OT XVIII [B]: Ex 16:2-4, 12-15; Eph 4:17, 20-24; Jn 6:24-35

 
Last week Jesus performed the multiplication of the loaves; and all the people who witnessed the amazing miracle wanted to make Jesus king.

The people who sought Jesus in today’s Gospel still want nothing more than a full stomach, but Our Lord is trying to help them see that what they crave is what that full stomach normally gives them: life, not just for a few decades, but for eternity.

As Jesus reminds them, full stomachs didn’t enable those Israelites under Moses to live forever, even though the Lord provided them with manna to eat. 

Jesus didn't come to earth for an ego-trip; he came to fulfill a mission. And that mission is not to bring paradise on earth - which is what they want: "you are... looking for me... because you had all the bread you wanted to eat." Rather, he came to bring them "bread from heaven," the truth and freedom that come from living in communion with God. He doesn't cave in to the temptation to satisfy a natural desire for power and popularity, for merely human success.

 

Like the Israelites in the First Reading the people were still seeking signs, but now the moment had come for faith, a faith that leads to no longer living as the Gentiles did, just focused on immediate needs and concerns of this life and not seeing the bigger picture where this life is a pilgrimage toward eternal life. 

The Israelites who grumbled in the desert in the First Reading didn’t live to see the Promised Land due to their lack of trust in God; the people in today’s Gospel are being extended an opportunity to one day enter into the true Promised Land, but they have to trust the new Moses–Jesus–to lead them.

 

Material things do not necessarily bring us happiness. That is a fact of life. It is a hard fact to understand sometimes, especially in a society that tries very hard to teach us otherwise.

Buddhism is a religion based on seeking enlightenment, and not desiring material or tangible things. They believe that suffering is caused by desire. The principle is, we desire, we suffer because we do not own the thing we desire, and once we own the thing, we desire something else, so the suffering continues. There are too many desires in the world, and a human will never be truly happy.

 

It is very common to get into a mode where we think, "If only I had object X, my life would be perfect and I would be happy." We really want something: a new TV, a new car, a special pair of shoes, whatever. Then we buy it and we love having it for a few days. But over time we get bored or it wears us out. We can see this pattern repeated constantly in our own life. For example, our parents and grandparents likely spent thousands and thousands of dollars on toys for us as we were growing up: Dump trucks and Barbie dolls and video games and electric cars and on and on and on. All of those toys got boring or broken or outgrown eventually. They brought happiness for a moment or a week, but over time they became worthless and our desire turned to a new object.

This kind of behaviour isn't only seen in humans. Two dogs might be eating out of their bowls, and one of them goes to eat out of the other bowl, simply because they have a default assumption that everyone else is getting the "better deal".

Jesus was asking His listeners to change their hearts and minds in order to see God in a new light. Instead of asking for bread for their stomachs as their ancestors did when Moses led them out of Egypt they should ask for the Bread of Life, the Bread Jesus was going to give them, His Body and Blood. Let us remember that the Eucharist we celebrate and receive this day IS Jesus, the Bread of Life come down from Heaven. And let us nourish our souls with this Heavenly manna and carry Jesus to our homes and workplaces, radiating Jesus’ love, mercy and compassion all around us.

 

 

O.T. XVII [B]: 2Kgs 4:42-44, Eph 4:1-6, John 6:1-15

Today’s readings invite us to become humble instruments in God’s hands by sharing our blessings with our needy brothers and sisters. 

The miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 is found in all four Gospels, although the context and emphasis vary.  This is the only miracle, other than the resurrection, that is told in all the Gospels, a fact that speaks of its importance to the early Church.

No Bible scholar doubts that all six bread miracles in the Gospels are about the Eucharist. John uses this story in his Gospel to introduce Jesus’ profound and extended reflection on the Eucharist and the Bread of Life. John makes a special mention here that the Jewish feast of Passover was near, drawing a connection of this miracle with ancient Passover. 

This miraculous feeding in the deserted place had precedents: Moses, Elijah, and Elisha had each fed people without resources.  The present miracle resembles particularly the one performed by Elisha (2 Kgs 4:42-44).  In both cases, unlike the manna in the desert, there were leftovers, for everyone there ate, and had enough and more than enough to be filled. The apostles were told to collect the left over-s. That itself has a Eucharistic overtone. Otherwise, broken crumbs of bread which could not be decently used again may not be ordered to be collected. It also can mean we shall not waste any food that we have. Because everyone needs bread to live and no one can survive without food. And if there are people not able to get sleep because their stomach is hurting due to hunger while we waste food, is certainly a sin.

At the sight of the crowd who had been listening to Jesus for long his sympathy was kindled. They were hungry and tired, and they must be fed. No one asked Jesus to provide the crowd with food.  It was Jesus who first expressed his concern about the people's need for food.

One of the greatest tragedies of our times is the fact that millions of people are reduced to starvation throughout the world.  In the Asian, African and Latin American countries, well over 500 million people are living in what the World Bank has called "absolute poverty". Every year 15 million children die of hunger. For the price of one missile, a school full of hungry children could eat lunch every day for 5 years. 100 million deaths could be prevented for the price of ten Stealth bombers, or what the world spends on its military in two days! The Indian subcontinent has nearly half the world's hungry people. Africa and the rest of Asia together have approximately 40%, and the remaining hungry people are found in Latin America and other parts of the world. Nearly one in four people, 1.8 billion - live on less than $1 per day, while the world's 358 billionaires have assets exceeding the combined annual incomes of countries with 45 percent of the world's people. When you get on the internet these days you see the ad asking help for hungry children in Yemen. Children are dying there from hunger. It is a country with 100% Muslim population. But the rich Islamic countries won’t help them because that is not their concern. Saudi Arabia offered to help Canada build 100 mosques for the Muslim immigrants, but not to help the poor, even the poor in Islamic countries. (That is another issue altogether).

God has arranged the world in such a way, that every person may have the food he or she needs. Food in the world should suffice to feed God's children but it will never suffice to fill the greed of men. One of the reasons for world hunger is priorities. Those of us who live in an industrialized society place a high priority on comfort and convenience. Our standard of living places a significant strain on the world economy. Certainly this is something Christians must consider in terms of their own economic lifestyle. At a time when people are not getting enough to eat, we are living a lifestyle far beyond what many could even imagine. We have a great challenge before us. We must not only consider what we can do to feed the hungry, but we must also consider what we should do to limit our indulgent lifestyle.

Hunger and poverty are the consequences of the selfishness of people. So the solution to this devastating problem lies with man alone. One doesn’t have to be rich to help others. Pointing to the poor widow who put two coins in the temple treasury Jesus said, others gave from their abundance but this poor widow gave from her shortage. The boy that shared his bread with Jesus had a similar attitude too.

He had not much to offer but in what he had Jesus found the materials for a miracle. Jesus needs what we can bring him. It may not be much but he needs it. It may well be that the world is denied miracle after miracle and triumph after triumph because we will not bring to Jesus what we have. He wants us to make good use of all his gifts. And the generosity of the boy contains a lesson for us. And Jesus reminds us as he did the Apostles: “Gather the fragments left over,
so that nothing will be wasted.” 

 

OT XVI [B] Jer 23:1-6, Eph 2:13-18, Mk 6:30-34

 Jesus sent out his disciples with the mission of bringing God's message to the people. When they came back from their mission they reported to Jesus all that they had done.  The demanding crowds were so insistent that they had no time even to eat; so Jesus took them to a lonely place that they might have peace and rest for a while.

Today's passage places before us the rhythm of the Christian life. Go out from the presence of God, into the presence of men, and return from the presence of men to the presence of God. It is like the rhythm of sleep and work.  We cannot work unless we have our time of rest; and sleep will not embrace anyone who has not worked until he is tired.

 This passage very clearly warns us against the danger of too constant activity. No man can work without rest; and no man can live his Christian life without giving time to be with God. Dallas Willard says that practicing silence and solitude is the most important spiritual discipline for people today. In our busy, noisy world we need to "unhook" and get away to be alone with our Lord.

Jesus began his public ministry with 40 days of withdrawal into the desert wilderness to fast and pray in silence and solitude. He was alone, hungry, hot and thirsty, surrounded by wild animals, and tested by Satan. But the truth of Jesus' fast is that the Father, the Scriptures, and ministering angels strengthened Jesus! His time alone with God and quietly focused only on him empowered him to resist Satan's temptations (which came at the end of the 40 days) and it focused and prepared him for his public ministry. Interspersed throughout Jesus' ministry of preaching, and healing, we see him withdraw from the crowds again and again – often getting up very early to do so – in order to be quiet and alone with the Father (e.g., Mark 1:35, 3:13, 6:31, 46).

Jesus' rhythm of life is the secret to how he got renewed in his Father's love and empowered by the Spirit for his life and ministry. In quiet prayer he listened to the Father and received discernment for many things.

Michael Faraday, an early pioneer of electromagnetic current, once addressed a convocation of scientists. For an hour, he held the audience spellbound with his lecture on the nature of the magnet. After he had finished, he received a thundering ovation. The Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, stood to congratulate him. The applause thundered again. Just as quickly, a deadened silence pervaded the audience. Faraday had left. It was the hour of a midweek prayer service in a little church of which he was a member. Do we have a similar commitment? One of the reasons we gather for worship each week is for the refreshment of our spirits, the recharging of our spiritual batteries. We need to shut the world out and focus our attention on God's presence in our lives. Jesus knew the value of getting away to a quiet place.

Our Sabbath rest is often misunderstood as a time of non-activity. It is a time away with Jesus and not a time to do nothing. Often our Sunday rest is just a relaxation and nothing more. We have to go with Jesus to deserted place. Throughout the Scriptures we find the purpose of rest as a means to center our hearts on God. In him alone we find true rest. All labor is oriented toward this ultimate goal.

 Sometimes we can wonder why we get so emotionally and spiritually exhausted by the busy-ness of our lives. It's because we aren't recharging our spiritual batteries. Stress, discouragement, and other crippling emotions can wear us out if we aren't daily reinforcing our faith in Jesus Christ.

Without prayer, study, and time alone with God, our well will soon run dry - we will have nothing substantial to offer others. We need to make a commitment to a regular prayer life, not one that shifts with our moods. We need to pray daily, to have a daily quiet time when we can speak to Christ, pray for our loved ones, reflect on the scriptures, or read some good, solid spiritual book.

It doesn't have to be a lot of time - ten minutes in the morning and ten minutes at night is a good start - but it has to be consistent, and that means self-discipline.

 

"The fruit of solitude," explains Richard Foster, "is increased sensitivity and compassion for others."

The crowd saw Jesus and his men going away. But some people walked round and were there before Jesus and his disciples arrived. They earnestly sought the company of men of God. More than ever, today, men crave to be in the company of   men of God, to experience the holiness of God. Today we are entrusted with this mission – to impart the experience of the holiness of God to our contemporaries. For that we require to do two things. First of all find time to be with God, secondly find time to be with men. Hence, the rhythm of Christian life is the alternative meeting with God in the secret place and serving men in the market place. Let’s try to find some true rest on Sunday, not going alone, but with Christ, who invites us come away by yourself to a deserted place and have some rest.

 

OT XIV [B] Ez 2:2-5; II Cor 12:7-10; Mk 6:1-6

Today’s readings introduce Jesus as a prophet and explain how prophets and other messengers from God inevitably suffer rejection. Most of the famous men have experienced rejection, not once, but many times. Colonel Sanders is the founder of KFC. He started his dream at 65 years old! He got a social security check for only $105 and was mad. Instead of complaining he did something about it. He thought restaurant owners would love his fried chicken recipe, use it, sales would increase, and he’d get a percentage of it. He drove around the country knocking on doors, sleeping in his car, wearing his white suit. Do you know how many times people said “no” till he got one yes? 1009 times!

 Walt Disney was the man who gave us Disney World and Mickey Mouse. His first animation company went bankrupt. He was fired by a news editor because he lacked imagination. Legend has it he was turned down 302 times before he got financing for creating Disney World.

Vincent Van Gogh sold only one painting in his lifetime! Just one to a friend. Despite that he kept painting and finished over 800 pieces. Now everyone wants to buy them and his most expensive painting is valued at $142.7 million.

Today's gospel passage shows how some people of Jesus' home town, Nazareth, did not accept him as a prophet because they knew him and his family. They knew that he was a carpenter with no schooling in Mosaic Law and “knew” that he could not be the promised Messiah who would come from Bethlehem as a descendant of David’s royal family. Besides, they were angry when Jesus did not work any miracles in Nazareth but, with prophetic courage, he accused them of lack of faith, and warned that he would take to other people his preaching and healing ministry.

Throughout the life of Jesus there were two diametrically opposing views towards Jesus. The Infant Jesus was joyfully accepted by the shepherds. But, the infant was rejected by Herod, and he sought ways to annihilate him. The wise men from the East recognized and accepted him; but the wise men of his society – the scribes and Pharisees rejected him. Many simple people from all over Galilee and neighbouring places flocked around him; but his co-villagers rejected him. Sinful people like Zachhaeus, Mary Magdalene, the Samaritan woman etc. accepted him; but he was rejected by priests and religious leaders who were supposed to be holy.

 

The people of Nazareth despised Jesus because they knew his family. Every person that comes into the world is confronted with a choice: to accept or reject Jesus. Fortunately we have accepted Jesus as our Saviour.  It is not enough to have accepted Jesus once; we must renew our acceptance day after day. Our acceptance demands that we must always be attentive to discover what God wants from us:  he manifests his will in prayer, through His Word in the Scriptures, through the people we meet and through every event in our lives, and in nature. The obstacles that prevent from accepting Jesus are the same that prevented people of Nazareth from accepting him – they are   “pride” and “ego”. Hence, it is important that we overcome our pride and ego, then we will gain the courage to accept Jesus.

Ego will not allow us to accept the shortcomings of our life and will try to cover them up from others. Paul in the second reading tells us of his personal struggles and weaknesses he had. St Paul was not perfect; in fact, no saint was perfect. They were human beings, just like us, and they had to face problems, hardship, suffering, and temptation, just as we do.

They did not live carefree lives; in fact, it was their very challenges and failings that God used to make them into saints. That's what St Paul is trying to tell us in today's Second Reading. He says that although God has given him extraordinary mystical experiences, God has also given him a "thorn in his flesh, an angel of Satan to beat him." Paul prayed repeatedly for God to remove this thorn, but God refused, in order "to keep him from being too elated."

This strange passage raises two questions.

First, what was this thorn? No one really knows, but scholars have many theories. It may have been a physical ailment of some kind; or a particular temptation, like lust or greed; or the discouragement he constantly felt from being rejected by his Jewish confreres; or it may also have been his fiery temperament, which always seemed to get him into trouble. Whatever it was, it was a continual source of pain and irritation to St Paul.

The second question is: why didn't God take this thorn away?

St Paul tells us that it continually reminded him of his human weakness, inspiring him to depend more fully on God's grace. This is what he means when he writes: "when I am weak, then I am strong."

And this should be a comforting thought for us. It means that our thorns, whatever they may be, are not signs that God's anger or displeasure, but signs that he is teaching us, as he taught St Paul, true wisdom, the wisdom of humility and trust in God. As painful as it is, he recognizes that God is permitting it for a reason; to cure him of his tendency to arrogance and self-absorption.

Likewise, when God allows difficulties to plague us, he is not absent from them, but at work through them,  like a good doctor with a sharp scalpel.

During this Mass Jesus will renew his commitment to us through the sacrifice of the Eucharist. When he does, let's renew our commitment to him, and ask him to help us accept the thorns he allows in our lives, so that we can also experience the full transforming power of his love.