August 11, 2024 – Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Fr. John Edmunds, ST (@8:45 in video)

NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – B
1 Kings 19:4-8
Ephesians 4:30-5:2
John 6:41-51

If you’re going to talk the talk, you’d better walk the walk. What you do shouts so loudly I can’t hear what you are saying. Show me, don’t tell me. Actions speak louder than words. The world is changed by your actions, not by your opinions. All different ways of saying something vital for us to remember as we strive to bring the love of Jesus into our community – that people are watching us much more than they are listening to us. St. Francis was supposed to have once said: Preach at all times. If absolutely necessary, use words. Christians use lots of words. There are 781,137 words in the King James version of the Bible. Catholics use loads of words. The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains 2,865 separate articles. Your pastor uses a great many words – counting sermons, columns, blog and articles I’ve written more than a million in the eight-plus years I’ve been here. And words do matter. Words can wound and words can built up. Words can help us understand what is happening or can create a ball of confusion. But the problem comes when things stop at words, when the word remains sterile, when the word does not become flesh as the Gospel of John says. A song from My Fair Lady puts it: “Words, words, words I’m so sick of words. I get words all day long first from him, now from you. Is that all you blighters can do? Don’t talk of Spring. Don’t talk of Fall. Don’t talk at all. Show me. Don’t talk of love lasting through time. Make me no undying vow. Show me now!”

God has shown us. God showed the divine love for humanity by sending us Jesus, his only begotten Son. God was not content to issue commandments and offer prophecies from on high. Instead God entered into the very stuff of human life to show us what love looked like in the flesh. His reaching out to sinners, his bringing healing to the hurting, his dying that we might live showed us what God was really like. God showed us he cares enough to send the very best. Jesus himself has shown us. Jesus showed us that he was going to remain with us always by leaving us the Eucharist. He gave us “living bread” as his “flesh for the life of the world.” Jesus left us not only the Sermon on the Mount and some parables to guide our conduct. Jesus is also really present to us whenever we gather around his altar and break the bread and share the cup in his name. In the Eucharist Jesus shows himself to be present to us as he was present to Peter, Andrew, Mary Magdalene and all the rest.

What about us? How do we show that we are people of God? How do we show that we are followers of Jesus? The Bible suggests it is not so much by being a member of the right Church or by practicing the right devotions. Rather, St. Paul says we show our true colors by becoming “imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love.” “Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another.” “Removing all bitterness, fury, anger, shouting and all malice” There is a quote from an ancient philosopher that rings true: “Show me the kind of person you are, and I will show you your god.” If we are to attract others to come to know Jesus, we must become the kind of people who demonstrate how God has transformed us into those who look and act as he did. Then they will believe us. Recall the quote from Saint Augustine when he would elevate the Eucharist: “Behold who you are. Become who you receive.” We are the children of God. We are the Body of Christ. But until we become who we are in a way that makes it obvious to others, our faith seems like so many words.
Did you notice how Jesus worded it when he showed his ongoing love for us in the gift of the Eucharist: “the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” The Eucharist is not meant as the private possession of a select few invited to an exclusive banquet. It is for the life of the world. It is meant to change the entire human race into people who reflect God’s love and compassion and forgiveness. I recently had an experience that I’ve talked about with some of you that got me thinking. One of the expectations of a godfather for someone to be baptized is that he be a practicing Catholic. When I asked one particular prospective godfather if he was a practicing Catholic he answered this way. “I’ll be honest with you, Father. I don’t go to Church very much, just occasionally. However, I try to pray every day. I volunteer one day a week at the local soup kitchen. I tutor some kids at the high school. And I frequently bring my aunt, who is a shut-in, a supper I prepared for her. You tell me, Father. Am I a practicing Catholic or not?” How would you have answered him?

On the other hand, for Catholics the Eucharist is of utmost importance in how we live out our faith. With the Eucharist we have the nourishment which strengthens us to heed the message of St. Paul and imitate God by becoming more kind, compassionate and forgiving. Like the hearth cake was for Elijah, the Eucharist enables us to walk forty days and forty nights, or even to walk seventy-five years of days and seventy-five years of nights toward the God who has shown us such great love. Here is the dynamic of faith: God has shown us love by giving the Eucharist to us. We show ourselves as beloved by giving ourselves to others. That’s what it means to be a Christian.