Weekly Reflection: 20th Sunday Ordinary Time, Year B
Reading References:
1st Reading: Proverbs 9:1-6
Psalm: Ps 33:33:2-3.10-15. R. 9
2nd Reading: Ephesians 5:15-20
Gospel: John 6:51-58
Today’s readings are very beautiful and if we allow ourselves to read deeply enough into them then we will know that they challenge us to be alert.
Our First Reading calls the ignorant and tells us to leave our folly and walk in the ways of perception. For us to do this we need to be alert – we need to respond to the call. Wisdom is always perceptive. Wisdom looks at the overall picture and wisdom always has the wellbeing of everyone at its heart. Wisdom perceives evil with daring acuteness.
Selfishness and greed on the other hand kills perception. Our consumerist mentality looks out for the well being of ones self regardless of how that might impact upon others. So for us to embrace the consumerist mentality we allow our gift of perceptiveness to be deadened. Then our lives do become folly because we are burying the very thing that can give us life and also give others life.
In our Psalm we are invited to taste and see the goodness of the Lord. How do we do this if all we are concerned about is what I want and what I need? In a TV documentary recently it was saying that young people today become bored very quickly. They want everything yesterday. They hunger for the latest technologies. They are enormous consumers. It is built on an attitude of me, myself and I.
What sense does the world make to our young when the very role models put before them have little perception of what is happening themselves? What sense can be made of a country whose residents largely support government polices that are so abusive of human rights – so forgetting of the well being of others who have been brutalized in other countries and we say to them go elsewhere – so obsessed with the economy above the well being of its citizens – so seized by fear that we allow the creation of laws that go against our democratic principles – so consumed with our own selves that we allow racism and suspicion to breed all sorts of contempt in our hearts. When we stand behind any government that behaves in such a way then we have lost our perception and our ability to taste and see the goodness around us. It is life destroying for us to bury our heads and focus on ourselves. Until we can pull our heads out of the sand we will not taste and see the goodness of the Lord. What are we really doing to our young and future generations?
Our Second Reading says: This may be a wicked age, but your lives should redeem it. What an extraordinary reminder this is of our responsibility. We have the power to redeem this age. Can we believe such a statement? But how do we do it?
Our Gospel gives us the answer. It is the Body and Blood of Jesus that will do this within us. But one wonders if there is some sense of “magic” that we can wrongly associate with the Eucharist thinking all we need do is take in the Body and Blood and all will be well. But to receive the Eucharist is to clothe ourselves in the Body of Christ – it is to become the Body of Christ – it is to be the Body of Christ. We need to ask ourselves if we simply TAKE the Eucharist or do we RECEIVE the Eucharist into the depths of our hearts. For the Body and Blood to be real for us we must RECEIVE it and PERCEIVE it in an active and knowing way. We must put on Christ. When we can do this the world will be redeemed.
This extraordinary gift we have in the Eucharist must be perceived for what it is. There is not greater gift in our world. Do we believe this?
I was exposed to a strange phenomenon recently. The statue of Fatima “toured” our Diocese last week. People from all walks of life flocked to this “statue”. People came in wheel chairs, the old and frail, the young. Many wept as the statue left their parish. Hundreds of people flocked to see this “statue”. They cued to venerate the “statue” for long periods of time. The experience was bewildering and I found it difficult to understand how a “statue” could generate such passion. I found myself thinking if only we could become as passionate about the extraordinary gift of the Eucharist. What is it in us that can become so fired up over a “statue”? I don’t understand it. Was it really an expression of faith that was being witnessed?
Until we understand the extraordinary gift of the Eucharist then we will continue to fill our lives with all sorts of diversions and distractions that go counter to what Jesus longs for us to receive.
Let us pray in the coming week that our hearts will be open to Jesus’ great gift to us and that we will come to see that the world in which we live is longing for redemption and all of us together have the power to do it if we have the courage to allow ourselves to become clothed in Christ.
1st Reading: Proverbs 9:1-6
Psalm: Ps 33:33:2-3.10-15. R. 9
2nd Reading: Ephesians 5:15-20
Gospel: John 6:51-58
Today’s readings are very beautiful and if we allow ourselves to read deeply enough into them then we will know that they challenge us to be alert.
Our First Reading calls the ignorant and tells us to leave our folly and walk in the ways of perception. For us to do this we need to be alert – we need to respond to the call. Wisdom is always perceptive. Wisdom looks at the overall picture and wisdom always has the wellbeing of everyone at its heart. Wisdom perceives evil with daring acuteness.
Selfishness and greed on the other hand kills perception. Our consumerist mentality looks out for the well being of ones self regardless of how that might impact upon others. So for us to embrace the consumerist mentality we allow our gift of perceptiveness to be deadened. Then our lives do become folly because we are burying the very thing that can give us life and also give others life.
In our Psalm we are invited to taste and see the goodness of the Lord. How do we do this if all we are concerned about is what I want and what I need? In a TV documentary recently it was saying that young people today become bored very quickly. They want everything yesterday. They hunger for the latest technologies. They are enormous consumers. It is built on an attitude of me, myself and I.
What sense does the world make to our young when the very role models put before them have little perception of what is happening themselves? What sense can be made of a country whose residents largely support government polices that are so abusive of human rights – so forgetting of the well being of others who have been brutalized in other countries and we say to them go elsewhere – so obsessed with the economy above the well being of its citizens – so seized by fear that we allow the creation of laws that go against our democratic principles – so consumed with our own selves that we allow racism and suspicion to breed all sorts of contempt in our hearts. When we stand behind any government that behaves in such a way then we have lost our perception and our ability to taste and see the goodness around us. It is life destroying for us to bury our heads and focus on ourselves. Until we can pull our heads out of the sand we will not taste and see the goodness of the Lord. What are we really doing to our young and future generations?
Our Second Reading says: This may be a wicked age, but your lives should redeem it. What an extraordinary reminder this is of our responsibility. We have the power to redeem this age. Can we believe such a statement? But how do we do it?
Our Gospel gives us the answer. It is the Body and Blood of Jesus that will do this within us. But one wonders if there is some sense of “magic” that we can wrongly associate with the Eucharist thinking all we need do is take in the Body and Blood and all will be well. But to receive the Eucharist is to clothe ourselves in the Body of Christ – it is to become the Body of Christ – it is to be the Body of Christ. We need to ask ourselves if we simply TAKE the Eucharist or do we RECEIVE the Eucharist into the depths of our hearts. For the Body and Blood to be real for us we must RECEIVE it and PERCEIVE it in an active and knowing way. We must put on Christ. When we can do this the world will be redeemed.
This extraordinary gift we have in the Eucharist must be perceived for what it is. There is not greater gift in our world. Do we believe this?
I was exposed to a strange phenomenon recently. The statue of Fatima “toured” our Diocese last week. People from all walks of life flocked to this “statue”. People came in wheel chairs, the old and frail, the young. Many wept as the statue left their parish. Hundreds of people flocked to see this “statue”. They cued to venerate the “statue” for long periods of time. The experience was bewildering and I found it difficult to understand how a “statue” could generate such passion. I found myself thinking if only we could become as passionate about the extraordinary gift of the Eucharist. What is it in us that can become so fired up over a “statue”? I don’t understand it. Was it really an expression of faith that was being witnessed?
Until we understand the extraordinary gift of the Eucharist then we will continue to fill our lives with all sorts of diversions and distractions that go counter to what Jesus longs for us to receive.
Let us pray in the coming week that our hearts will be open to Jesus’ great gift to us and that we will come to see that the world in which we live is longing for redemption and all of us together have the power to do it if we have the courage to allow ourselves to become clothed in Christ.
posted by Annemarie Reiner at 8:17 PM
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