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31-Jul-2006
Dear Friend,
Have you ever had an experience of being hungry in spite of eating and
gorging your self with delicious food? Have your experienced emptiness in spite
of being surrounded with all the luxuries of life? It is in these moments that
we realize that there is more to life than eating and drinking and having all
that money can buy. How do we fill the emptiness within? May his word show us
the way. Have a satisfying weekend! Fr. Jude
Sunday Reflections: Eighteenth Sunday of the Year Satisfying our spiritual
needs! 06-Aug-2006
Readings: Exodus 16: 2-4,12-15; Ephesians 4:17,20-24; John 6:24-35;
In todays first reading from the Book of Exodus we see the Jews rejecting
the God who is, and would rather have a God of their own making. During the
years in the desert, when the Jews were coming to the Promised Land and God was
giving them signs of his special providence, they complained of being hungry.
So God gave them enough manna for each day to satisfy their hunger and enough
for the Sabbath as well, so that they could devote the Sabbath to God. But many
of the people self-centred, went out to collect manna on the Sabbath as well.
They complained of the monotony of eating manna and God gave them quails to eat
in the desert; but this did not satisfy them either. Complaints about the way
God acts come down to our day as well. Having a God in our own image is more
comfortable than having ourselves in Gods image, and makes a god easier to
handle.
Doing it my way!
A man in the Bible Belt owned a remarkable horse which he had trained to go
only if the rider said, Praise the Lord, and would stop only if he said,
Amen. The man decided to sell the horse, but when he explained the horses
peculiarities to the prospective buyer, the buyer said, Thats ridiculous.
Ive been raising horses all my life. Ill make him go my way. So he jumped on
the horse and kicked him until he started to run. The horse ran faster and
faster. Worried the buyer reined back and yelled, Whoa! But the horse would
not stop. Suddenly the man realized they were galloping towards the edge of a
cliff. Desperately he yelled, Oh, all right, Amen! The horse screeched to a
halt just in time. Peering down over the edge of the cliff, the man wiped the
perspiration from his brow. Whew, he said, Praise the Lord!
Harold Buetow, in God Still Speaks: Listen!
In the second reading from Paul to the Ephesians, Paul urges the Ephesians to
live a life in keeping with their baptismal calling. The new mans the
Christian way of acting has its source in Christ, the image of God which he
must come to resemble. We must give up our old self with all selfish desires
and put on the new self, created in Gods way, in goodness and holiness and
truth.
In today's gospel we find the crowds searching for Jesus and following him. But
Jesus is not pleased because they are not following him but rather they want
the bread that he could multiply. He refuses to be a god who merely supplies
material, things. He confronts them about their craving for mundane things
alone. Do not work for the food that cannot last, but work for the food that
endures forever. They ask Jesus, What must we do if we are to do the works of
God? Jesus bluntly tells them that working for God is to believe in the one
God has sent. But they were not interested in Jesus or what he was teaching
them. They insisted, Give us that bread always.
Instant religion!
Jesus told the people that they were searching for the wrong thing. Instant
religious gratification, the perishable food of the gospel quotation, doesnt
last. Instant religion is no religion at all. It is a fleeting high. It is
so easy for us humans to want instant everything, especially in a modern
culture that suggests that technology can produce it. Supermarkets have shelves
screaming out instant ice tea, Quick Quaker Oats, one-minute muffins.
Drive-in restaurants assure us that our orders will be ready in the time it
takes to drive to the serving window. Banks boast that all our bills for months
can be paid in a one three-minute phone call. Jesus does not promise us instant
religion. The food that remains unto eternal life, the very presence of Jesus
himself, does not suddenly turn us into perfect saints, into deliriously joyful
religionists who are never depressed. Rather, Jesus comes to us constantly to
partake of the experience of true religion;
effort-filled prayer, the tedious struggle to serve humanity, the disciplined
commitment to gospel values. Eugene Lauer
The other hungers
In 1885 Vincent van Gogh visited a museum in Amsterdam in order to see
Rembrandts famous painting, The Jewish Bride. Having seen it he said, I
would give ten years of my life if I could sit before this painting for a
fortnight, with nothing but a crust of bread for food. My first hunger is not
for food, though I have fasted for ever so long. The desire for painting is so
much stronger, that when I receive some money I start at once hunting for
models until all the money is gone. It is not only the body that gets hungry;
the heart and the spirit get hungry too. The bread of material things can never
satisfy the heart of a human being. To nourish a human being is not the same as
to fatten cattle. We are creatures not with one hunger but with a hundred
hungers. We hunger for lots of things besides bread.
Flor McCarthy, in 'New Sunday & Holy Day Liturgies'
In todays Gospel Jesus finally identifies himself as the bread of life, real
heavenly bread. I myself am the bread of life. No one who comes to me shall
ever be hungry, no one who believes in me shall ever thirst again. This is the
first of the seven great I am statements in Johns Gospel. It reveals Gods
identity as revealed to Moses. The statement is a call to faith. Without Jesus,
the bread of life our lives fall apart. Jesus is the bread come down from
heaven to give life to the world.
Spiritual Hunger
There are two kinds of hungers in the world. First there is physical hunger
which only food can satisfy. Second there is spiritual hunger, which no food in
the world can satisfy. In other words, we can be rich and successful and still
feel an incredible hunger inside us. Let me illustrate with a true story of one
individual. At the age of 40, Tom Phillips was the president of the largest
company in the state of Massachusetts. He had a Mercedes, a beautiful home, a
lovely family. But Tom Phillips was not happy. In fact, he was downright
unhappy. Something was missing from his life, he didnt know what it was. Then
one night during a business trip to New York, something happened to him. Tom
Phillips had a religious experience that changed him for ever. Speaking of that
experience he said: I saw what was missing from my life. It was Jesus Christ.
I hadnt ever
turned my life over to him. And that night Tom did just that.
And that night Toms life changed in a way that
brought him happiness he never dreamed existed.
Mark Link in Sunday Homilies
May I constantly hunger for what truly nourishes!!
Fr. Jude Botelho
www.netforlife.net
PS. The stories, incidents and anecdotes used in the reflections have been
collected over the years from books as well as from sources over the net and
from e-mails received. Every effort is made to acknowledge authors whenever
possible. If you send in stories or illustrations I would be grateful if you
could quote the source as well so that they can be acknowledged if used in
these reflections. These reflections are also available on my web site
www.netforlife.net Thank you.
Fr. Jude Botelho
www.NetForLife.net
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