Jesus is not safe. And he doesn't want us to stay safe.
Following Christ is dangerous
business.
He wants us to die to ourselves and share our lives!
All Eucharistic celebration – and adoration – must
lead to service.
In today’s Gospel the disciples are genuinely
concerned for the 5000 men – not including women and children – who are likely
very hungry and in the middle of nowhere. The disciples want Jesus to dismiss
the crowds so they can go to the nearest village and buy food, but Jesus
insists “Give them food yourselves.”
Really? They are in the middle of nowhere. It’s as if Jesus had
intentionally gathered together people from all walks of life and then led them
out into this wilderness.
In John’s account it is Andrew who brings a young
boy to Jesus who is willing to share his five barely barley loaves and two
skinny scrawny sardines, but what good are these for so many? But never let anyone ridicule you for your five
loaves and two fish. It is enough.
Jesus immediately tells the disciples to have the
people sit down in groups of fifty. Groups of fifty. Sounds like he was
encouraging community.
Then Jesus miraculously multiplies the loaves and
fish to provide a veritable banquet for the people out of seemingly nothing –
and in the middle of nowhere. Five loaves and two fish? Really? Yes, the Lord
can take our small offering and multiply it beyond our imaginings. Never let anyone ridicule you for your five
loaves and two fish. It is enough. The Lord will provide good and plenty.
This wonderful feast day gives us an opportunity to
ponder the gift of the Eucharist. This sacrificial meal of thanksgiving is THE
Sacrifice which sums up all of the sacrifices ever offered. And in Jesus’ one
act, He restores us to right relationship with God, and be the Prince of Peace
and bring us peace.
Jesus is the king of Israel as he gathers His people
and then feeds them, tends them as a shepherd. Can we imagine the table
fellowship! Jesus welcomes all! He literally goes out to the hedgerows and the
margins of society to feed us! This is Christ the King feeding the gathered
people. We commune with the priest-king and enter into sacrifice together with
each other.
The Eucharist is what makes the Church the Church.
The Church comes from the Eucharist. We long for the bread of life. We long for
the wine of compassion. We all long for inclusion, for belonging, for unity,
for meaning, for love.
It is right and just to give God thanks and praise ; by Participating in the Mass, we too offer our five barely
barley loaves and two skinny scrawny sardine fish upon the paten, but Christ
will multiply our meager offering beyond our imaginings.
There can be a tendency for some people to want a
very clean and tidy Catholic, Christian faith where it is just me and Jesus in
a nice adoration chapel with Jesus safe within the tabernacle or monstrance.
But Jesus is not safe. And he doesn't want us to stay safe. Following Christ is dangerous
business. He wants us to die to ourselves and share our lives! In fact, as we
go out of our way, we may well suffer, and our own body might become bloody,
and thereby resemble that of our Lord Jesus. Discipleship is a fearful thing.
Please do not
misunderstand me: prayer before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is incredibly
powerful; I am fortunate to have grown up with this practice. Many days after work I would walk or ride my bike to kneel in the silence
before Jesus; in college many nights from 11 to 12 I kept vigil with Christ for
an hour; then when my wife and I were dating we went to daily Mass and after we
were married every Monday night from 7-8 pm we kept vigil with Jesus at a local
adoration chapel; later when the children were young I took the 11-12 pm hour
at our parish. And still now here I continue to
spend time with Christ, but it can never end there. Prayer must change us.
Prayer cannot end at the tabernacle! Christ sends us
out from prayer to seek our lonely
neighbor, to visit those in hospital or nursing home, to reconcile with our
estranged children or relatives, to feed the hungry, to comfort the sorrowful,
to clothe the naked, welcome the immigrant, and visit the imprisoned.
Mother Teresa's Sisters spend an hour in adoration
of the Eucharist BEFORE they spend the rest of the day walking among the
poorest of the poor, seeing Christ and serving Christ in the least of these.
All Eucharistic celebration – and adoration – MUST
lead to service. Jesus IS present in the Eucharist – but we must see and love
Christ in the stranger, in the poor, in the least among us – and yes, even in
our own family members.
So whether it is
volunteering with the Vincent de Paul, or working a Soup Kitchen, tutoring a
child, helping a neighbor, visiting a lonely widow – or loving your spouse or child when he or she
is not particularly loveable, the Eucharist is about dying to self and rising
to new life.
Pope Francis has been
continually telling us through his living public witness that we must go out of
our way, out of ourselves, willing to leave our self-contained, secure worlds, to
venture to the margins of society, to that other part of town, in order to bring
Christ to others just as Jesus went out to the crowds. The Eucharist and the
Holy Spirit will give us the strength to do this. – Only then will we truly
become the Body of Christ.
Yes the Holy Eucharist – the
Body and Blood of Christ – is that which brings us together, and, in fact, the
Eucharist forms us as The People of God. We are nourished from this altar.
And after receiving the
bread of life and the chalice of salvation, we pray that we may truly become
the very body and blood of Christ to the World, bringing salvation to all those
around us; and may each of us pray as did Saint Paul, “It is no longer I who
live, but Christ Jesus who lives in me.”
