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Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Aug 25, 2024

Go Forward, Go Backward, or Stay Put

A train set can provide hours of entertainment for children and adults alike. A basic set allows the train to go around and around in circles or ovals. With a few specialty pieces, it’s possible to set up multiple paths. With enough of these specialty pieces, the trains can go straight ahead, turn around and go backwards, or just go in small little circles, never actually getting anywhere else.

As children grow older, and more parts are added to the set, the sky is the limit (as well as the floor space) regarding how complex the creation can become. There are tunnels, overpasses, buildings, passengers, even animals that can be in the pastures or villages through which the train passes. As the child’s vision expands, hours are spent dreaming and creating the countryside through which the train passes.

As adults, most of us don’t design transportation systems, or bridges, or buildings, or spacecraft. But that does not mean we have no reason or opportunity to dream and create a future for ourselves and our families.

Decision times come in various disguises.

Transitional Times for a People

What do we do in times of transition? Where do we send our trains? Do we go forward into new dreams and possibilities? Do we look longingly at the way things used to be – what some call “the Good Old Days?” Do we simply try to keep things just the way they are, with no major changes?

These are questions that people have had to answer for themselves for thousands of years.

The Book of Joshua was written long after the events which it describes. Most scholars agree that there is no good way to say when they occurred or even if they did in the way described. Yet the story is told to describe a relationship between God and the Hebrew people after they left Egypt and as they moved into the land of Palestine.

It was a bloody history of conquest, as were most such events in the ancient world. Peoples moved into lands occupied by others and killed off most of the original inhabitants. Genocide is not a new phenomenon in the world.

Following the death of Moses, Joshua led the people across the Jordan River and into the land of Caanan. One by one, the tribal peoples living there were conquered and their lands assigned to the twelve tribes of Israel. As long as the people lived in compliance with the Covenant, all went well with the conquest and settlement of the land. When they did not, things went badly.

As Joshua neared the end of his life, he called the leaders of all the tribes together at Shechem. He set out the possible options for them going forward once he had reached the end of his life and leadership time.

“If it does not please you to serve the Lord, decide today whom you will serve.” This was the first option, though phrased in a negative format. Option 1 = Move forward with the Lord.

“… the gods your fathers served beyond the River…” – those from the days before Abraham moved from Ur in Mesopotamia in response to the Lord’s call. Option 2 = Go back to the very beginning.

“… or the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are now dwelling.” Option 3 = Stay put and don’t upset things as they are!

Joshua then added his own decision for his family: “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” His decision was to move forward.

Blessedly for the rest of us who are part of the tradition of the three great Abrahamic religions, the leaders of the people agreed that they and their communities would also serve the Lord, “for he is our God.” (Jos 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b)

Relationships in New Perspectives

St. Paul wrote to the Ephesians about the relationship of Christ and the church, the community of believers. In his time, women were not treated as equals to the men in their families. They were part of their father’s family until they were married, at which time they became part of their husband’s family. They did not have any independence or freedom to make their own decisions about most things. Their ability to move about freely was highly limited and their survival depended on the good will of the men.

Within the Christian community, however, women received more respect and had more freedom. The women who traveled with Jesus were respected by the community of disciples. A woman was the first to testify to having seen Jesus after the resurrection. Women were worthy of respect.

Paul spoke of the relationship of Christ and the church in terms of marriage. Christ is head of the church and its savior. Christ loves the church and gave himself to make us holy. The relationship between Christ and the church is like that of a husband and wife. Each is to love the other. He speaks of women as subordinate to their husbands, but that is not to be understood as mandatory in any way for today’s relationships. He balanced his statement about women with the totally revolutionary statement that men are to love their wives and care for them as they do their own bodies. This was absolutely new and unexpected. (Eph 5:21-32 or 5:2a, 25-32)

In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the notion of subordination of women is totally absent.

“Holy Scripture affirms that man and woman were created for one another: “It is not good that the man should be alone.” The woman, “flesh of his flesh,” his equal, his nearest in all things, is given to him by God as a “helpmate”; she thus represents God from whom comes our help.” (CCC 1605)

So, go forward – Men and women as equals and helpers to each other?
Go backward – Men as the ones who decide everything for women and control their activities?
Stay put – Recognize that women have rights, but limit those rights and opportunities to what they have now?

Deepening Relationships in Faith

Jesus didn’t leave his claims about his body being real food and his blood real drink as optional statements intended to get folks talking about him or following him. He was absolutely serious about what he was saying. He knew the idea was deeply troubling to many, so he took the question to them, “Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?” He clarified his statements, noting that “It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail,” but the notion of life after death was not universally accepted in the Jewish community of his day. His statements seemed like those of a madman, unless he truly was the person he was claiming to be: Son of the Lord God, the One who was to come.

Most of the people who had come to see him, hoping for more healings or meals, left him after these statements. It was just too much to accept. We don’t eat human flesh and we don’t drink or eat blood at all, would be their reaction. Eating the blood of an animal was forbidden by the law of Moses. Meat was always treated to remove blood before it was pure enough to consume.

Blessedly for us, when Jesus asked Peter and the others if they too would leave, Peter gave his statement of faith that we share: “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe … that you are the Holy One of God.” (Jn 6:60-69)

Only two options this time. Walk away – this is all too much and not possibly true – Go back!

Remain and move forward in faith that this man is really the Holy One of God who gives his flesh and blood as food for the life of the world – Go forward!

Decisions today

As so often happens, we come to times of decision in our lives today too.

Will we retreat in fear from those we don’t know or understand? Will we put up walls of silence or mockery, or restricted access to the necessities of life, or bricks? Will we demonize those whose ways we don’t understand?

Will we close our eyes and just wish it would all go away already? What if we just sit this one out? Nothing ever changes, why bother?

Or will we choose to move forward, following our Lord in service to the poor, to refugees, to the lonely, the sick, the dying, the little ones of God? Giving of ourselves and sharing the gifts we have? Trusting that all will work out all right if we all work and share together?

Just as in the days of Joshua, Paul, and Jesus, we have decisions to make for ourselves, our families, and our world. Will we be like children who send the trains in circles around and around? Or will we be like those who send them cycling back again and again to other simpler areas of the world they have created with their tracks? Or will we be like those who lay the tracks so that the trains can go forward in many ways, taking direct routes or “scenic” routes along the way to their destination?

My Great-grandmother was known to remark that “the good old days weren’t so good!” It’s a perspective worth remembering as we move through the days and weeks to come. She grew up in a time of travel by horses and carts, lived through two World Wars, as well as Korea and Vietnam, saw the moon landing, and watched her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren grow up in a world far different from the one into which she was born. “The Good Old Days weren’t so good,” was her advice.

Time goes forward. So do we. How will we lay out the tracks for our journey now?

Readings for the Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle B

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Aug 18, 2024

The Living Bread from Heaven

One morning, a very hungry toddler sat down to eat her breakfast. One of her favorite foods was applesauce, home-made from wonderfully sweet apples. She was proud of her growing skill with a spoon and ate most of the applesauce using her spoon. But then the bottom of the bowl appeared. It became more and more difficult to scoop out the applesauce with her spoon, but there was more left to enjoy. Not one to waste a bite of something as wonderful as that applesauce, she held her spoon in one hand and lifted the bowl to her mouth with the other, happily slurping down the remainder of her applesauce.

We humans eat lots of different kinds of food. Some are special treats. Others are things we have been told are “good for us,” though we may not particularly like them. Most things we don’t really think much about at all. They are simply part of our everyday lives. We eat because we are hungry. We eat because we enjoy the food. We eat because those around us are eating and we enjoy the social nature of the experience. We eat because if we didn’t, we would not survive. For most of us, the latter is not our primary reason for eating.

The foods we eat are transformed by our bodies into the elements needed for us to grow and to live our lives. We must have the basic building blocks in order to continue. Energy needed for life comes from the food we eat. Without it, we would die. Even with food, the time comes in each person’s life in which we die. Food as we know it is not sufficient to maintain life forever. And after we die, our bodies return to the earth and recycle back to basic elements that can be reused by another organism.

Our toddler is part of a long-standing cycle of food and its uses.

Given the centrality of food in human life, and its social nature as well, it’s not surprising that when folks think about an afterlife, or a supernatural (or transnatural) world, they often include imagery of eating. Banquets are part of the mythologies of peoples around the world. The ancient Hebrews and Christians were no exceptions.

Wisdom’s banquet

Wisdom, a highly valued quality and indicator of maturity, is personified in the Hebrew scriptures. Wisdom was with God from the beginning, present at the creation of the world. Wisdom continues to act in the world and in our lives to the present day. Wisdom is perceived as feminine. For Christians, the Holy Spirit is identified as the Spirit of Wisdom, an integral aspect of the ever-dancing, swirling Trinity of Love, our God.

In the book of Proverbs, we find Wisdom hosting a banquet at the home she has built. Proverbs presents many sayings and examples of what is required of those preparing for service in government – those who will serve in the King’s court. Manners, codes of behavior, rules of civility – all are spelled out in this book. By the ninth chapter, those ready to serve, those who have matured sufficiently, are invited to Wisdom’s banquet. However, not only those who have met the expectations of their society are invited. She invites those who lack understanding, those who might not be seen as clever: “Come, eat of my food, and drink of the wine I have mixed!” Those who accept the invitation, will live and grow in understanding. This food is not physical food. It has a different purpose and leads to a different conclusion. It leads to maturity in thought and action. (Prv 9:1-6)

Physical food for a Spiritual outcome

The crowds around Jesus after he had fed so many in the wilderness were totally uncomprehending when he explained that he had not come into the world to provide miraculous quantities of fish and bread for them. On the contrary, he himself was actually living bread from heaven. His own flesh would be the food that would bring life to the world.

The claim was not well-received. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

But Jesus didn’t back down. “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.”

Then Jesus shifted the conversation quite dramatically. He linked the eating of his body and blood to eternal life. “My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.”

How? Why? What?

“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.”

We have moved into an entirely new realm. This is not normal food. The life about which he is speaking is not the normal human life here on Earth that we all experience. This is something totally different. Because the life of the Father flows through Jesus, a share in his body and blood is a sharing in the life of the Father. The body and blood of which he speaks are not the human, physical body we typically recognize as we interact with each other, rub the sleep out of our eyes in the morning, and enjoy our morning applesauce!

It was not until Jesus’ final supper with his friends before his death that it became clear what form that food and drink which are his body and blood actually would take. When he blessed and shared the final loaf of unleavened bread at his last Seder and the cup of wine after the meal has been eaten, the Cup of Thanksgiving, then gave them to his disciples, and explained that these were the food of the New Covenant, his body the bread broken and shared and the wine his blood, that of the sacrificial lamb, that his earlier words began to make sense. Until then, few who heard his words believed him anything more than a madman.

Because the life of the Father is shared with the Son, and we are invited to share in that life as we eat the bread and drink the wine that have been blessed and changed – his body and blood – we can share in their eternal life. This food leads and strengthens us for the journey of transformation and growth in maturity to the eternal table of the Lord. (Jn 6:51-58)

A New Way of Living

Living as children of God, sisters and brothers of Jesus and of each other, Followers of the Way, proved to be challenging, especially as the Good News broke down the barriers between the Jewish people and the Gentiles (all the rest of us). How does one live as a wise person rather than a foolish one? How does one know what the will of the Lord is? What traditions are to be followed? What new ways will enter our everyday activities?

St. Paul cautioned the people of Ephesus that there are many ways in which people can stray from the will of the Lord, many ways to act foolishly. The behavior which is not foolish is that which is filled with the Spirit. Lady Wisdom’s banquet hall, though not mentioned by St. Paul, welcomes those who seek her, with prayer, hymns, singing to the Lord, and giving thanks at all times.

The giving of thanks is not to be limited to times when things are going well. Paul says, “giving thanks always and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.” Things don’t always go well, in terms of our human evaluation of them, but God brings good out of all things. Our sharing in divine life did not and does not exclude all suffering. We share in the whole life of Jesus in our communities and our everyday activities.

As we go through our days this week, enjoying our applesauce eaten by spoon or slurped out of our bowls, spending time at work and school, finding companionship with our families and friends, and sharing in the Bread of Life, the Body and Blood of our Lord, may we give thanks for all we have received and for the Spirit of Wisdom who shares in and rejoices in our lives.

Readings for the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle B

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Aug 11, 2024

Be Imitators of God and Live in Love

“Live in love.”

Three simple words, but such a challenge they offer.

We live in families, communities, regions, and nations that are not always in complete agreement about what is important in life. In fact, there are huge and seemingly irreconcilable differences among them. Even within families we have differences. How are people to behave? Are there different standards of behavior for men compared with women? What about people who are non-binary – how do we understand and deal with this kind of diversity? Where do children fit into the picture? What do we expect of them and how do we treat them? What are our responsibilities to each other and to our environment? How do we share the land? What do we eat? How do we learn what we need to know as adults? How do we make a living? How do we choose our leaders? What happens after we die?

So many essential and fundamental questions that must be addressed if people are to live without conflict.

One of the foundational rules (and jokes) in Anthropology is NEVER to use words such as never or always to describe human behavior. Experienced anthropologists joke that when they get together socially or professionally and one among them declares that people all over the world always do X, Y, or Z, someone will respond, “But among the people of (insert name of culture) whom I studied, they do W.”

One universal, so far as I know, is that people need nourishment of some sort in order to live. That nourishment comes in many different forms, but it is essential.

Elijah received bread and water

The prophet Elijah was fleeing for his life. The king was absolutely furious with him for having killed the prophets of Ba’al who had been leading the Hebrew people in worship of this god of another people. Elijah was ready to give up and die. He asked the Lord for death, lay down, and went to sleep. An angel, a messenger from the Lord, woke him up and ordered him to eat and drink. A simple loaf of bread (a hearth cake) and a jug of water were there by his head. He ate the bread and drank the water, then went back to sleep. But the Lord wasn’t finished with him. The angel came again and ordered him to get up and eat. The journey would be too long if he didn’t eat first! Elijah obeyed, the began walking again, clear to the mountain of God, Horeb (aka Mt. Sinai). (1 Kgs 19:4-8)

As an aside, a friend who is a Deacon and young enough to have grown up with Pop Tarts as a breakfast treat, noted that in our day, the angel might have come with a Pop Tart for Elijah to eat. (Nice image, Deacon Joe!)

Whether a hearth cake or a Pop Tart, the Lord provided food for Elijah’s journey. The Lord had work for him to do and knew he would need support in the form of food.

Jesus offered himself

Jesus too knew that we who follow him will need food. He fed the crowd with a few loaves and fish. People flocked to him for more. But they were uncomfortable with what he was telling them about himself. He’s Joseph and Mary’s son. We know him. What does he mean saying, “I have come down from heaven!” We all know that’s not possible.

But Jesus wasn’t deterred. “Stop murmuring among yourselves.” The Father is the one in charge. The Father teaches all and those who listen will find Jesus, the one who can show them the Father. Belief results in eternal life. What sustains that life? The bread of life, the bread given by God, Jesus himself who is that bread.

Jesus moved the conversation and the call from the practical, pragmatic question of physical strength and survival to a much broader form of life. This broader life, a life as a child of God in this earthly world, requires a different type of food than a simple hearth cake or Pop Tart. It is not as obvious as going to the market to buy food for the day for oneself and one’s family. It is not food that we can get for ourselves. In the desert the people received manna from heaven. We too need something more than ordinary food, even tasty treats. We need strength and nourishment for living life on a spiritual level too. Regular food is important, but more is needed. (Jn 6:41-51)

Food for living in love

St. Paul spoke of the challenge of living in the new spiritual realm of which Jesus spoke. Through baptism, Christians have been sealed by the Holy Spirit, chosen for redemption through Christ’s sacrifice. This new life requires setting aside behaviors such as “bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling” others. There is no room for these. They are not food for imitators of God, sharers in the life of Christ. Christians must be kind, compassionate, and forgiving. Through our imitation of God, as beloved children of God, we live in love. In this, we share in Christ’s life and sacrifice. He becomes our food. (Eph 4:30-5:2)

Is this limited to any particular culture? Is it bound by any human rules? Not really. Jesus comes and offers himself as food for all of us. We receive this food and are strengthened to be imitators of God and live in love as God’s children. Nourishment offered and received, given to all freely.

As we move into this coming week, let’s be aware of the gifts we all receive from our Father and the many ways we are nourished by those gifts. Let’s set side anger, judgements, jumping to conclusions, belittling others and all those things that make life miserable for ourselves and others. Let’s instead look with compassion on others who might not have the same opportunities we have had. Let’s forgive those who have offended us. Let’s work together to build a better life for all.

We have received the gift of the bread of life, living bread, available to all who seek it. May it always be the food for our journey as imitators of God, living in love.

Readings for the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle B

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Aug 22, 2021

Decisions and Commitments

Readings for the Twenty-First Sunday of Ordinary Time tell the story of commitments made long ago and the decisions that accompany the commitments.

We begin once again with the ancient Hebrew people. They have left Egypt, traveled through the Sinai Peninsula’s arid lands for 40 years, and now, under the leadership of Joshua, have entered into the Promised Land. Was the land empty and in need of a large community of people to enter and settle there? No. Were the peoples already living there happy to welcome newcomers? No. Did the peoples living there worship just one deity? No. Might there be some problems? Yes. Yes. Yes!

The Hebrew people were descendants of a few people who had left Ur (in modern day Iraq) many centuries earlier. They had lived in Canaanite lands before moving to Egypt during a great famine. They stayed in Egypt for a long time, growing from the families of the twelve original sons of Jacob (a.k.a. Israel) to be a very large group of people. To prevent their developing an alliance with potential invaders from the east, Egyptian rulers enslaved the Hebrews. Moses, an Israelite child raised by an Egyptian princess, under the inspiration and guidance of God, eventually led the people to freedom and began the 40-year sojourn in the Sinai. In the Sinai, the covenant agreement established with Abraham, from whom they all descended, was re-established. Now, as they at last enter again the land where Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had lived, it’s time to reconfirm their agreement.

Joshua (Jos 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b) reminds them of their history and of all God has done for them. Will they remain true to God in this land to which they have come. Will they remember to worship only God, not the gods of the people living there, nor the gods they or their ancestors might have worshipped in the past? Will they obey the Law given to them in the desert, the instructions about how to live in peace and justice with each other and with those non-Hebrews who live among them? Joshua declares that he and his family will do so. The rest of the people respond that they also will do so.

It was a big commitment, especially since they would be living among many other peoples. Through the centuries that followed, there were times when they were faithful and times when they were not. Sometimes they lived in peace with their neighbors. Sometimes they were conquered. They explained these experiences in terms of whether they had been faithful to their Lord God or had not. When they were faithful, things went well. When they were not, things did not. Did God really turn away from them? No, God doesn’t do that. But there are consequences of decisions made and sometimes those consequences are not what we would prefer.

A commitment was made by the Hebrew people that day at Shechem. The decision to abide by that commitment had to be made again and again.

Many of the people who were disciples/followers of Jesus also had to make a commitment/decision after they had seen him feed a large crowd in an arid countryside. They had come to him back in town, wanting to see more miracles. Jesus didn’t give them more miracles. They spoke of the manna in the desert given by Moses. He reminded them that God had provided the manna. He then spoke of bread from heaven that would give the fullness of life to the world. As the conversation continued, he shocked all by declaring that he himself was the bread of life. His body and blood would bring life to the world. And, most shocking of all, they would have to eat his flesh and drink his blood to have this fullness of life. That would be absolutely unthinkable for a good Jew or for members of most other human societies. In cultures that allowed consumption of human flesh, it was often done as a form of respect for the courage or strength of the one who had been killed (if an enemy), but that is not the case for the Hebrew people. Blood was never to be consumed because that was something associated with sacrifice of animals and children to the gods in the surrounding countries. It was forbidden absolutely in the Law. To this day, meat is koshered to remove any blood from it.

Jesus watched as most of his former followers walked away from him and returned to their prior way of life (Jn 6:60-69). He turned to his twelve closest friends and asked them bluntly, “Do you also want to leave?” Peter responded with a great statement and commitment, “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.” For better or for worse, this Jesus is different and special from all others. For John, this is another statement that Jesus is Divine Wisdom in the flesh.

A commitment was made by Peter and the others that day in Capernaum. This decision led to following Jesus through his life, death, and Resurrection – then out to the rest of the Roman Empire, announcing the good news of God’s love for all of us.

Lastly, we look at St. Paul and his instructions to the Ephesians (Eph 5:21-32) about the relationship between husbands and wives. This is one of the most misunderstood readings in the Bible. Paul does not think in terms of body and soul as making up the human being. For Jews of his time, the human being is something of a flesh/spirit union, not divisible – a whole human being. Paul writes about the relationship between husbands and wives in a style familiar to the Greco-Roman world. This type of instruction typically includes the expectations of children and parents, as well as of masters and slaves.

Paul begins with an amazing statement: “Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ.” To be subordinate does not mean to obey blindly or slavishly. Even the word obey doesn’t carry the same meaning we typically give it – that of doing exactly what one is told to do. The idea here is to “listen deeply” to what is being said. This requires a commitment to respect and care for the other person. To listen not just to the words, but also to the feelings and experiences of the other, to give the other person the benefit of the doubt.

Paul instructs women to respect their husbands as they would respect Christ. Then he puts forward the idea that women are like the church, which he describes as subordinate to Christ. He tells the men that they are to love their wives as Christ loves the church, not to lord it over them. This wasn’t the norm in a time of arranged marriages in which a bride price had to be paid and women could be returned in disgrace to their families if their husbands grew angry with them or tired of them. Husbands are to love their wives as much as Christ loves all of us – to the extreme of giving his own life for us. Husbands and wives – wives and husbands, become one body as the church is the Body of Christ. Our marriages are to be as sacred as the relationship between Christ and humankind. It is a great mystery, as Paul notes. Two become one, not just in the beginning of their marriage, but as they grow together through the years.

A commitment is made, followed by many decisions to love.

What commitments have we made? What decisions follow those commitments? It takes a lifetime to discover the answers.

See you at Mass.

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Aug 8, 2021

Food for the Journey

The prophet Elijah had a problem – her name was Jezebel, wife of King Ahab. Jezebel was not an Israelite and she worshiped gods other than the Lord. More seriously, she got her husband to offer sacrifices to her god, Baal, and she ordered that all the prophets of the Lord be killed. When Elijah demonstrated clearly that Baal was not really a god and did away with Baal’s prophets, Jezebel ordered his death. He fled into the desert and lay down under a tree, praying for death to come to him there.

It is at this point that we pick up Elijah’s story in today’s reading from the first book of Kings (1 Kings 19:4-8). Elijah begs the Lord for death. He’s had enough of being a prophet and always being in trouble, having to flee for his life again and again. He wants it all to end. But that isn’t what the Lord has in mind. Elijah is awakened by an angel who tells him to get up and eat. Obediently, he does so, then lies down again to sleep. But the angel of the Lord returns and again tells him to get up and eat more, the journey will be long. Elijah obeys once again. He eats the food provided and drinks what he has been given to drink. Then he gets up and begins to walk.

He walks for forty days and nights to Mt. Horeb, the mountain on which the Lord gave Moses the Law. There he meets the Lord and receives instructions regarding which men are to be anointed as the next kings and prophets. That story is for another Sunday. For today, the important thing for us to remember is that the Lord God provided food that would sustain Elijah for a very long journey.

Another Kind of Bread from Heaven

Jesus continues to deal with the question of bread from heaven in St. John’s account of the aftermath of the feeding of the five thousand men (Jn 6:41-51). People in the city knew Jesus and his family. He had grown up in a nearby town. How could he possibly presume to claim to have been sent from heaven?

Jesus doesn’t back down. He goes farther in his claim to authority, saying that the Father will draw people to him. Furthermore, Jesus himself has come from the Father, has seen (the word implies either spiritually or physically) the Father, and will give fullness of life (everlasting life) to those who believe what he says. Finally, he declares, “I am the bread of life.” This living bread comes from heaven and is to be given physically, in the flesh, for the life of the world. Jesus gives himself to gift eternal life to humanity.

This radical notion drew the first Christians together and shaped their identity. As St. Paul reminded one community (Eph 4:30-5:2), they were God’s beloved children because Christ loved all of us and gave himself as a sacrificial offering to the Father. As Christians they/we belong to God through our baptism and that fact is to show in our lives. We must leave behind anger, bitterness, shouting, and all other forms of hatred and malice. We are to be known for our kindness, compassion, and readiness to forgive each other. We who share the body of the Lord cannot, must not, fail to live in love. An important reminder in our day too.

Our loving Father has given us food for the journey of our lives. We don’t know where our lives as Christians will lead us. We don’t know who we will meet along the way. We don’t know who might be angry with us when we speak the truth of God’s love for all. We don’t know who might be hungering for a word of love or forgiveness or compassion. What we do know is that we can hold on to the promise Jesus gives us. The bread he gives, the living bread that came down from heaven, brings life in all its fullness to those who receive it. Just as Elijah received food that took him to Mt. Horeb, we too receive food that will take us to meet our God in our world today.

See you at Eucharist.

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Jul 31, 2021

Is It Ever Enough?

Who among us has not had the experience of trying to do something special for another person and discovering that what we thought would be gratefully received and appreciated fell short in the eyes of the intended recipient? It might be something as simple as remembering a birthday or as momentous as arranging a trip to a fabulous vacation destination. But somehow, the recipient of our gift does not appreciate what has been given.

In the readings this week, the Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, we see something of this same sort happening. The Israelites have escaped from slavery in Egypt. They have miraculously crossed the Red Sea, with the entire Egyptian army in pursuit. They have traveled into the Sinai and now, two months after leaving Egypt, they find that food and water are not naturally abundant for a large group of people traveling together in a dry land. One of those DUH! moments. They begin to grumble and complain. At least in Egypt they had enough to eat and drink. They even had bread (an Egyptian invention when ovens were invented and wheat bread developed). Here in the desert, they didn’t know where their next food and water were going to be found.

Moses took their complaints to God, who responded by providing manna in the morning and quail in the evening for the people to eat. The manna fell from the sky each morning and the people were instruction to collect just enough for their own family for the day. The same rule applied to the quail which came in the evening for the hunters. Only on the sixth day were they allowed to harvest more than enough for one day, because nothing was to be collected on the seventh day. It was to be a day of rest.

When the manna fell the first day, the people asked, “What is this?” Moses responded, “This is the bread the Lord has given you to eat.” (Ex 16:2-4, 12-15)

This gift of manna in the desert became one of the abiding themes in Jewish culture and history. The psalmist declares, “He commanded the skies above and opened the doors of heaven; he rained manna upon them for food and gave them heavenly bread.” (Ps 78). The people fed by Jesus out in the countryside came to him when they had returned to the city and demanded a sign before they would be willing to believe that God had sent him to them: “Our ancestors ate manna in the desert…” Jn (6:24-35)

Jesus told those who searched for him in the city that they were to search for food that endures for eternal life, not everyday, ordinary food that spoils. The food that endures comes from the Father, just as the manna in the desert had come from God, not from Moses. The bread of God gives life to the world. Those who eat it will never hunger or thirst.

In this discourse, Jesus tells those with whom he is speaking, “I am the bread of life.” We’re used to hearing folks say, “I am.” “I am happy,” “I am sad,” “I am coming home soon,” etc. “I am” doesn’t mean anything significant in our ordinary speech. But in John’s Gospel, “I am” statements mean something important. This is the name of God. When Jesus says this, he makes clear that he speaks in the power and authority of God. “Whoever comes to me will never hunger” because he himself is the life-giving gift of God.

This new life from Jesus demands a different style of interaction and behavior from those who are his sisters and brothers. (Eph 4:17, 20-24) They no longer live as people who are only looking out for themselves and their own pleasure. They are now part of a community committed to living as members of the Body of Christ – those who eat the Bread from Heaven.

Is this gift from God enough for us? For you? For me? Will we eat of this bread of life? Will we believe and never thirst?