A Love Born(e) On the Cross: Homily for the Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

My dear brothers and sisters,

This Sunday we come to the end of our long reflection on the sixth chapter of the gospel according to John. This sixth chapter which we have been discussing is, as I have mentioned earlier, concerned with Jesus’ Bread of Life discourse. As we wind down this Sunday, however, the more alert among you would have noticed a troubling little detail. After speaking to us for four weeks about the Bread of Life, which is His flesh, and the need to eat it, all of a sudden, Our Lord seems to backtrack!

It is the spirit that gives life, 

while the flesh is of no avail.

I must confess that, personally, I was a little flummoxed by this googly Our Lord throws us at this point. Help, however, was close at hand in the form of a trusty biblical commentary, and all became much clearer.

What Our Lord is doing when he says that “it is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail.” Is to stress the difference between the flesh of this world and the flesh of His Body. This flesh is no ordinary flesh, it is a flesh that is imbued with the spirit that gives life. While the flesh of this world is of no avail, the Bread that has come down from heaven, offers us flesh that will give us eternal life!

With all this talk of flesh, it was little wonder that the extract from St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians also caught my eye. Now this text is often read at weddings, but I think that it gains much, MUCH, more in the context of the discourse on the Bread of Life. Listen:

For no one hates his own flesh

but rather nourishes and cherishes it,

even as Christ does the church,

because we are members of his body.

For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother

and be joined to his wife,

and the two shall become one flesh.

The nature of a Christian marriage, or perhaps the goal, should have become quite clear to all of you by now. Our marriages are constituted, and are intended to be, just like the marriage between Christ and His bride, the Church. Christ loves His bride so much, that He offers Her His own flesh, and blood, so that it may be sustained. He does so, because He does not “hate his own flesh but rather … cherishes it.” If our marriages are to be like Christ’s to His Church, then not only is there no space for divorce, but neither is there space for the acrimoniousness and viciousness that often accompanies divorces and separations. For while our bodies remain divided in a material - or natural - sense, in the spiritual - or supernatural - sense the two have “become one flesh”, and as Saint Paul has already taught us:

no one hates his own flesh

but rather nourishes and cherishes it

To hate your spouse – I will not use the word ex or former, because the Church just does not admit this possibility – is to hate your own body. Any psychologist sitting here today will, I am sure, support me in this assertion – to hate, or resent, someone who has been intimately associated with you, is to indeed hate your very self. And this could well apply to the hatred we bear towards our parents, and siblings, whether it be for real, or imagined, hurts.

The second portion of St. Paul’s words which I extracted a while ago, deepens our understanding of the relation of Christ to His Church and a Christian marriage.

For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother

and be joined to his wife,

and the two shall become one flesh.

Christ’s love for His Church is put in very fleshy terms here; Christ loves His Church with the same kind of passion, desire, and indeed hope, that a man goes to his wife; or a person in love desires their beloved. Think of your own passion, and you will know the depth of the passion that Our Lord has for His bride, the Church.

But it is not just fleshy passion that St. Paul is referring to, because this verse is taken from the second chapter of Genesis and comes immediately after Adam hails Eve who has been freshly created from his rib. This joining of man to a woman, therefore, is prior to the Fall and, consequently, prior to lust. The desire of Christ for His bride, as a result, while most certainly a passionate one, is spiritually charged, one that is unmarked by disordered sensibilities.

Indeed, this verse from almost the very start of the Bible could well be a prophecy of the way Christ would come to save mankind.

For this reason, a man [in this case, Jesus, the second Adam] shall leave his father [in heaven] and his mother [Our Lady who beheld Him on His Cross] and be joined to his wife [the Church which was born from the side of Our Lord on the Cross CCC 766], and the two shall become one flesh.

It is with this idea that I would like to leave you, my dear brothers and sisters, that Christ unites Himself in the flesh with each and everyone of us, individually, and together. He gives us His body, so that by consuming it, His flesh becomes our flesh, so that we are never alone, but indeed, nourished and cherished by Him who is our beginning and our end.

May God bless you all.

(A version of this homily was first preached to the faithful at the anticipated Sunday Mass in the parish of Our Lady of the Rosary, Fatorda, on 24 Aug 2024-
Image reference: Berswordt Altar, 14th Century, Marienkirche, Dortmund, Germany via picryl.com. )

To the haughty in religious life: Homily for the feast of St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Today we celebrate the memorial of St Bernard, abbot and doctor of the Church. St Bernard, as you would know, was part of the famous Cistercian order. The Cistercians were themselves a reform of the Benedictine order. The famous Butler’s Lives of the Saints indicates that “Bernard's holy example attracted so many novices that other monasteries were erected, and our Saint was appointed abbot of that of Clairvaux.”

The monastic order which was so strong in the European Middle Ages is the inspiration for much of the religious orders today, and at a moment when our religious orders are in so much crisis, especially with the lack of vocations, it is to the example of Saints such as Bernard that we must turn.

The lectionary for today also has something in the spirit of St. Bernard to teach us today. In the first reading God speaks to us through the Prophet Ezekiel:

Because you are haughty of heart,

you say, “A god am I!

I occupy a godly throne

in the heart of the sea!”

So often when speaking, whether with the laity or with religious, we hear that the problem in religious life is that of a lack of true spirituality. This lack of true spirituality can be seen in the way we treat each other in religious life: harshness towards one another. This fault must particularly be placed at the door of formators who are reported to often be marked by cruelty in the treatment of those in their care, and religious superiors who act as if they have the power of life and death over those in their care. You can almost hear the Lord, through the prophet Ezekiel, direct his reprimand to them:

you may think yourself like a god.

Oh yes, you are wiser than Daniel,

there is no secret that is beyond you.

By your wisdom and your intelligence

If such is the case, it is no wonder then, that seeing the lack of what St Bernard emphasized, “the value of personal, experiential friendship with Christ and Our Lady”, people do not wish to join our life.

In the Gospel Our Lord promises that

everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters

or father or mother or children or lands

for the sake of my name will receive a hundred times more,

and will inherit eternal life.

However, in the Gospel of Mathew (7: 21) we also read that Our Lord warned us that:

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.

To take liberties from St. Ignatius of Loyola’s quotation from the scriptures, what does it profit a man to have given up house, brothers and sisters, father or mother, or lands, for the sake of His name, if we will not discipline our soul?

Let us recollect the words of our Holy Father, Pope Francis, our external acts of piety in the chapel that do not find a corresponding desire to internalise the effects of those action will not save us on the day of judgement, when we realise that it is not us, but as we sang in the psalm, God who deals death and gives life. Let us, therefore, my dear sisters, and brothers in the religious life, let us fear for the health of our eternal soul, and let that fear animate us to imitate the reforming spirit of St. Bernard, humble ourselves, embrace a poverty of spirit, and find new love for those in our communities, and especially for those in our care, through a personal love for Our Lord and His Blessed Mother.

Saint Bernard, pray for us.

(A version of this homily was intended for the good sisters at the Convent of the Handmaids of Christ, Old Goa.
Image reference: 'Apparition of the Virgin to St. Bernard,' Filippino Lippi, 1485–1487, Badia Fiorentina, Florence.)

Food of Wisdom: Homily for the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

My dear brothers and sisters, all four readings today have at least one things in common and that is that they all speak of food. In the first reading, from the book of Proverbs, we hear of Wisdom laying a table for a feast and inviting people – especially the simple – to come and eat. In the psalm we sang of tasting and seeing the goodness of the Lord. Writing to the Ephesians, St. Paul asks us to be careful about getting drunk, and eating too much, and finally, in the gospel Our Lord speaks to us about His Body being the bread of heaven, that His body is true food, and his blood true drink.

There is another commonality which is not so obvious, because it is clearly visible in two readings, and not so clear in the other two. This second commonality is about being wise. In the first reading Wisdom invites all, especially the simple, to eat her food so as to

           Forsake foolishness that you may live; advance in the way of understanding.

In the second reading St.Paul, once again urges the Ephesians to not be foolish and immersed in debauchery, but to be wise, making the most of opportunity, to be careful of the spirit of the time, which is evil, and to always:

be filled with the Spirit,

addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,

singing and playing to the Lord in your hearts,

giving thanks always and for everything

in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.

How do these two themes come together? They come together first, in the fact that Wisdom is in fact our Lord Jesus Christ. He is Wisdom incarnate. He is Truth, and He is Wisdom. Listen to Him if you do not want to be foolish, if you want to be wise. Where do you find His voice? In the psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, in the scripture, in the teaching of our Holy Mother, the Church.

These two themes also come together because Wisdom have prepared a banquet of Himself. He offers Himself as true food and true drink. Eat and drink me, He says, and I will become a part of you and you will become Wise, that is, you will become a part of Him.

And this is all I have to say, my dear brothers and sisters. Instead of spending time on your computer or cellphone, or in front of the TV, go and find your friends and play real games! Run, jump and play. Read stories from the bible and stories about the lives of the saints, learn to say small prayers. Go to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and spend time quietly with him, 15 minutes, half an hour. And above all, go to mass as often as possible, and receive communion regularly. If we do this, then we will participate in the life of God, and like God whose life is of justice and peace, will become messengers of justice and peace in this world.

May God Bless you All.

(A version of this homily was first preached at the Catechism Mass at the parish of Our Lady of the Rosary, Fatorda.

Image credit: 'Última Cena,' Juan de Juanes, 1562, Museo del Prado, Madrid, via Wikimedia. )

Eternal Life is the Fruit of Righteousness: Homily for the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Who, or what is righteousness? Jesus Christ is righteous. He is the only one who is righteous, for all others are sinners. Righteousness, therefore, flows from Christ, all righteousness is possible through His grace which he gives us through the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit with which, as St. Paul says today in his letter to the Ephesians, “you were sealed for the day of redemption”! This sealing took place in us at baptism, and a variety of graces subsequently flow through the various sacraments that our Holy Mother the Church provides, and particularly through the gift of His Body which, as Our Lord teaches us today in the Gospel according to John, is the Bread come down from Heaven.

Brothers and sisters, as I went to bed two nights ago, and as I was thinking about this homily, I thought to myself, how lucky we are. How lucky we are that Holy Mother Church, in Her infinite wisdom, has offered us three Sundays over which we can contemplate the Eucharist, the body of Our Lord, and the source of all graces. And the good news is that we will continue to have this opportunity to reflect on the Eucharist for another two Sundays! For this, reason, brothers and sisters, I urge you. Go back home, get on to one of those apps, or open up a website, or a book even, and read the lectionary for the past two Sundays, and the two Sundays to follow. Read, reflect, read again. I promise you that your baskets will be full and overflowing, as mine have been, and are, when I contemplate this great mystery, this great miracle that takes place every day and every time we present bread and wine on the altar at Mass.

After that brief – I hope brief! – excursus, let me take us back to the lectionary of the day.

"Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!" we heard the angel commanding Elijah in the reading from the First book of Kings.

What is this journey? The journey was one that Elijah was on to save his life from Jezebel, the pagan queen of Israel. The journey was towards Horeb, the mountain of God. This is, however, just the literal meaning of the text. The Bible can be, and must be, read not just literally, but also allegorically – that is, for its moral or spiritual significance.

Now the First book of Kings tells us that Elijah’s journey lasted 40 days and 40 nights, the exact period of Lent. If one substitutes the days and nights for years, we realise that 40 was the period of Israelites’ wandering in the desert, as they walked towards the Promised Land, just as Elijah walked toward Horeb, the mountain of God. Interpreting the first reading allegorically, therefore, the first step is to see that it is our life which is the journey referred to. And the Promised Land that we are walking towards is Eternal Life, and the only food that will sustain us on this journey through the desert of our life here on earth, is the Bread of Heaven. As our Lord says in the Gospel:

I am the living bread that came down from heaven;

whoever eats this bread will live forever;

and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.

Indeed, Elijah was able to make the journey only because he had been strengthened by the food brought by the angel. This food he ate was a prefiguring of the Eucharist.

To merit the Eucharist, however, as St. Paul says to the Ephesians:

All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling

must be removed from you, along with all malice.

And be kind to one another, compassionate,

forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.

God has forgiven you through Christ and continues to forgive through the sacrament of confession. The sacrament of confession is necessary if we are to be able to consume the Eucharist, the Bread of Life that will sustain us on the journey toward the Promised Land. However, as St. Paul warned us in the letter to the Corinthians, consuming the Eucharist unworthily will only bring judgement upon us.

And so, brothers and sisters, let us prepare ourselves for this journey that we are headed on. Ignore the sideshows that the world offers us, and keep your eyes trained on Horeb, the holy mountain of God, the mountain where we will be united forever with Our God, and all the righteous who have been saved by His blood. For the journey He offers you His Body and Blood, the fruit of righteousness, come therefore, come to the table, come to the feast, but, and this is a big but, come worthily!

All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling

must be removed from you, along with all malice.

And be kind to one another, compassionate,

forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.

 

(A version of this homily was first preached to the faithful at the parish church of Our Lady of the Rosary, Fatorda.

Image credit: 'Eva und Maria', Berthold Furtmeyr, c.1481, via http://pre-gebelin.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-tree-of-life.html)