Homily for the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings: 1 KGS 19:4-8; PS 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9; EPH 4:30—5:2; JN 6:51; JN 6:41-51
In 2002, as I was driving my Dad to the wedding of his granddaughter in Montana, we had many hours to talk. One of the things he pondered was how people managed during difficult times without God in their lives.
Things don’t always go as we expect. Maybe it is our car that breaks down and we can’t afford to have it repaired. Maybe, we are dealing with illnesses or diseases like cancer. Maybe a family member or friend dies unexpectedly. When we encounter these unexpected things, we can become depressed, we can despair.
How do we respond to these difficult times in our lives?
In the first reading, Elijah is in despair. In the chapter before the one we just heard, he had been trying to get the Israelites to turn away from Baal, and return to the one true God. He had won a great victory over the prophets of Baal, but when the Queen heard about it, she sought Elijah’s death. Believing he has failed God, being no better than his fathers, he goes out into the wilderness. Upon coming to a broom tree, he sits down in the shade, wishing for death, lays down and falls asleep in the shade.
When we encounter challenges in our lives, do we turn away from the light of God, seeking to solve these challenges on our own?
But God loved Elijah and had a mission for him, so he sends an angel with a hearth cake and water. The angel awakens Elijah and tells him to eat, which Elijah does. But Elijah, after accepting the gift from God, lies back down. This isn’t what God wants.
Do we, after accepting a gift from God, also turn away from Him, ignoring what He wants us to do?
So the angel returned and once again awoke Elijah, commanding him to eat and drink, or the journey would be too long. Strengthened by that food, Elijah was able to walk for 40 days and 40 nights to Horeb, the mount of the covenant. And if we keep reading, it was there, seeking to know God’s will for him, he stood outside the cave listening for God’s voice. But, it didn’t come in the strong, violent windstorms. It didn’t come in the earthquake, nor the fire. It was in the silent sound where Elijah discovered God’s will for him.
Do we use the gifts God gives us to learn and do God’s will, even in difficult times?
In the second reading, we hear Paul telling the Ephesians, to not stifle the Spirit with our hardness of heart, which comes out as bitterness, fury, anger, shouting and reviling. In those challenging periods in our lives, our hearts can harden, and we have to be alert to that. Instead, we are to be imitators of God, to live in love as Christ loved us. For when we do this, it is like a sweet fragrance that rises to the throne of God.
In the gospel reading, we hear the Jews murmured about Jesus, because he said “I am the bread that came down from heaven,” – it is unexpected for someone they knew, to speak that way, like he has been to heaven. This murmuring is more than just grumbling; it is the murmuring of a heart that has closed itself to truth and wants to hear no more of it. But we know Jesus is the true bread from heaven, given to us at each Mass. We need to turn to the light, to accept the gifts God gives us, to listen for his voice, and to do his will. So sometimes that mean we will suffer and be in despair. Sometimes that is what God asks us to do, not because he wants us to suffer, but so he can use it to provide an opportunity for someone else to do God’s will, to be our angel, to bring us food, to encourage us to continue on our journey.
We have many opportunities to accept the gift from God, the bread of life, to strengthen us for our journey, to do the will of God. That gift, that bread, is the Eucharist, which we are about to receive. We need this gift all the time, but especially during those times we are in despair. And even when we are not in a state to accept this gift physically, we are still strengthened from it, simply being in the presence of the Eucharist.
So as we take a few moments in silence, ask God for strength to know and do His will. Take some time this week, to seek God’s voice, spend some time before the Blessed Sacrament, either by attending Eucharistic Adoration here on Wednesday or somewhere else with adoration, or any other time by simply coming and sitting before the Blessed Sacrament.
Be strengthened by this gift from God, especially, if your life is not going as you expected.
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