Gospel & Reflection for the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
John 6:41‐51
The Jews were complaining to each other about Jesus, because he had said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’ ‘Surely this is Jesus son of Joseph’ they said. ‘We know his father and mother. How can he now say, “I have come down from heaven”?’ Jesus said in reply, ‘Stop complaining to each other.
‘No one can come to me
unless he is drawn by the Father who sent me,
and I will raise him up at the last day.
It is written in the prophets:
They will all be taught by God,
and to hear the teaching of the Father,
and learn from it,
is to come to me.
Not that anybody has seen the Father,
except the one who comes from God:
he has seen the Father.
I tell you most solemnly,
everybody who believes has eternal life.
‘I am the bread of life.
Your fathers ate the manna in the desert
and they are dead;
but this is the bread that comes down from heaven,
so that a man may eat it and not die.
I am the living bread which has come down from heaven.
Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever;
and the bread that I shall give is my flesh,
for the life of the world.’
Reflection
Friends, the Paris Olympic Games draw to a close this weekend. It has been the most successful Olympic campaign ever from an Irish perspective. Ireland has won seven medals – four gold and three bronze. Our athletes have done us proud, and Team Ireland have made their mark on history. Well done to them all.
Sport, as we know, is a huge part of our and every culture. Every nation on earth has a national game and every country enjoys a wide variety of sporting interests. Sport is such a huge part of our human identity that many sporting slogans and images have made their way into other parts of life and living. In our everyday language, we say things such as:
“The ball is in their court” – when responsibility for action or decision lie with another. When that responsibility or duty is being handed on, we say that we have “Passed the baton.” If we accept blame or punishment for something so others do not have to, we talk of “Taking one for the team.” In a situation where something is actually normal or expected, we see it as being ‘Par for the course.’ When we experience help and support, we then know who is ‘in our corner.’ But, if we make a mistake or miss an opportunity, we say that we have “dropped the ball.”
The opinionated person who offers unsolicited and often unwanted advice at the worst possible time, we talk about them as the ‘hurler on the ditch’. We appreciate the grit and determination of the person who never gives up ‘until the final whistle blows.’ In that context, even the Bible reminds us of ‘running the race to the finish.’ The religious themes continue when having nothing left to lose, or having no other way out, sometimes in life there is nothing for it but a ‘Hail Mary,’ that last minute, desperate attempt at something, even with little hope of success.
But another slogan also easily recognised by us all is the image of ‘hitting the wall.’ That moment in an athlete’s or any person’s endeavour, where they have nothing more to give. They are totally spent. They have given every effort, every bit of energy and sweat of mind, body and spirit and they just cannot give anymore – they ‘hit the wall.’ They are out and there is nothing they can do about it. They cannot go any further and they won’t recover until they receive some sustenance and nourishment or help and support.
However, just as in sport and life, spiritually too we can ‘hit the wall.’ We can be so overcome by some experience, loss, or disappointment that we feel that we just cannot go on – cannot go on believing, trusting, hoping, or praying. We feel that we just have nothing else to give! This is what happens to the Prophet Elijah in our First Reading. He has had enough. Rejected, beaten, battered and hunted, he lays down after all his efforts – exhausted, defeated, disappointed. He considers himself a failure. But into his distress, anger and anguish, God comes. He nourishes Elijah with food, and Elijah gets up and continues, finishing the task, the mission, which God had asked of Him.
Friends, spiritually speaking, where do we go when we cannot go on? When we hit the wall with any of our endeavours, what do we do?
Our Gospel today is a reminder that at the very moment of giving up, when we feel we have nothing else to give, this is the precise time that we need the nourishment that God offers to us. When we feel we have no more prayers to say, no more hope to receive, no more trust to place ourselves into, no more belief to express – it is then we must turn to God and receive the nourishment He has prepared for us all – The Eucharist.
This is the food that sustains us; it gives us enough to keep going until we feel fully renewed once more. The Eucharist inspires and strengthens us to ‘run the race to the finish’, not to give up until the ‘final whistle blows’ because difficulties and struggles will always be ‘par for the course’. But God is always ‘in our corner’ and the nourishment He gives us is His flesh, “for the life of the world”.
Fr. Richard