23/08/2009 - 21st. Sunday in Ordinary
Season - B
Ist. Reading Jos 24,1-2.15-17.18 Psalm 33 IInd. Reading Eph 5,21-32 Gospel Jn
6,60-69
"Give us this day our daily bread". The bread that the Church needs
is the Body of Christ, and we feed ourselves on it so that the presence of the
Holy Spirit becomes a reality in us. This is what we pray during the Eucharist.
Before the consecration of the bread and wine, we invoke the Holy Spirit to
come down and change them into the Body and Blood of Christ, and after the consecration
we pray: "May all have us who share in the body and blood of Christ be
brought together in unity by the Holy Spirit". We eat the Body of Christ
because we need the Holy Spirit. We can say that when Jesus taught us to ask
for the bread, he had in mind the Holy Spirit, as he says it in the parable
of the three friends. St. Luke, in this parable (11,5-8) speaks of a man who
at mid-night calls on his friend to give him bread because another friend had
come to visit him. He succeeds to get it because of his insistence: likewise
God the Father give his Holy Spirit to those who ask him. The Holy Spirit is
the bread by which the Church grows, is able to keep the unity that Jesus had
prayed from the Father for his disciples, the bread that brings together all
those who have eaten of it. When we pray for 'the daily bread' we are not to
think only of the food that satisfy, but desire also the Spirit who makes us
living members of the Church, that Church who is obedient to her Lord, united
and strong to live her proper mission in the world. To witness to Christ in
today's world, which is beloved by God, we need his Spirit, either wise we won't
be newness in it. Let us call on the Holy Spirit so that where ever we go, we
can carry the sense of God's presence and of his Christ; whatever we do, would
be a gift to the Father to the men in need so that in return they come to know
him and become members of the body of Christ.
The intervention of Joshua in today's Reading with the tribes of Israel, is
nice and delicate. He addressed all the people to freely choose a way: either
to serve the Lord who has made them goes through the desert, or to serve the
gods of the other nations. To serve the Lord who had spoken to Moses, meant
to live the commandments given, the ten words that commit one, leaving no space
to instincts or desire, and that are never changing according to one's feelings.
To follow the gods of the nations is much easier: it only demands the performance
of a rite or follows a taboo', without committing one's heart. The gods of the
nations are happy with little and please their worshippers in everything that
satisfy the instincts of the heart and body of man. The life of those who serve
the Lord is to be sure and faithful, worthy of other's trust. The life of those
who serve the gods is not to be trusted, because the gods let one follow the
modes that change moment by moment. Joshua proclaims his choice without fear
or human respect, but with joy and love. His choice helped others to decide
immediately. All decided to serve the God who have always showed them that he
chose them. Remembering the love God showed them in their history helped them
to choose freely and with delaying.
This story introduces us to the listening of the Gospel: many of the disciples
decide to leave Jesus even though they had eaten the bread given to the five
thousand and had seen many wonders. They renounce to the "Spirit that gives
life" to follow their way of seeing things and their desires. Jesus, like
Joshua, proposes to the Twelve to decide. He had chosen them, one by one, and
now he asks them to express their free will and choose whether they want to
follow him or not. He doesn't want people to follow him because they are forced
to do so, or because they get enthusiastic by miracles. He wants with him only
people who love him without personal interests, without conditions, who love
him because they know that he takes one to the Father even if the road is the
cross. He does not change his way, even if he had to remain alone, without disciples.
"Do you also want to leave?" Are we able to answer like Peter? Are
we able to tell Jesus that we don't care to suffer in as much as we are with
him? Are we ready to remain with Jesus even though those around us abandon him?
Are we ready to remain alone and not be deprived of him? Many are the occasions
in which one can answer concretely to these questions. St. Paul helps us to
consider another particular aspect in the life of the Christians: married life.
Christian couples are to live together as a sign of the mystery of God. They
promise faithfulness. This faithfulness means that they are not to give themselves
to others outside of them, not even desire others, and to persevere in the mutual
love until death do them part. The mystery, of which they are a sign by their
faithful love, is the love Jesus has for his Church: it's a love that never
fails, not even when the children of the Church are sinners and unfaithful.
As the love of Jesus brought him to die for the Church, so husbands are to love
their wives even when faithfulness becomes painful. And as the Church obeys
Jesus, wives are to live their love in obedience to their husbands. The love
of both is a divine mystery: this is chosen by those who love the Lord more
than themselves. Few are those among the Christians, who have a mature faith
to face this life and remain in it until the end. We thank all those who make
it, even though they are young!