Would You Choose Jesus in the Eucharist?

Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

August 22, 2021

Readings (click here to read in full)
    Reading I: Jos 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b
    Responsorial Psalm: Ps 34:2-3, 16-17, 18-19, 20-21
    Reading II: Eph 5:21-32 or 5:2a, 25-32
    Gospel: Jn 6:60-69

Choosing to be with Jesus in the Eucharist is a Divine Gift. As the Eucharist is a gift, so does faith in the Eucharist. Our readings today, especially the First and the Gospel, present to us accounts of making a choice for God.

In the First Reading, from the last chapter of the Book of Joshua (Joshua 24:1-2a , 15-17, 18b), gathered the tribes of Israel to present to them options about whom they would like to worship and be with. He said to the people, "If it does not please you to serve the LORD, decide today whom you will serve, the gods your fathers served beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are now dwelling. As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD" (v15). The many things that they received from God, their experiences of being liberated and defended against their enemies, protecting them from harm led them to decide on the side of God.  They answered Joshua,  "Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to serve other gods. For it was the LORD, our God, who brought us and our ancestors up out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. He performed those great signs before our very eyes and protected us along our entire journey and among all the peoples through whom we passed. At our approach the LORD drove out all the peoples, including the Amorites who dwelt in the land. Therefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God" (v 16-18b). That Divine Gift led them to make a choice to serve God.

In our Gospel, after Jesus had a long discourse about who He was, that He was the Bread of Life and that His flesh must be eaten, His disciples, not the Twelve, could not accept it. They were, in fact, scandalized by it. They said, "This saying is hard; who can accept it?" And they left Jesus, "returned to their former way of life" and gave up following Him. They made a choice not to accept Jesus as He truly is, the Bread of Life, the Holy Eucharist. They were not ready to make an act of faith. They hardened their hearts from receiving the gift of understanding. Jesus said that "For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father." Clearly, they were not granted that gift. 

To the Twelve, Jesus asked if they also would like to leave, and Peter replied, "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God." Peter and the Twelve who were with Jesus from the beginning of His ministry, who were chosen by Jesus Himself were given that special gift. With that Divine Gift, granted them by the Father, they made a choice to be with Jesus, to receive Him as the Bread of Life, imperfect it may still be.

Jesus as the Bread of Life, the Eucharist, calls for a special act of faith. Though it is already given to us, that the Eucharist is the Source and Summit of our lives, we still need to personally make that act of faith. The Father has granted that to us, and like Peter, can we also say to Jesus in the Eucharist, "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." Am I convinced that the Eucharist is Jesus’ Real Presence, the Holy One of God, that partaking Him in the Celebration brings me eternal life?

Would you choose Jesus in the Eucharist? Then, make that act of faith.

Fr. Joel R. Lasutaz, SSS

Image credit: pixabay.com

The Eucharist in Scripture: The Lamb’s Supper (first part)

The Eucharist in Scripture: The Lamb’s Supper (second part)

Our Love of Neighbor Expresses Our Love of God

Memorial of Saint Bernard, Abbot and Doctor of the Church

August 20, Friday

Readings (read full text here)

    Reading I: Ruth 1:1, 3-6, 14b-16, 22

    Responsorial Psalm: 146:5-6ab, 6c-7, 8-9a, 9bc-10

    Gospel: Mt 22:34-40

Loving our neighbors for the sake of God is a strong testimony that we love God.

"Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" asked the Pharisees. In response, Jesus explained that the fullness of the Law and the Prophets can be consolidated into two commandments: the first and most important, is a wholehearted love for God; the second is a direct outcome of the first. Yet, how can we love God, that we do not see? The answer to that is the second commandment. The love of neighbor expresses our love of God. We can not say that we love God if do not love our neighbors. 

Jesus said, in Matthew 25:40,"Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me." Jesus intimately identified himself with the least in society, so much so that whatever we do to them, we do it to Jesus Himself. St. Thomas Aquinas said that when a man is loved, God is loved, since man is the image of God.

Then, if we welcome and love others, especially the poor, the abandoned, the neglected, the sinners, the least, the last, and the lost, so to say, our brothers and sisters, children of the same Father, redeemed by the same blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, we profess that we truly love God: St. John said in 1 John 4:20-21 "If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. This is the commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother." 

However, if we love others only for the sake of loving them, we are not expressing our love for God. Loving them for the sake of God is a strong testimony that we love God.

Fr. Joel R. Lasutaz, SSS

Image credit: pixabay.com