Menu Options

Greetings on this the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings: 1 Kgs 19:4-8; Ps 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9; Eph 4:30—5:2; Jn 6:41-51

Choosing What to Eat

Elijah had given up. Elijah was afraid and fled for his life so he ran! When he couldn’t run any more he prayed. He prayed for death saying: “This is enough, O LORD! Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”

An angel touched him and ordered him to get up and eat. Elijah looked and there at his head was a hearth cake and a jug of water. The angel of the LORD came back a second time, touched him, and ordered, “Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!” He got up, ate, and drank; then strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb.

a. What was Elijah feasting on when he ran in fear away from Jezebel? Fear and resignation.
b. What renewed him? Food from an Angel.

Saint Paul gives us a fuller list of menu items to avoid so as to not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were sealed for the day of redemption.

1. Bitterness
2. Fury
3. Anger
4. Shouting
5. Reviling
6. Malice

Summary

In our gospel portion today, the leadership feasting the same things Saint Paul tells us to avoid eating. Bitterness and Anger are obvious. Jealousy too.

Jesus offers them, as like the Angel for Elijah, a new menu choice. Feasting on the Bread of Life! 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.

Reflection

And be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.

Personal Reflection

I could cite the old saw. “You are what you eat” but it doesn’t fit exactly. I could turn it around “You eat what you are” but that too is insufficient. Maybe I could say it this way. How I see the world informs me on what I am to eat. Then what I eat reinforces how I see the world.

Saint Paul warns us the interior of anger and malice presents a menu of the insufficient. He contrasts that with a different vision.

1. And be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.
2. So be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us.

In that frame of reference, we gladly receive the divine gift of food and water. We pick the right menu choices.

Sacred Readings

Full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/081124.cfm

First Reading

He got up, ate, and drank; then strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb.

Responsorial

Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

Second Reading

Brothers and sisters: […] So be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma.

Gospel Acclamation

I am the living bread that came down from heaven, says the Lord; whoever eats this bread will live forever.

Gospel

1. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.
2. 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.

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry