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)
1 comment:
Thanks Jason very inspiring may God Bless you abundantly and Mother Mary protect you under her mantle.
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