Gospel Reflection 2020/2021
‘God feeds His people.’ This is a recurring theme in the Holy Bible, a comforting one. At the surface level, God feeds us to satisfy our physical hunger; and at the deeper level, God does so always to prepare us for a greater purpose.
In the First Reading last Sunday [Ex 16: 2-4, 12-15], we heard of God sending manna to the Israelites while they were in the wilderness. God has not left the Israelites to die in the desert. Instead, He rained down manna from heaven; He gave them bread of heaven in abundance [cf. Ps 77]. Sustained by the ‘bread for the journey’, the Israelites were empowered and energized to find their way to the Promised Land.
Similarly, the First Reading this Sunday [1 Kg 19: 4-8] recounts Elijah’s experience of being fed by God. God demonstrated His power through Elijah and made him triumph over the four hundred and fifty (450) prophets of Baal. In retaliation, the evil Jezebel (wife of King Ahab) had wanted to kill Elijah. Out of fear for his own life, Elijah fled into the wilderness and wished he were dead. Discouraged, disillusioned and defeated, Elijah wanted to give up, “Enough is enough – I am no better than my ancestors – let me just die!” Again, the Lord had not forsaken His faithful servant Elijah: the angel of the Lord woke Elijah up twice in his sleep and gave him scones to eat and water to drink. Strengthened by the ‘bread for the journey’, Elijah walked forty days and forty nights to Mount Horeb, where he later had a profound encounter with God.
The breads of the Old Testament had paved and prepared the way for Jesus Christ the Living Bread. And in the Gospel Reading this 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Jesus declares, “I AM the Living Bread which has come down from heaven!”
Today, Jesus is truly and really present to us in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar – Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity. Like the breads of the Old Testament, Jesus is the Bread for our journey. Therefore,
(1) Our life as Church is not static. The Church, the living Body of Christ is constantly growing and evolving like the growing mustard seed and like the leavening dough [Lk 13: 18-21]. The Catholic Church here on earth is not the Church of the Catacombs; rather, we are the pilgrim Church always on the move. As a living Church, we must always be on a journey of continuous discovery, development and deepening in our encounter, experience and communion with Christ. Rooted in Jesus Christ and guided by the Holy Spirit, we must therefore press on, move on and soldier on towards perfection in Christ – to become fittingly the ‘New Jerusalem’, the spotless Bride adorned for Christ [Rv 21: 2].
(2) Our life as Christians too is not static. We cannot hide in our comfort zone or remain as infant Catholics forever. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI tells us that ‘we are not made for comfort, we are made for greatness’. No, as Christians, we MUST NOT subscribe to the popular mentality: Do not fix what is not broken. Such mentality is another sugar-coated excuse for spiritual laziness and spiritual barrenness. Instead, we as Christians must embrace the spiritually of Cardinal John Henry Newman: To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often. Individually, we are called to embark on a journey of personal growth and maturation in our faith – to go, to grow and to glow.
Jesus Christ is the Bread of heaven: He is the Bread from heaven; and He is our Bread to heaven. We have no lasting home here on earth; we are pilgrims on the journey towards heaven. Without Jesus the Bread for the journey eternally present to us in the Holy Eucharist, we will not make it to heaven. Even as we are physically here and now on earth, may we always set our hearts on our Lord Jesus and the eternal life with Him in heaven.
Let our fervent prayer be:
“Lord Jesus Christ, may Your Body and Blood keep me safe for eternal life.”