Allow Hope to Feed Us: Homily for the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Brothers and sisters,

The Gospel this weekend is like a compass, because like a compass, when we are gone astray or have lost sight of our destination, it offers us the opportunity for course correction.

So what is this compass? Listen, to the words of the gospel:

Amen, amen, I say to you,

….
Do not work for food that perishes

but for the food that endures for eternal life,

which the Son of Man will give you.

This then, is the compass, that we should work not for food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life. This food is communion, the bread of heaven, which is given to us by Christ, the Son of Man.

This message from the Gospel is underlined by the gospel acclamation that we heard which teaches us:

One does not live on bread alone,

but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.

Now it is important for us to realise that Our Lord is not suggesting that we do not work for our food, for the food that will feed our children and keep them from hunger. This is certainly not what he is telling us. What Our Lord is telling us, is that we should not compromise our capacity to receive the bread of heaven, simply for the sake of earning money.

At the heart of Our Lord’s teaching is the fact that He has a perspective of life and death which is different from that which most of us are familiar with. He knows that the real death and suffering is not the death, and suffering, of the body, but the spiritual death of the soul and the suffering that we will endure as a result of not being united with God at the end of our life on earth, or indeed the pain that endures from not being united with Him even while here on earth.

My dear brothers and sisters, I have to say that I know from experience that Our Lord does not abandon us to misery. There was a time when the financial security of my family was seriously threatened, in part due to the honesty in business that my father insisted on. We stood to lose our home, and yet, I do not believe that my father ever wavered in his righteousness. As a result, I know the following verses from Psalm 37: 25-26 to be true every time I pray them

I have been young, and now am old,

    yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken

    or their children begging bread.

 They are ever giving liberally and lending,

     and their children become a blessing.

There will definitely be trials, we may be worried, we may even have to suffer some amount, but God in his loving compassion, will not abandon us, if we do not abandon Him. Indeed, even if we abandon Him, He will not abandon us and He will work to bring us back to Him.

My dear brothers and sisters, there was a time when you could count on the Goan to be honest, and God fearing. Things are different today, however. We often believe that we are good and honest, but at the same time we justify our social sins, our breaking of rules, our traffic violations, our corruption, paying bribes, our coveting of others’ property, on the basis that everyone else is doing so, and if we don’t do so, then we will never be able to survive.

Brothers and sisters, let me assure you that if we work for the bread of heaven, we will survive. We may not thrive, but we will survive, and we will be rewarded in heaven. As Our Lord says in the Gospel today:

I am the bread of life;

whoever comes to me will never hunger,

and whoever believes in me will never thirst.

And I believe that this lack of hunger and thirst is not just spiritual hunger and thirst, but also material hunger and thirst. Bear in mind, Our Lord is not saying that our stomachs will be full, but that he will ensure that we do not die of hunger and thirst.

Trust in God, my dear brothers and sisters, and be the light of the world and the salt of the earth. As Goans this is our true calling, to be the light of Christ to the peoples among whom we live so that all may be drawn to Christ, and good, ethical, and Godly lives.

And one last thing, my dear brothers and sisters, let us not forget that at Mass it is the bread of Heaven and the body of Our Lord that we are receiving. Let us not receive it in a state of sin. Never forget that every act of communion must be done in a state of grace, after having confessed our sins to a priest. Remember, that no one who has committed a mortal sin may commune, for as St. Paul says, in the first letter to the Corinthians (11:29): “all who eat and drink in an unworthy manner, not thinking of the Body of Christ and what it means, eat and drink damnation on themselves.” Let every act of communion, therefore, dear brothers and sisters, be preceded by the sacrament of confession; and let us allow hope to feed us.

(This homily was written to be preached to the faithful at the parish church of St. John the Baptist, Carambolim.
Image featured:'The Communion of the Apostles', Luca Giordano, before 1705, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, via wikimedia.org.)