09/08/2009 - 19th. Sunday in Ordinary
Season - B
Ist. Reading 1 Kg 19,4-8 Psalm 33 IInd. Reading Eph 4,30 - 5,2 Gospel Jn 6,41-51
"Give us this day our daily bread". Give to us for our: this can
be understood in two ways. It is easy to think of all men, of all the peoples.
We interpret the whole world, even those who suffer continuously hunger and
sweat and struggle to survive, and often they don't even succeed. In such a
case, our prayer becomes a strong commitment on our part. We ask God, our Father,
to give bread to those who are hungry, while we have more than enough. We cannot
not feel seriously responsible of their hunger and remain indifferent. Knowing
that a great part of what we consume in the West is the product of poor peoples
who are paid with miserable wages, we would always hear their cry for justice:
Our Father is continuously sending us messages of the sufferings of these nations
through messengers that work in their favor. We cannot ignore them. Our prayer
would be hypocrisy and self condemnation if we don't give back what we are continuously
steeling with our hands and with the arms of the multinational societies, which
we finance when we put money in the Banks. Our prayer commits us to be careful
for every initiative that supports the poor of the world and help them generously.
When I think of how much it is wasted in useless and futile things, even dangerous
ones, not only in smoke and drugs, but also in magazines and other paper material,
I'm ashamed to see how poor are the collections in terms of money for the peoples
who suffer hunger. We cannot delegate the governments to provide for them: these
promise, but don't do. When we pray saying "give us today…", let us
think of those who don't have bread fishing in our bank accounts: God wants
us to be generous so that we partake in his paternal love towards all.
Even today the Readings speak of bread. Elijah is running away from Queen Jezebel
who is after him to kill him at all cost. He had defended the faith in the true
God in front of all the people, but would it serve him right? He thought that
he is the only one to believe, and so he could also die. He even asked God to
take away his life. With this prayer, almost a desperate one, he lays down under
the tree in the desert. How does God react to this? God answers him by providing
for him bread and water. The angel of the Lord invites him more than once to
eat and drink. "With that food he had the strength to journey for forty
days and forty nights up to the mountain of God": Elijah picked up again
his journey, found again the purpose of his life, restored his forces, and now
can once again go to the Lord to listen to what he had to say to him.
Many times, throughout the centuries, the situation of the Church has been like
that of Elijah, persecuted by the Big Men and kept away from the rest. Even
today, in some part of the world and in various societies, the Church seems
to be at the end of its mission: the adults stay far away, the young don't come
closer, hardly anyone listens to her wise teachings that illuminate and give
life. As if nothing is left except to die in peace, to silently bring to a close
her journey. Does God agree with this? He has unexpected answers, and present
them when we cannot trust our own strengths, as he did with Elijah when he gave
him bread and water when this had abandoned himself to desperation.
The Jews who were listening to Jesus were not able to take him seriously. They
themselves had no hope and thought that even God would not change their situation.
They had not yet understand that Jesus, whom they looked at as a man like others,
was the bread that gives life, that renews strengths, who allows to journey
till one enjoys the fullness of God. He is a bread that does not come from men,
but from heaven: it's a gift, gracious gift, unexpected, therefore even the
consequences for those who feed on it are beyond expectations. The Church continues
to feed herself on it, and therefore cannot get depressed. She wont fall into
desperation. Her journey is to continue, even if contested, even if for a time
she needs to go through the desert of incomprehension and is left alone. One
day will come when she is give back a new vigor to be fertile and able to give
life to the world.
Let us welcome with joy the exhortation of st. Paul: "Be imitators of God
as dear children, and walk in the way of love". Let us not seek to please
the world and welcomed by our enemy. Let us not destroy ourselves with our own
hand. Instead, let us keep present the ways of God with eyes fixed on Jesus.
Let us become like him and we become a newness for the world. Not a curious
newness, but a newness that renew all the relationships of our life. Let us
feed on the bread of God, Jesus, and we shall be new every day!