“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You lock the Kingdom of heaven before men” (Mt 23: 13).

Context, in the Gospels, or any scriptural text, is important, but certainly with today’s reading. Our country is already experiencing enough division, polarization, and racial unrest. These comments have too often been used to fuel anti-Semitic rhetoric. We need to remember that Jesus is Jewish. “The criticisms are leveled with those of power and/or influence as in the prophetic denunciations, not against the whole people of Israel. The aberrations denounced by Jesus were also denounced by other Jewish teachers in the rabbinic tradition. The goal of the denunciations is to highlight the error, to preserve others from it, and perhaps to bring those who err to the way of righteousness” (Harrington 2007, 327).

Those who would use these verses to denounce people of the Jewish faith tradition and for being ethnically Jewish, would be acting in the same way as those for whom Jesus was convicting. Jesus spoke to specific actions of specific leaders he had encountered who were using their power and influence for their own means and agendas. The hypocritical behavior that Jesus brought to light unfortunately still exists. It is why so many people are disillusioned with our religious and civic institutions and leaders.

We seek truth, authenticity, and transparency because these qualities are foundational for building trust and relationships. St. Augustine, whose feast we celebrate this coming Wednesday, wrote in his Introduction to his Confessions, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and we are restless until we rest in you.” He experienced a life without God and with him. He regretted the days he had resisted God’s invitation. It is unfortunate how many today have not come to embrace the words of Augustine, because of their experiences with those, who in the name of Christ, have “locked the kingdom of heaven” before them.

It is easy to point fingers at others and how hypocritical they are, but Jesus is also speaking directly to each one of us. How and where have we erred and been hypocritical? In what areas of our lives have we allowed past hurts and wounds, anxieties and fears, prejudicial and judgmental attitudes, to limit us from living a more authentic life aligned with Jesus’ life and teachings? We all fall short in living the “Way, the Truth, and the Life” (cf Jn 14:6), but the good news is that when we have the humility to be contrite, to recognize and to be sorry for the hurt we have caused, to admit when we have been wrong, we have a loving Father with arms wide open to embrace, comfort, lead us to reconciliation, and offer us forgiveness and healing.

When we allow Jesus to show us our faults, sins, and shortsightedness, confess them, and practice penance, he will forgive and transform our lives. We will then have more credibility when we speak up, out, and against any act that diminishes or denounces the dignity of another. While at the same time we need to resist the temptation to do so in a way that diminishes those who inflict division and hate.  Jesus invites us to convict others and hold them accountable as he and the prophets did, while at the same time:

We need to be careful that when we convict we don’t condemn, we hold ourselves accountable as we convict others with the intent of winning back our brother or our sister. Our goal is not to humiliate, degrade, and/or shame, but to lead them to a place of contrition and reconciliation, such that we all will strive to be people of integrity, transparency, and holiness. By doing so, we will not lock the doors of heaven with our hypocrisy but will open them with the keys of our authenticity, faith, humility, and the love that Jesus has given us.

Photo: View above St. Peter Catholic Church, as I was getting ready to head home after JoAnn’s funeral Mass, internment, and reception.

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, August 26, 2024

Harrington, S.J., Daniel J. The Gospel of Matthew, vol. 1, in Sacra Pagina, Ed. Daniel J. Harrington, S.J. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2007.

All the readings for today’s Mass demand a choice.

Joshua has led the Israelites through the Jordan River as Moses had led the people through the Red Sea. God had cleared the way such that the people were getting ready to settle in the new land. It was not by the might of their military that they prevailed. To thrive in this new land, they needed to fulfill the promise of Abraham, God would make of Abram a great nation if he and his descendants would be faithful to him alone.

Joshua, now nearing his death, called the people to decide. Who were they going to worship and dedicate their lives to? The gods that the true God defeated to win their freedom and the idols they were still holding onto from their time of enslavement in Egypt, were they going to serve the gods of the new land they were now going to inhabit, or were they going to follow Joshua and his household and “serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:15).

The people chose to serve the LORD and Joshua established a covenant with God and the people. Although, their faithfulness would not last as the following accounts in the book of Judges attests.

In our second reading, Paul outlines to the Church of Ephesus the ideal covenant of marriage. Unfortunately, the phrase that often puts a screeching halt to this reading is: “wives are to subordinate to their husbands” What is missed is the line before in which Paul writes, “Brothers and sisters: be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ.” And the words after “wives are to be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord.” And, “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church and handed himself over to her to sanctify her” (cf. Eph. 5:21-32).

The language and ideals that Paul presents are about the self-sacrificial nature that a man and woman are to approach the sacrament of marriage. A better translation of the original Greek for hypotasso, is surrender or to entrust oneself to. They are to surrender, trust each other, and serve one another with their whole selves holding nothing back. They are to love one another unconditionally as Christ loves his Church, and this union of self-gift to one another can then result in the beautiful gift from their union which is a third person, a child.

This intimacy and union of love is a communion of persons that mirrors the trinitarian communion of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Where this breaks down is our fallen nature. The knee-jerk reaction to “wives are to be subordinate to their husband in all things” is because of the horrific abuses in the time of Paul writing this letter up to and including our present day. Paul is not talking about a power differential regarding who is to be first, who is to be the boss. He is reminding husbands that they are to love their wives as they are to love Christ and their very selves, and reminding wives that they are to respect their husbands as they respect Jesus and themselves. Also, women are not to be submissive to men generically, but to their husband specifically with the responsibility and communion that entails in their mutual self-surrender.

Do the first and second readings then have anything to do then with our final installment of the Bread of Life Discourse we have been journeying through these past four weeks? Very much so! First and foremost, in our lives, every day and every moment, we need to decide, who are we going to serve. Are we going to serve the enemy, who seeks to enslave and kill us? Are we going to serve our unassisted, fallen nature, where we decide to walk this journey alone apart from God? Or will we decide with Joshua and his household to serve the LORD?

Will we lower the bar of marriage and define it by our weaknesses, our failings, our fallen nature, or give our lives to Jesus, make a covenant with him, enter into a sacramental bond so that he becomes the center of our marriages. Do we recognize that each of us as members of the Church are the bride of Christ? Jesus meets us in our imperfections and sin, he empowers us to be faithful, so that we give of ourselves fully, holding nothing back in self-sacrificial love, to allow his grace to build upon our fallen nature, and to raise us to the height of the beauty, fullness, and wonder of what God created marriage to be as Church and when a husband and wife give themselves to Jesus and each other in the Sacrament of Matrimony.

As with the Israelites that Joshua gathered around him, as Paul wrote to the Church in Ephesus, the crowd that has been “grumbling” and “disputing” among themselves about the teaching that Jesus has been presenting, have now come to the point in which they too need to make a choice.

The opening line of today’s reading does not bode well. “This teaching is difficult, who can accept it”(Jn 6:60)?

The teaching that they are talking about was the doubled down version of Jesus saying he was not just the bread of life come down from heaven, but that if the people wanted eternal life, the life we have all been created for, they had to believe in the words of Jesus we heard proclaimed last week, which is worth repeating in full:

“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me, and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate, and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever” (Jn 6:54-58).

With each stage of his presentation, Jesus increases the vigor of his teaching. There is one last chance for those who might be hoping that Jesus is just speaking metaphorically. As Jesus explains further, he says, “It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail.” Is this then just a spiritual matter, so not really are they to eat the flesh after all? Before they could even ask, Jesus closes that last door. “The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life” (Jn 6:63).

What words? “Those who ate my flesh and drink my blood abide in me.” The flesh he is referring to here, as is also seen elsewhere in this gospel and in the writings of St. Paul is referring to “the unassisted, fallen human nature” (Bergsma). The flesh, our fallen human nature is useless. Even at our best, we are finite and limited. We cannot grasp the things of the spirit with our intellect and senses alone. That is why so many here are struggling. They are not opening themselves up to the spiritual truth that Jesus is sharing. Referring to the flesh, humanity’s fallen nature, is different from when Jesus says that they will my flesh, and my blood.

When Peter, Bartholomew, and Martha say that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God. They got it, not because they were the best and brightest of the bunch. The light bulb went on because they had been in a relationship with Jesus, not just bystanders looking for miracles and signs. Like any good marriage and solid relationship, they trusted Jesus, even when they didn’t fully understand, and they were open to the move of the Holy Spirit speaking to them.

Jesus finished his discourse. This was no metaphor or figurative language. His message was clear, and the crowd understood exactly what he was saying. Now decision time. “Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him” (Jn 6:66).

The teaching was too hard, they could not make that leap of faith, or they could not trust Jesus even though they could not conceive of what he was talking about. The majority, like the rich man who was unwilling to sell all he had to follow Jesus, walked away. Jesus then turned to the twelve.

“Do you also want to leave?” Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God” (Jn 6:67-69).

Peter was not responding with any great insight. He nor the others who stayed did so not because they understood any better than those who had left what Jesus meant by eating his flesh and drinking his blood. The difference was that they had been through a lot with Jesus, they had developed a relationship with, and they trusted him. They decided to stick with and follow Jesus.

Now Jesus and the twelve turn to us. What will be our decision? Do we trust that God spoke creation into being out of the outpouring of his love? Do we believe that through Mary’s yes and the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit the Father sent his Son to take on flesh in the womb of Mary? Do we believe that Jesus is the Son of God who became human, who lived, taught, died, rose again, and ascended into heaven so that through the power of the Holy Spirit and Jesus’ words spoken in the first person by the priest he will again be present on the altar at each Mass?

Do we believe that the bread and wine become substantially, really and truly, the Body and Blood of Christ? Will we too walk away or will we, like Peter and the Apostles, trust in Jesus and continue this amazing journey by giving our lives to Jesus who gave his life for us, so that he could continue to nourish and transform us in his Body and Blood?

Photo: First time as a priest sharing the Body and Blood of Christ who is present in each consecrated host: First Mass of Thanksgiving, May 4, 2024, St. Peter Catholic Church, Jupiter, FL.

John Bergsma quote from The Word of the Lord episode for the 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time. St. Paul Center digital library, stpaulcenter.com .

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, August 25, 2024

But Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see” (Jn 1:46).

Many biblical scholars believe that Nathanael is the same man as the Apostle Bartholomew, who is mentioned in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Acts. We see in today’s Gospel from John that his initial reaction to Philip’s invitation is doubt. Why? Because of where Jesus came from. Nazareth was a small peasant village with a population of about 1,600 people (Meier, 317). I don’t think its small size would be the main reason for Nathanael’s offering a bit of humor at the expense of Jesus’ hometown, though he must have had some reason to believe that nothing good could come from Nazareth. The more important point is that Nathanael did not allow his preconceived opinions of Nazareth to keep him from following Philip’s invitation to “Come and see.”

Nathanael would not only “come and see”, but after Jesus shared how he first saw Nathanael under the fig tree, Nathanael claimed that Jesus was “the Son of God… the King of Israel” (Jn 1:49). What he was able to see in Jesus, Jesus’ own townsfolk of Nazareth were not able or willing to see. Nathanael was willing to see beyond his initial and limited perspective. Though, like the other Apostles, Nathanael was off the mark regarding the kind of messiah Jesus would be.

Jesus would not be the warrior king, but the suffering servant of Isaiah. Jesus also told Nathanael that he would “see greater things than this” (Jn 1:50). Francis Moloney articulated that: “Faith based on miracles will not suffice; something more is needed. This greater faith will enable all disciples to see the revelation of the heavenly in Jesus, the Son of Man” (Harrington, 57).

Though we do not know much about Nathanael other than the encounter described in today’s gospel, we know that he was willing to set aside his initial doubt and prejudice of Jesus’ hometown. He was willing to encounter, follow, and remain with Jesus to become one of the Twelve. He was willing to accept the proposal of the Groom, the Lamb of God and become the bride of Christ that is richly presented in our first reading from Revelation.

There is speculation that he traveled to India to spread the Gospel he received. Most likely he encountered those who had a doubt that anything good could come from the One from Nazareth. There would be those who refused to believe and so he was killed. Yet, before and after his martyrdom, some, though initially doubtful, some like Nathanael, came, saw, and believed.

St Bartholomew, son of Tholami; Nathanael, gift of God, pray for us that we may resist the temptations of our own biases, doubts, and prejudices, so to open our hearts and minds to “come and see” Jesus in those we meet today, especially in the distressing disguise of the poor. Help us not only to resist judging others because of where they come from, the color of their skin, or their beliefs but instead grow in our faith so that we too come to see in each encounter a person, a child of God, a brother or a sister journeying with us along the way.

Painting: The Apostle Bartholomew by Rembrandt 1657

Meier, John P. A Marginal Jew, vol. 1 : The Roots of the Problem and the Person. New York: Yale University Press, 1991.

Moloney, S.D.B., Francis J. “The Gospel of John, vol.4.” In Sacra Pagina, edited by Daniel J. Harrington, S.J. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1998

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, August 24, 2024

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law, tested him by asking, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.” (Mt 22:34-40).

Jesus, in response, was not just throwing up a cloud of theological dust into the eyes of the Pharisees. His answer to, “which commandment in the law is the greatest?” was drawn directly from the Torah. Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18 and merged the two verses together as one unit. The emphasis being that the greatest aspiration for humanity is to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves, not either/or. Jesus again was showing that he did not come to abolish the law and the prophets, but that he came to fulfill them (cf. Mt 5:17).

In this statement, Jesus also revealed the foundation of all reality, the Trinitarian communion of love. For the immanence of God – God within himself – has always been, always is, and always will be a communion of love. God the Father loves the Son, God the Son receives the Father’s love and in return loves God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit is the love expressed and shared between God the Father and God the Son. The overflow and abundance of this perichoresis, or divine dance of trinitarian communion, has been the loving of creation into existence out of this infinite, outpouring of love.

We as God’s created beings have been loved into existence too! We are loved and capable of loving him and one another in return mirroring on earth the love that is shared in Heaven. It is through our participation in the life of Jesus that we can live up to his command to love even our enemies, best expressed in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:29-37).

May we make time each day to receive, rest, rejoice, and reside in the love of God, who is Love. From this experience of being loved, may our thoughts, words, and actions flow. When conflicts or challenges arise, we can resist responding from defensive reactions, refuse to retaliate in kind when faced with any negativity, and renounce any temptations that seek to divert, distract, and distance us from the love of God that we have received.

Let us take care of ourselves and each other. Life, even at its best, is fragile and can slip away from us in the blink of an eye. With each opportunity that arises, say yes to sharing the love with which we have received from God and help each other when and where we are presented with opportunities to do so.

When catching the eye of another we can offer a smile. If someone asks how we are, we can respond by saying that we are better because they asked. When interrupted, we can take a breath and embrace the invitation for engagement. We can intend this morning to seek opportunities to do some random acts of kindness, especially for that someone who ordinarily and regularly gets under our skin. We can reach out to someone for whom we know is going through a lot, not to fix them, but just to be present, to listen. Jesus met people person to person, loved them in that moment of encounter, and began from there.

Perichoresis! Today, may we intentionally choose to participate in the dance of God’s trinitarian Love and allow his Love to reign free in our lives to overflowing.

Picture: Sharing our smiles with you today, one from heaven and one from earth!

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, August 23, 2024

The Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son” (Mt 22:2).

Throughout the Gospels, Jesus not only talked about feasts, but he is recorded as often celebrating table fellowship. Those he ate with ranged from people who were considered sinners and outcasts to the religious elite.

In the parable from today’s Gospel, Jesus presented a wide range of reactions to the invitation offered by the king through his servants. Some are so caught up in their own lives, that they are not able or willing to break away, others reject the invitation outright and do so violently, by mistreating and even killing the servants of the king. Then others, the good and bad alike, welcome the invitation.

God invites, but we must be willing to change our hearts and minds to see the invitation for what it is, an eternal gift. Those who refused were unwilling to change their plans, as well as others who, with hearts of stone, were outright hostile, willing to abuse and even kill the servants.

Near the end of the parable, Jesus presents a curious fellow that the king found present at the banquet without the proper attire. This is not a literal indictment of not wearing the proper clothes. The wedding garment imagery may be a recognition of a willingness to receive the benefits of the invitation without a yes to the responsibility involved with the invitation of transformation.

We are invited to participate in the banquet of eternal life with God. The invitation is freely given, yet it requires that we dress for the occasion of participating in the banquet of a king. This dress is no material garment of fine linen and gold embroidery, but our willingness to repent, to put into practice the words of the prophet Ezekiel: to allow God to sprinkle clean water upon us such that we will be cleansed from our impurities and idols. To be willing to give to God our hearts of stone so that he may give us a new heart and a new spirit, that we may live by his statutes and observe his decrees (cf. Ezekiel 36:25-27).

The wedding garment we wear is our willingness to be cleansed by God and to receive a new heart and spirit, so that we can participate in the banquet of his Son, the first born of the new creation.

God the Father offered an invitation to an eternal banquet to the judges, the prophets, the people of Israel, to be one with him that they might shine brightly before all so to make his will and glory known to the world. In God’s timing, he sent his Son to fulfill that mission of invitation and to be with us in our present moment and in our present condition in life. Jesus meets us where we are right now in our everyday experiences and tells us that “the feast is ready.”

This is an invitation to begin again, to turn away from our selfish ways, to receive a new heart and a renewed spirit. God invites us too, but we need to be willing to let go, to change our hearts and minds, to be transformed and perfected through our participation in the life of Jesus and the purifying fire of the Holy Spirit.

Our yes demands accountability, we can’t just show up dressed for the part and take up space. Our ultimate attire is the transformation from within in which our posture changes from a curving in upon ourselves to an openness and willingness to be transformed by God’s love, so that we will follow his will without hesitation and devote our time, discipline, talent, and treasure to serving at the banquet and inviting others to attend.

Photo: JoAnn and me enjoying an event at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary back in 2013. May she now be celebrating with Jesus, Mary, and the saints at the heavenly banquet.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, August 22, 2024 

Jesus told his disciples this parable: “The Kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard…” (Mt 20:1).

At dawn, nine, noon, three, and five o’clock the landowner hired day laborers to go into the field to bring in the harvest. Many, familiar with this parable, find themselves a bit bemused, bewildered, befuddled, or even angry at the ending when they read or hear that the landowner had his foreman pay everyone the same wage. The immediate cry is, “That is not fair!” Those who, more often than not, respond this way are focused on the hired hands who started at dawn, worked all day, and were paid the same as the laborers who started at five o’clock.

The workers who started at dawn agreed to a certain wage and the owner paid that agreed amount. The landowner explained, “to one of them in reply, ‘My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage” (Mt 20:13)? What is missed, if someone is feeling as perplexed as were some of the dawn laborers, is the generosity of the landowner.

We see this similar scene of generosity given and played out in some of Jesus’ other parables. The older son who refused to listen to his father’s invitation to come in to share in the celebration of the feast when his wayward brother had been lost but now was found (Lk 15:11-32); the man who was forgiven his entire debt from the king and then when he had the same opportunity to forgive one who owed him, did not (Mt. 23-35), and in the parable of the Good Samaritan the priest and Pharisee left the man on the side of the road yet the Samaritan, the despised one, was the one to provide aid (Lk 10:25-37). Each of these parables represent the generosity and mercy of God.

There is a reason Jesus shared the parable of the workers in the vineyard after warning about the dangers of riches. Jesus is inviting the disciples and us to place our trust and security in his Father alone and to be generous with our time, talent, and treasure. He is also calling us out of our group think or tribal mentality. God’s invitation is for all and he is free to bestow his mercy, grace, and forgiveness on those for whom he chooses, whether we approve or not. Ideally, he seeks to bestow his mercy on others through us, such that we are collaborating with his outreach of generosity and mercy.

Are we aware of how generous and merciful God has been with us? If not, may we give some thought to the blessings we do have in our life instead of focusing on what we do not have or what others have. Otherwise, we will be more susceptible to the temptation of envy. May we be thankful and rejoice today in the glory that our Father shines upon us, seek opportunities to share our joy, fruit, and gifts with others, and not only be thankful when God bestows his generosity and grace upon others, even at the eleventh hour, but willing to cooperate when God invites us.

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Photo: Very thankful for evening Rosary walks. Farley Island, Vero Beach, FL.

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, August 20, 2024

“Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “For men this is impossible, but for God all things are possible” (Mt 19:25-26).

The disciples are “greatly astonished” about Jesus’ comments about how difficult it would be for the rich to enter heaven. Their astonishment came from the belief system that those who had wealth did so because they had been blessed by God for following his commandments. Just remember the rich young man’s attitude from yesterday. He had followed God’s commands and was blessed with riches, but Jesus turned his world upside down when he asked the man to give up all he had to follow him.

Jesus attempted to help the man and his disciples to understand that what we have, all that we have, is a gift from God, starting with our very existence. He is the ground, the source, and sustenance of our life as well as our ultimate fulfillment. A problem arises when we place our security in material things ahead of God who provides them for us. If our security is dependent on that which is finite, we are always going to be left unfulfilled, attached, and/or at worst addicted, and so like the rich man, unwilling to give of ourselves to those in need, because we are afraid, we won’t have enough. Also, when we look to our own effort and work ethic, we can build a reliance on our self alone. We can place ourselves as the supplier of our security instead of God. Pride then becomes a dangerous idol. We think and start to believe that we don’t need God because we can do well enough on our own thank you very much.

“Who then can be saved?” The disciple’s question can then very easily be our own. If we can’t buy, earn, or achieve our way into heaven, how will we get there? Jesus is clear. For human beings, this is impossible because there is no means for us to get to heaven on our own merit. But for God, all things are possible because he is our source. In our complete surrender and reliance on God, we are saved. Our redemption comes when we are willing to receive the gift of his love that he so much wants to share with us.

In our gratefulness for what we have and recognition that the source comes from God, we can share freely, because God is unlimited. As we give from what God has given, God will continue to supply. What is primary then is deepening our relationship with him and collaborating with him. As we do so, we will have the proper orientation to encounter one another in love.

What is essential is not what we have, but that we recognize that God is the source of what we have, that he will provide and be present with us. Time goes by fast. This life that we have been given is good, but it is also finite, and fragile. Let us not take each other, what we have, or the time we have been given in this life for granted. Let us allow ourselves to be loved by God, to love God in return, and to love each other as he loves us. “Let us encourage one another while it is still today” (Hebrews 3:13).

Photo: Some quiet time with Jesus, Vero Beach, FL.

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, August 20, 2024

A young man approached Jesus seeking to know what he must do to attain eternal life. Jesus shared that the key was to keep the commandments. The man asked which ones he was to follow, a reasonable request as there were 613 commandments to choose from! Jesus gave him six: do not kill, commit adultery, steal or bear false witness; do honor his father and mother, and love his neighbor as himself (cf. Mt19:18-19). The man affirmed that he had followed them all. Then he asked that next question, “What do I still lack” (Mt 19:20)? I can feel the disciples wince, see the mouth of Jesus curl into a smile while his left eyebrow raises. Mark is more eloquent than me: “Jesus looked at him, and loved him…” (Mk 10:17). Matthew, in his Gospel account, does not engage in such subtleties.

Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad, for he had many possessions (Mt 19:21-22). The young man was so close!

Jesus saw that which was keeping this man from following him. Jesus gave him the opportunity to renounce that which he was holding onto and putting first before God. The promise of eternal life was now presented, which was his original request. It is what we have all been created for, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you” (St Augustine, Confessions). The young man knew what he needed to do but was too attached to his wealth to let go, so he walked away sad.

We do not know if he reconsidered Jesus’ offer and returned. What would we do? I invite you to find a quiet space today, enter the stillness, and return to this scene in your imagination. Play it out again in your mind following to the point of the disciples and Jesus watching the rich man walk away sad. Continue your observation of them as they ever so slowly turn their heads and gaze at you. You then ask Jesus, “What do I still lack that is keeping me from walking a more intimate walk with you?”

Jesus looks at you and loves you, and says, “If you wish to be perfect…” How does he fill in the blank for you? What are you putting before God that he is calling you to surrender?
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Painting: “Christ and the Rich Young Ruler” Heinrich Hoffman, 1889.

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, August 19, 2024

Beginning with the miracle of the multiplication of the fish and the loaves in our first week, to Jesus then saying to the crowd that he is the bread of life, and that all who come to him will never hunger, and whoever will believe in him will never thirst, in the second, and as our journey continued last week, Jesus left off with the cliff hanger of saying that he is the bread that he will give and that his flesh is to be given for the life of the world. With each layer of Jesus’ presentation, he invited the people to follow, and yet, they have increasingly become more uncomfortable. The resistance to his message has increased.

All that Jesus has been building up to is now coming to a climax. Any silent shock of disbelief or quiet murmuring has now escalated to those who quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat” (Jn 6:52)? Jesus hears the growing concern and disbelief. If he was speaking in a figurative or symbolic way, this would be the moment to clarify his point.

Jesus continues and yet, he does not walk back or qualify his comments. Instead, Jesus doubles down: “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you” (Jn 6:53). Jesus does not only repeat that his followers are to eat his flesh, but he also insists also that they are to drink his blood. Drinking or even eating meat with the blood of an animal was inconceivable for devout Jews. Also, the Greek used here in John’s Gospel for eat is trogein, or trogo, which is used to describe how an animal eats, by gnawing, munching, or tearing at the flesh.

The exposition that Jesus is using here is more graphic than the customary use of phagein, which would be used for chewing, as a human would chew their food. This was no attempt to assure the crowd that he was just speaking figuratively or metaphorically. With this recent insertion, he had absolutely repulsed his listeners sensibilities.

Jesus continues to make his point that whoever does eat his flesh and drinks his blood, will not only remain in him, but also Jesus will remain in them, and they will have eternal life. A wonderful end goal, but would any be able to make the leap of faith to get there?

Jesus said that he is “the living bread that came down from heaven”. In doing so he was equating himself with God the Father as his Son. He is saying in no uncertain terms that he is God – blasphemy to devout Jews to say that one is God. On top of that, Jesus is now stating that as the Son of God, he is to give his flesh to be eaten and his blood to be drunk, and this will give his listeners eternal life? Really?

Yes. John will record Jesus saying in just a few more chapters: “Before Abraham came to be, I AM” (John 8:58). These are the words God spoke to Abraham at the burning bush when Moses asked God his name. This language demands a choice. Either Jesus is who he says he is, and they are to give their lives to him and worship him for he is God, or he has now reached the height of blasphemy or insanity, in which the penalty is death. Next week we will come to the end of our journey of the bread of life discourse, and we will see who will leave and who if any will remain with Jesus.

The last lines we hear proclaimed for this week are: “This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.” Jesus is inviting the crowd to receive that which is their deepest longing, eternal life. This has been the choice since the creation of man. We are given the choice to eat of the tree of knowledge that will bring death or the tree of life that will bring, life.

Before us today at this altar, we will be presented with the same invitation. We will be offered the Bread of Life that will come down from heaven, the bread and wine that will become the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ. We will be invited to participate again in the source and summit of our faith.

Lady Wisdom, from our first reading from Proverbs, has invited us to a feast, “she has spread her table.” And we are invited to eat of her food, and drink of her wine. When we eat of her banquet we receive the gift of wisdom, which is to know the difference between the apparent good and the true good, we come to understand the difference between the lie and the truth, and we come to see what leads to death and what leads to life.

Lady Wisdom’s banquet is a type, a foretaste of the eternal meal we share at the Eucharistic banquet. What is hidden in the Old Testament is revealed in the New. Jesus is the Good, the Truth, and the Life. And yet:

That we are to eat the Flesh and Blood of Jesus may sound just as bizarre as it did to Jesus’ followers. The term we have for this miraculous transformation of bread and wine that takes place during the Mass is transubstantiation. What happens at the calling down of the Holy Spirit and the words of institution invoked by the priest is that the substance, the reality, of the bread and wine is transfigured into the Body and Blood of Jesus, while the accidental form or appearance remains the same. We consume Jesus’ unbloody, acceptable sacrifice.

Jesus is giving all of who he is corporally, fully, holding nothing back of himself so we can receive all of him. In consuming Jesus, we become divinized as he permeates our whole being. We are then sent, as the Father sent his Son to be one with us in our humanity so that we can become with him in his divinity, at the end of the Mass to go out. We are sent like Mary, to bring Jesus to others. We are to love others as Jesus has loved us.

He loves us by having given his life on the Cross, so that he can give us his life again and again in the miracle of the Eucharist at each Mass. As we receive him, we are to love, sacrifice, and serve those he sends us to serve, and so experience Jesus in each other. For what we do to the least of our brothers and sisters, we do to him (cf. Mt 25:40).

We are sent forth to bring the Good, the True, and the Life we have received into our corner of the world, person by person, and then return to receive the Body and Blood of Christ to be nourished and renewed and sent out again and again.

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Photo: Celebrating my first Mass of Thanksgiving with Dcn. Stephen at St. Peter Catholic Church, Jupiter, FL.

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, August 18, 2024

“Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them; for the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (Mt 19:14).

Again, we see the disciples refusing access to Jesus. The scriptures are not clear why they consistently act this way. We see them doing so with the blind man Bartimaeus, the tax collector Zacchaeus, and the Canaanite woman. In today’s reading, they are refusing access to children being brought to Jesus such that he might lay his hands on them and pray. A common characteristic of each of those being refused is that they are considered to be on the periphery of Jewish society.

Children, paidia in Greek, especially so. Paidia could represent a child from infancy to twelve years of age. In ancient Palestine, children were particularly vulnerable, had no status and were completely dependent on their families for survival. Luke goes even further than Mark and Matthew by using, brephē, meaning infant, to describe the children. It is to these children and infants that Jesus states the Kingdom of heaven belongs.

Just as consistent as the disciples are in turning away those in need, Jesus is just as consistent in his ministry of paying particular interest to each individual person in their particular need. He welcomes the children and blesses each one of them. Jesus continually acknowledges and affirms the dignity of each person he meets, especially those neglected and ignored. Those who have been on the other side of the glass looking in, Jesus gives admittance. Jesus bridges the divide of separation through his presence and healing touch.

To enter the Kingdom of heaven, we must be willing to trust and place, as children, even more so, as infants, our total dependence on God alone, instead of relying on our own initiative or effort. There is nothing we can do to earn our way into heaven. The entrance into the Kingdom of heaven is a free gift of God’s grace. This gift is not about our worthiness, for all of us fall short. It is about our willingness to acknowledge our utter dependence on our loving God and Father and accept the invitation he offers all of us to be in relationship with him. As we do so, we are to resist the temptation to prevent others from having access to this wonderful gift, but instead share the same invitation we have received.

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Photo: A stained glass image of Jesus with children at Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral, Los Angeles, CA.

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, August 17, 2024.