Homily for the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
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For four Sundays in a row, and coming up again next Sunday, we’ve been hearing from the Lord’s long “Bread of Life Discourse” along with the people’s response to His Teaching. The interaction between Christ as Teacher — and — His followers as listeners isn’t getting any
+ better
+ clearer
+ simpler.
In fact, as a quick preview to next Sunday’s Gospel we will hear that some of the Lord’s followers will abandon Him because they simply cannot accept this whole “Bread of Life” sequence. It’s not that they’re stupid, it’s just that they’re not open to mystery or miracle.
By way of quick review of what’s been happening:
Week One
The people were happy enough to receive the loaves and fishes, and the Lord’s message seemed simple enough: “believe and receive,” and you’re on your way to Eternal Life.
Week Two
After having provided provisions for the crowds, the Lord shifts focus to Himself as God’s ultimate Providence, not as food for their bodies, but as food for their souls. Imagine how shocking this must have been, especially because this Teaching was offered well in advance of the Last Supper, when the Lord said, “This is my Body, take and eat.”
Week Three
Then the “murmuring” began, questioning the Lord’s identity with the people wondering: “How can He say He came down from heaven when we know His earthly parents”… and therefore they questioned His authority to teach. This murmuring leads to quarreling to which the Lord says, “Stop!” lest people fall into error or dissent.
And now, this week
We learn that quarreling among Christians comes from a lack of wisdom. The Author of the Book of Proverbs writes: “Forsake foolishness that you may live; instead — advance in the way of understanding.” Then Saint Paul writes: “Do not continue in ignorance but try to understand what is the Will of the Lord.” This enjoinder to understand the Will of the Lord forms the basis of our ethos of belief, as we heard last Sunday. By this is meant looking at the world from a background of
+ faith
+ belief -and -
+ religion.
Let me define these entities with a brief and simple one-sentence definition:
Faith involves a surrender of the will to the Holy Will of God,
Belief involves an assent of the mind to the Truth revealed by God,
Religion involves the free choice to bind oneself to God and to His Church, with both interior and exterior exercise of faith and belief.
Faith… belief… and religion form the Catholic ethos of Obedience, as we heard last Sunday, as differentiated from the Protestant ethos of self-determinism. The Catholic grasp of Obedience is experienced not as in the behavioral sciences nor as a means of crowd-control, but “Obedience-as-Virtue.” Here we understand Holy Obedience from the Latin roots of this word:
ob: meaning from the center, or the core
audiens: meaning to listen, as an audience listens to a speaker
This Obedience-as-Virtue… this listening from the center, opens the heart to the Voice of the Other, and, ultimately, to the Word of God.
On the other hand, engaging in self-determinism can lead to self-deception, as Saint Augustine once said, “He chooses a fool who chooses himself for a spiritual director.” To avoid this self-absorption… this self-deception which St. John warns will lead to quarreling, Saint Paul offers a comprehensive list of faith-based behaviors which will lead away from quarreling, and, instead, to unity in Christ.
He writes:
+ Watch carefully how you live.
+ Make the most of opportunities for Grace.
+ Try to understand the Will of the Lord.
+ Address one another in holiness of heart.
+ Give thanks always for everything.
This will lead away from the murmuring and quarreling which has produced dire consequences for the Church through the ages, and move to the beginnings of “eternal life,” a quality of life, and mode of being which introduces a bit of heaven on earth and unity within the Church.
The Bread of Life which Our Lord gives to His Church is a gift of sustenance for our faith, yet it is more: It binds us to Our Lord and to one another in peace and in hope for eternity. It provides us with a shared identity as the Mystical Body of Christ.
This “bread come down from heaven” received in the Holy Eucharist, has within it, the power and the grace to lift us up to heaven, to where human sustenance will no longer be sought after, but the soul’s hunger will be satisfied in the Presence of God, in the fullness of His Being.