August 09, 2009 19th Ordinary Sunday of the Year 1 Kgs. 19:4-8; Eph. 4:30-5:2; Jn. 6:41-51 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________   Readings:http://www.usccb.org/nab/080909.shtml   ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________     When we lose faith, it seldom has much to do with mysterious doctrines like the Trinity or the Incarnation. More often, we lose faith in people to whom we looked for guidance, or we judge life to have taken such a disastrous turn that not even God can remedy circumstances. We lose faith in human goodness or in divine providence. And who among us has not been so tempted?   Elijah the prophet had just witnessed God’s astounding victory on Mount Carmel, and yet he was cast down by the infidelity of his compatriots. He had had enough. He had lost faith. Some of those who had just witnessed Jesus’ ability to supply them with food, turned away when he explained the source of his mysterious power. They had had enough. Their response: I doubt it.   In some ways it is much easier to study the faith than to live by it. Perhaps this is because we are not expected to understand the mysteries to which we pledge allegiance, but we are expected to live righteously through the mysterious twists and turns of life. We have to live with disappointment and loss and failure, and not give up on other people or on God. We have to allow our expectations and perspectives to be challenged, and not turn our backs on the possibility of new insight.   Jesus makes the point that he is the "bread from heaven", He is God's divine Word, or revelation. He then goes on to make the point that the true seeker is drawn to the Word and is sustained by it, raised by it in the day of resurrection and kept by it eternally. Christ is the Word of God, he is the final revelation of God to mankind. Those who feed on this bread, those who believe in Christ, have everlasting life.   One of the first hurdles for people to overcome as Jesus developed the theme of being the Bread come down from Heaven was that some of the people in the crowd knew his family. They asked - quite reasonably - how he could say he came from Heaven when they knew that he came from Nazareth? Here the invitation is to go beyond what people think they know and enter into something that transcends that. Although their ancestors ate manna in the desert, eventually, as is the course of human life, they died. What God is doing now is a fulfilment of that glimpse of his power - He is to provide a food which will feed people and give them eternal life.     <<   Previous: 18th Sunday of the year  |   Next: Assumption of Our Lady >>     Go Back to SERMONS (Year B)