As we began Advent, I got a question about the “Old Testament” (as we Christians call it; for Jewish people, it is THE Testament.)

As an ordinary working guy growing up in a poor village, Jesus has been struck by the suffering and inequality he sees around him. After his baptism he realizes that God intends to set things right. He also realizes that he has the power to help God do this, such as last Sunday when he healed the man who was deaf and mute. But he doesn’t want to be known as a wonder-worker.

That brings us to today’s Gospel, Mark 8:27-35 Who do you say I am? You are the Christ!

Jesus is ready to reveal himself as a messenger of God’s Reign, but then he gives a very surprising warning: Take up your cross.

The first reading is from the Prophet Isaiah Is 50:5-9. This is one of the Four ” Suffering Servant Songs.” Who is this suffering servant?

The second reading is from the Epistle of St. James: “If you see a poor person and say, ‘Good-bye and Good luck!’ without giving him or her some help, you are not fulfilling the “Royal Law” — “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Is there a theme running through these three Scriptures?

Fr. Clore

We get so used to the Parables in the Gospels that we take many of them for granted as “common sense” — for Christians, that is. But when Jesus first spoke many of his sayings, they were meant to “jolt” his hearers, and make them think about things in a new way. “Eat my flesh and drink my blood” is one of his most high-voltage sayings. But apparently he meant it, because St. John has him repeating it more than half a dozen times in just a few verses of Ch 6.

But notice that in at least one place he brings in the “Son of Man.” That gives us a clue that he is not speaking literally, as if he were instructing cannibals. The Son of Man is in a vision of the prophet Daniel – someone of flesh and blood, like us, yet sitting next to the Throne of God, literally soaking up Divine Life. Jesus is that close to God, and he is inviting us to the table with him, to share in this divine meal – the most excellent protein and the most refreshing beverage that we can imagine.

This is in contrast to the tendencies that St. Paul notices among the Ephesians, who occasionally lapse in a lot of stupid talk, and spend their time getting drunk. Not that anything like that ever happens nowadays! J

Spend some time with Psalm 34 this week, thinking about all the different situations – both good and bad – when you are really glad to be able to sit close to God.

Fr. Clore

August 9, 2009

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Gospel
Jn 6:41-51

For those who are just joining us, recall that St. John’s Chapter 6 is a wide-ranging reflection on the Sacrament of the Eucharist (“Eucharist” means “Thank You” after receiving a Gift.) Also keep in mind that John’s Gospel is written 75 or more years after the death and resurrection of Christ. So even though John puts all these sayings in the mouth of Jesus as if he were still making his way around Galilee, actually it is THE RISEN CHRIST who is saying these things to US, THE CHURCH.

Reading 1
1 Kgs 19:4-8

Elijah is running for his life. He has accused the King (and the king’s wife, Jezebel) of killing a man to get his property. Kings don’t like prophets like this. Elijah has fled into the wilderness, just like the Hebrew slaves fled Egypt into the desert. God gave them a GIFT OF MANA for forty years; now God gives Elijah food for his forty-day journey to Horeb, the Mountain of God, where Elijah hopes to commune with God face-to-face, just as Moses did.

Reading II
Eph 4:30—5:2

Ephesians continues to give us good advice about how to carry on with our journey toward redemption, letting go of bitterness and anger, taking on the Spirit of compassion and love.

So the question is this: How do you and I, in 2009, receive Bread of Life from the Father? How does this bread give us hope in times of stress and fear, and strength for the journey?

John’s Gospel and the reading from Exodus suggest a new kind of food. In the desert, we have to depend on God for our “daily bread,” which is a free gift. The people in the Gospel get a glimmer of this, and ask, “Give us that food always,” just as the woman at the well asked for water. But they are still missing the real point (just as the woman did — she was hoping for “running water” in her kitchen, and they are hoping for an endless supply of bread in the pantry). But we really do have this new food available to us.

And Ephesians adds two more New Things to our New Food: “Walking in a new way, with Christ” and “dressing in a new way” — putting Christ onto our selves.  Much “food for thought” so to speak!

Fr. Clore

After a long hiatus, let me resume our reflections on the BIBLE READINGS for each Sunday.

First put two markers in your Bible: one at JOHN 6 and the other at EPHESIANS 4. Check out:

John 6:24-35; Ephesians 4:17-24; and Exodus 16:2-15

For six weeks, starting last week, we will be reading from St. John’s Gospel, Ch 6. As you might have figured out, St. John likes to teach a whole lesson in spiritual theology in each chapter of his Gospel. Chapter 6 is about the Holy Eucharist. Last week he began the chapter with Jesus on a mountainside, and a crowd of people around him. He teaches the crowd, but not in words (as in St. Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount), but rathrer in actions: “How can we give all these people something to eat?”

This Sunday we go with Jesus in the boat back to Capernaum, and the people who had eaten their fill follow him. Jesus challenges them (and us): “What are you looking for? More bread?” Jesus is trying to get us to look a little deeper into things.

The Epistle to the Ephesians is all about the Church. In the first part of the letter, we are tantalized by the wonderful vision that God has been thinking about us since the world began. We (the church) are the climax of God’s dream for the world. Now we shift to the nitty-gritty — how do we manage to do this? In today’s reading, we are reminded that we have to “put away” our old self and put on a new self, created in God’s goodness and holiness and truth.

So the questions are:

HOW DO WE NEED TO LOOK DEEPER INTO THINGS?

HOW DO WE PUT ON A NEW SELF?

Any thoughts?

Fr. Clore

Welcome to my new web blog. I will be putting thoughts and ideas here that I hope you will read and respond to. It is meant to enlighten and challenge you as well as to inform you and lift your spirit. It is new and unformatted so let us go on this journey together and see where it takes us.