August 2015

Customs, traditional ways of doing things, are part and parcel of every society, including every religious community. They can be extremely useful, but over time can become pointless. In today’s first reading Moses commands the people to follow their God-given “laws and customs.” And in the Gospel the Pharisees and scribes complain to Jesus that His disciples are eating with unwashed hands, and so are not complying with the Law. They mean that the disciples are ignoring some of the prescriptions that the scribes and Pharisees had added to the Law over the centuries. These regulations were not concerned with health and safety but with ritual purity. Jesus is not suggesting that matters of ritual purity are of no value, but He does insist that there are other things of greater importance. With a quotation from the Prophet Isaiah, He claims that the Pharisees are hypocrites: they are actors, showmen, who offer lip service to the Lord while in fact their hearts are far from Him; their service is worthless. He explains that they should look, not to what goes into the stomach, but what emerges from the heart. It is the human heart that is the source of of uncleanness, of “evil intentions.”

Today’s readings prompt us to examine our attitude towards our own religious customs and practices. We too can become rigid and narrow; we can behave like the Pharisees of old. We can loath to accept any changes in what we’ve been used; even changes that have been approved by the Church, changes made because circumstances have changed or because former practices have been replaced by more helpful ones. Jesus ends the controversy in today’s Gospel by insisting that the heart is the source of “evil things;” but, by implication, it is also the source of good things. Jesus wants a heart that is humble, a heart that knows its own limitations, a heart that is ready to accept change when change is called for, a heart that is in fact like unto His own; He calls to be like Him, “gentle and humble in heart.”

Daily decisions are a part of life: how to dress, what to eat, when to go to bed. In these matters our decisions are constantly changing, but there are some decisions which by their nature should be permanent. An excellent example of which is the decision to marry. Marriage is a covenant, a permanent, loving relationship of fidelity in which a man and woman become one.

God invited His people of the Old Testament to become His partner in a covenant which was a spiritual form of marriage. Joshua had made his decision.

Centuries later Jesus confronted those who had heard Him preach. He challenged them to make a decision about Himself. But that they take it seriously is exactly what Jesus demanded. When His objectors turned their backs on Him to walk away, He let them go. It was the day of decision. Peter, in a protestation of loyalty which has been repeated down through the ages by men and women of faith, declared, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe; we are convinced that You are God’s holy one.” He had made a decision to bind himself so closely to Christ that, despite his late momentary lapse, he would be of one mind in faith with Christ. In effect he said that he wanted to enter into a permanent, loving relationship of fidelity with Christ.

We have the same grace which means we have the same challenge, the same decisions to make. Christ made faith in the Eucharist the ultimate test of faith in Himself. To embrace the Eucharist and to make the celebration of this sacrament the center and heart of our lives is to live out the permanent, loving relationship which makes Christ and ourselves two in one flesh.

Jesus was also a human being of His time and place. This means He inherited all the traditions, scriptures and religious practice of His people. That is a part of the reality of incarnation. In today’s Gospel He draws on the Wisdom tradition of Israel, the Exodus story and, we can say, the tradition of the Temple liturgy. One of the aspects of bread is that is nourishes us. Jesus is pointing to himself as the ultimate nourishment for humanity. He also gives himself to us in the Eucharist. He is the fulfillment of all sacred bread and sacred meals of the Old Testament, as well as all the sacrifices.

The most obvious way that we can apply Jesus’ teaching to our lives is by believing in Him, putting Him at the center of our lives and worshiping Him in the Eucharist. There are several ways in which we can do these things, primarily by participating worthily in the sacraments and especially the Mass. As St. Francis de Sales said, “Prayer is the means by which we ascend to God; the sacraments are the channels by which God descends to us.” He also recommends that we go to Mass every week and receive Holy Communion, that we should be free from mortal sin. We can visit the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle and spend time in prayer and adoration. As well as living a sacramental life in the Church, we can try to do the works of love. The love of God, poured into our hearts by the Eucharist, can overflow into the lives of our family and neighbors, and the great family of humanity. Any good work that we do for the love of God and neighbor is a spreading of the goodness that radiates the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

In today’s Gospel Jesus uses the staple food of bread to point His followers to something more. He suggests that the crowd is following Him for a free meal as they did last week in the story of the feeding of 5,000. They should be looking to Him for so much more. Jesus refers to himself as the “bread of life.” He is saying He is essential for life. The life of Jesus is referring to is not physical life, but eternal life.

Jesus refers to himself as the bread that lasts for ever. Jesus has provided food for bodies, but He also feeds us spiritually with love, hope, grace and forgiveness. This is the true manna from heaven, which points beyond itself. As the source of all life, God meets us here and now as divine love made food, as life for humanity.

Whether we appreciate it or not, whenever we eat we commune with God. We experience the world as a place of gift – the “work of God’s hands.” Practically speaking, this means that as we give thanks for our food, we will also make sure that food we eat doesn’t involve unnecessary suffering to animals and does not degrade our soil and water sources. We could even learn to grow some food ourselves so that we can see, smell, touch and taste the miraculous and fragile process of birth, growth, death, decay and rebirth going on all around us. Sharing a meal gives us opportunities for discipleship, for eating with others creates a profound sense of community.