay to be upset and angry about this latest scandal. He answered, “Yes! Absolutely!” If we look at history -- from the time of the old testament through today, we will find many times when God was displeased with his shepherds! In the Old Testament, the Lord spoke strong words through the Prophet Ezekiel: “To the shepherds, thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been pasturing themselves! Should not shepherds pasture the flock?...Look! I am coming against these shepherds. I will take my sheep out of their hand and put a stop to their shepherding my flock, so that these shepherds will no longer pasture them. I will deliver my flock from their mouths so it will not become their food.” (Ezkiel 34:2-10) During the 4th century when the church suffered under bad leadership, St. John Chrysostom said, “The road to hell is paved with the skulls of erring priests, with bishops as their signposts.” In those difficult times, the community of faithful took consolation in God’s promise that God himself will provide shepherds after his own heart (cf. Jeremiah 3:15) The 13th century Church and its clergy were also suffering from financial scandal, corruption, and moral laxity when Jesus called a young man named Francis of Assisi, “Francis, go and repair my house which, as you see, is falling into ruin.’ Francis exhorted his brothers and faithful to embrace Jesus in the Eucharist as the source and sustenance for their spiritual life. In spite of the sinfulness of priests and bishops, it is through the work of the Holy Spirit that we still receive the Eucharist to fill our spiritual hunger. The Eucharist that we receive today is the same Bread of Life that apostles received from the Last Supper. Throughout the history of the Church, Jesus has provided for us the same flesh and blood which is himself to nourish our hunger.
Our Lord himself tells us in the gospel, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.” Jesus gives himself as the food of eternal life from the Heavenly Father. The Eucharist is life giving because it draws us closer to Jesus; he draws us to the Cross so that so that we may abide with him there along with Blessed Mother, Mary Magdalene, and John. Jesus is our life and is the means to the life for which we hunger. When we eat Christ’s flesh and drink his blood, Jesus lives in us and we live in him. We consume his life in hope and faith that he might consume and change ours. We eat and digest his life, his love, his mercy, his forgiveness, his way of being and seeing, his compassion, his presence, and his relationship with the Father.
We must pray each day for the grace to die to self and seek the good of others. And as we receive Eucharist today, let us remember to pray for abuse victims and their families. We especially call upon St. Francis of Assisi to intercede in rebuilding our Church.
About a month ago, Pope Francis gave prophetic words for the Church during the solemn mass of Sts. Peter and Paul, "In Jesus, glory and the cross go together; they are inseparable. Once we turn our back on the cross, even though we may attain the heights of glory, we will be fooling ourselves, since it will not be God's glory, but the snare of the enemy." (Pope Francis, 6/29/18) In the Gospel reading from that day, Peter declares that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God.” While Jesus applauds Peter for this recognition, very quickly, he chastises Peter for swearing that he will not allow the crucifixion to happen to Jesus. In doing so, Peter became a stumbling block in the Lord’s path and thus Jesus calls him, “Satan.” Pope said, “Like Peter, we as a Church will always be tempted to hear those ‘whisperings’ of the evil One, which will become a stumbling stone for the mission.”
This is the fourth week we’ve heard the discourse on the Bread of Life from Our Lord. The first week, we heard about the miraculous feeding of more than five thousand hungry people. The second week, people seek after Jesus hungry for more physical signs and bread. Last week, Jesus taught the followers to focus on spiritual food that will give eternal life and not on transitory food of this earth. This week, Our Lord explains that we must eat his flesh and drink his blood to have eternal life. Throughout this discourse on the Bread of Life, Our Lord is redirecting our hunger for earthly food--earthly fame, glory, power, riches--to hunger for relationship with him. Through this discourse he is awakening within his hearers the thirst and hunger for relationship with Heavenly Father. Without this relationship, we often settle for a poor imitation of his love--lust, pride, gluttony, anger, envy, sloth, and greed. How does the recent news and this Gospel connect together?
With the scandal of former cardinal McCarrick and the grand jury reports on the Pennsylvania dioceses, the past couple of weeks have been a painful reminder to our bishops and priests that we have become stumbling blocks to Heavenly Father’s plan by giving into the temptations of the evil One--lust, careerism, cover-ups, cultures of dishonesty and manipulation. Our Lord has asked his apostles, successors of apostles, and priests to protect, feed, and guide His flock. As a priest and a disciple of Jesus Christ, I’m truly sorry for any harm that was done by my brother priests and church leadership. The abusive acts were criminal and morally reprehensible that betrayed trust and robbed survivors of their dignity and their faith. Those who commit such abominable sins certainly turned their back on the Cross and sought after earthly pursuits.
Since the news of the grand jury report, many tried to put in words their reaction. One Catholic journalist wrote, “This is the church I love. The church I was raised in. The church in which I had my child baptized. The church I want to raise her in. The church I look to for guidance. The church I turn to for comfort. The church I’ve worked for. The church I’ve lived for. The church, I hope, I’d have the strength to die for. But I’ve found myself not only becoming frustrated, disgruntled and angry but also sad, heartbroken and remarkably let down by this church...There is a deep, bleeding wound within this church—a wound caused by cover-ups and lies, rampant dishonesty, sickening selfishness and pride, sexual abuse and impropriety and perhaps worst of all, an attitude of ‘let’s quickly dismiss it as something that happened long ago’ as many seem to be going on the defensive to prevent further bleeding.”
Someone asked a priest if it was okay to be upset and angry about this latest scandal. He answered, “Yes! Absolutely!” If we look at history -- from the time of the old testament through today, we will find many times when God was displeased with his shepherds! In the Old Testament, the Lord spoke strong words through the Prophet Ezekiel: “To the shepherds, thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been pasturing themselves! Should not shepherds pasture the flock?...Look! I am coming against these shepherds. I will take my sheep out of their hand and put a stop to their shepherding my flock, so that these shepherds will no longer pasture them. I will deliver my flock from their mouths so it will not become their food.” (Ezkiel 34:2-10) During the 4th century when the church suffered under bad leadership, St. John Chrysostom said, “The road to hell is paved with the skulls of erring priests, with bishops as their signposts.” In those difficult times, the community of faithful took consolation in God’s promise that God himself will provide shepherds after his own heart (cf. Jeremiah 3:15) The 13th century Church and its clergy were also suffering from financial scandal, corruption, and moral laxity when Jesus called a young man named Francis of Assisi, “Francis, go and repair my house which, as you see, is falling into ruin.’ Francis exhorted his brothers and faithful to embrace Jesus in the Eucharist as the source and sustenance for their spiritual life. In spite of the sinfulness of priests and bishops, it is through the work of the Holy Spirit that we still receive the Eucharist to fill our spiritual hunger. The Eucharist that we receive today is the same Bread of Life that apostles received from the Last Supper. Throughout the history of the Church, Jesus has provided for us the same flesh and blood which is himself to nourish our hunger.
Our Lord himself tells us in the gospel, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.” Jesus gives himself as the food of eternal life from the Heavenly Father. The Eucharist is life giving because it draws us closer to Jesus; he draws us to the Cross so that so that we may abide with him there along with Blessed Mother, Mary Magdalene, and John. Jesus is our life and is the means to the life for which we hunger. When we eat Christ’s flesh and drink his blood, Jesus lives in us and we live in him. We consume his life in hope and faith that he might consume and change ours. We eat and digest his life, his love, his mercy, his forgiveness, his way of being and seeing, his compassion, his presence, and his relationship with the Father.
We must pray each day for the grace to die to self and seek the good of others. And as we receive Eucharist today, let us remember to pray for abuse victims and their families. We especially call upon St. Francis of Assisi to intercede in rebuilding our Church.
