Homily Cycle A 8/02/2020 [18^th Sunday]

Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/080220.cfm

Jesus Blessed, Broke and Gave food to those who were gathered.  He Blessed and gave Thanks!  He Broke, reminding us that all we have is a gift from God.

He Gave, by Sharing! 

The Eucharist is simple yet profound; simple yet sacramental; simple yet mysterious; simple yet cosmic, it is a gift that is beyond us, while being readily available to us.

In “Come Be My Life: The Private Writings of the ‘Saint of Calcutta’”- We read,

“… one of the great challenges of the darkness was this absence of a vivid sense of God’s presence in prayer; it was something she [Mother Teresa] still longed for.” [p.270] Throughout the ongoing COVID 19 Pandemic many people have experienced the “absence of God’s presence” in prayer and in life.

Today’s Scripture readings provide an antidote to the darkness and despair of our COIVD 19 world.  Isaiah invites us to “…come to the water …. Come to me  [God] heedfully, listen, that you may have life.”  Fr. John Foley’s beautiful hymn “Come to the Water” is based on today’s reading from Isaiah.  “Come, without paying and without cost drink wine and milk." 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bhq7djsjDzc

In our ever increasingly secularized culture, there is a danger that living our faith will become only private, “The church must advocate too for a public conscience, not just for the private conscience.”  [Ron Rolheiser, St. Louis University Sunday Website, 8/02/2020]

St. Paul reminds us that nothing can “separate us from the love of God”, God loves us forever!  The Gospel Verse teaches us, “One does not live on bread alone, but on every Word that comes forth from the mouth of God.”  God’s Word is our life blood, we should read it, study it and live it.   
In Matthew’s account Jesus is deeply saddened by the death of John the Baptist and He seeks quiet time to mourn, so He withdraws to a deserted place.  But the crowds hungry for spiritual nourishment follow Him.  When Jesus gets off the boat He sees “… the vast crowd [and] His heart was moved by pity for them.”

At the beginning of Mass, Msgr. Sacks prayed, “Draw near to your servants, O Lord, and answer their prayers with unceasing kindness.”  In Jesus - Truth confronts sinfulness, In Jesus - Justice forgives sins, and In Jesus - Mercy transforms sinners into saints.  The vast crowd in today’s Gospel represents us - seeking spiritual nourishment.  Jesus feeds us in unimaginable abundance, so we can live His Gospel and become saints, whether we are black, white, brown, straight, gay, young or old.

Meghan Murphy-Gill writes, “The job of the baker is to make bread taste great by extracting as much flavor as possible from its ingredients. It’s done in a simple, ancient process — Fermentation ….  Fermentation literally transforms the ingredients from one thing into another….  The yeast literally dies to give life to the bread, which is then consumed and gives life to us …. The very baking of bread mirrors the mystery of Christ as the compassion of God made human for us ….”  
[Connections, August 2020, “Take this bread” by Meghan Murphy-Gill]

Christ offers us the fullness of life in God in the Eucharist, the preeminent gift He gives us.  St. Teresa of Calcutta accepted her darkness, [her dark night of the soul], as a gift from God, a gift hard to live.  Our COVID Darkness can be a time of spiritual renewal for us, if we say yes to God, yes to God’s answer to our prayers, especially God’s answer to our Coronavirus prayers.

We need to TRUST that God will guide us through this pandemic in the Lord’s time and in the Lord’s way.  The Lord calls us to strive to be saints, people who do the ordinary things of in life for love of God.

For a few minutes, in silence, think about the ordinary things you do and whether you do them for in your love of God.

May God Be Praised!