Homily for the Week of August 5, 2012

18th Sunday 2012 First Reading: Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15 Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 78:3-4, 23-24, 25, 54 Second Reading: Ephesians 4:17, 20-24 Gospel: John 6:24-35 In your time outdoors and appreciating God’s beautiful gifts, most of you must have noticed how birds or small animals search for food. In my kitchen I have three large windows overlooking the lawn. In early morning there are birds of every kind out on the grass finding food. I so often think to myself that birds like most animals spend much of their time finding food and water and trying to survive. And then there are food fights. It is amusing to see how a group of black birds attack other birds competing for the same food. Have you ever had the experience of being hungry and but did not know what you wanted to eat? So you walked around the kitchen, opening cabinets and looking inside, opening the refrigerator and standing in front of it, and checking the contents of the freezer, or where ever you think there might be something to eat or snack on. After a while you find something that appeals to you. You eat it and then find yourself satisfied for a time. In a sense we spend a lifetime searching for food because food is a basic necessity as is water and clothes and a place to live which we call home. Without food and proper food, we die. Unfortunately there are millions of starving children and adults in the world, and sometimes even very close to us. There is an urgency all around us for the food that comes into our life. Marathon runners load up on carbohydrates before a race; some flirt with steroids to make them stronger. We are advised by doctors and nutritionist to fill our Plate wisely with plenty of fruits and veggies for healthy eating. Whether or not we believe it, healthy weight is not a diet but a lifestyle. But at times when we don’t find what satisfies any of these hungers we start mumbling or grumbling. We complain. We get upset. And this is what was happening with Moses in our first reading today. The Jewish people were in the desert. Water and food were scarce. They had no patience with their situation. They were grumbling. They had been rescued by God from many years of Slavery and death. But they still complained because they had no food. So at night the fields are covered with manna or bread. But they got tired of this menu and still complained. They wondered where God was, and Moses told them that it was God who gave them the bread. It was God’s gift to them to keep them alive. In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus is asking for the same thing. He is asking for trust. The people did not always respond with faith when they witnessed a miracle or a sign. We see in today’s passage that, despite having witnessed and participated in the feeding of the five thousand just a few days before there was still no faith, no trust. The people wanted yet another sign. Part of the problem for the Jewish people and for the ones with Jesus is that the people did not have to do anything. They did not have to work for their freedom or for their bread; it was simply given. They began to expect a god–king who would give them their land of milk and honey with no effort on their part.Today we hear Jesus promising bread that would never leave the people hungry. Instead of focusing on what Jesus was really offering, the people thought only of their bellies. They could not make the leap from their self-centered expectations of God to a set of expectations based on what God had to offer. He tells them that he is the bread of life. God tells them that NO ONE WHO COMES TO ME WILL EVER BE HUNGRY. And as a divine nutritionist he gives us some advice that we should be seeking food that does not get stale. They wondered for a while, and then they say to him: GIVE US SOME OF THIS FOOD. This food, however, will remind us to lay aside our former lives. Jesus reminds us to spend all of our time and money on food that will not rot or spoil,but on spiritual food. Hopefully, whenever we come to church it is because we believe that Jesus is indeed our food. But is not only food that gives us life. We are also hungry for other things that give us life. We are hungry for friendship. So we satisfy this hunger by making friends, going to parties, cookouts, parades, joining groups and organization. Many of you satisfy this hunger by getting married and by forming special one to one relationships. We also hunger for things of mind so we read, listen to the news, buy newspapers. We also hunger for time off; for a vacation, a time to do just what we want to do, or even for breaks. But spiritually we are all hungry for finding God. So often our religion and our spirituality is based on what we want rather than on what God wants. One of the reasons that religion in our culture is losing influence is that what we want is our free bread. We want religion without responsibility. Too many want a good preacher on television so they don’t have to get up on Sunday and drive to a church. Too many base their faith on the entertainment some churches offer, the “feel-goods” that we expect God to pass out to us. These things are the “food that perishes.” It is food based on something that never lasts, rather than on trust in God. Following our reading from Exodus that we had today God told Moses to pick up some of the manna, the bread on the ground and put it away in a jar and set it in special place in the synagogue so that people would see it and remember what God had done. The saved manna would cause them to worship the Lord. We do the same in our Catholic Churches. We place the bread of Eucharist in a place call the tabernacle for all to see. When we forget what God has done and lose our trust, we should look to where our Bread of Life is kept: the Tabernacle. There we can remember and begin to trust again. A Catholic church is never empty. It is the home of Jesus our bread of life.