19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, B

August 8/9, 2009 – 5:00 p.m., 12 Noon

 

1.   I am obsessed with the Food Network

      - it has clearly become my favorite TV watching

      - nothing seems as comforting as food

     

·        Andy Rooney says that the two biggest sellers at Bookstores are the cookbooks and the diet books.  The cookbooks tell you how to prepare the food and the diet books tell you how NOT to eat any of it!

 

·        Orson Welles once said, “My doctor has advised me to give up those intimate little dinners for 4, unless, of course, there are 3 other people eating with me.

 

·        A California scientist has computed that the average human being eats 16x his or her own weight in an average year, while a horse eats only 8x its weight.  This all seems to prove that if you want to lose weight, you should eat like a horse.

 

·        A young man watched as his dad finished a heavy meal and then loosened his belt.  “Look, Mom,” he said.  Dad’s just moved his decimal point over 2 places!”

 

·        At a Weight Watchers meeting, near Easter, a woman proudly proclaimed that this was the first year her children realized that Easter bunnies came with ears.  (She had obviously eaten the ears before giving them to her children).

 

2.   Today’s Scripture speaks to us of FOOD – but food that nourishes us not for a short
      while but for a lifetime

      - would that we be obsessed as much for this heavenly food as we are for earthly food

 

3.   In our first reading from the book of Kings we find Elijah exhausted, and in a state of           depression, he falls asleep.  When he wakes up, he finds a hearth cake and a jug of

      water
      - tempted to go back to rest, God calls him to start the journey       

      - and he travels 40 days and nights to the Mount of Horeb

      - a little food and drink – to starve depression and to feed Elijah hope, promise and
        eternal care

 

4.   And in our Gospel we find Jesus after feeding the 5,000 making a point about
      bread which lasts forever saying,

 

      “I am the bread of life.  Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they
      died.  This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and
      not die.  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.”

 

5.   It is not surprising that Jesus took bread – the stuff of ordinary life to reveal his
      presence to us

      - for Middle Eastern people – bread was not just an accompaniment to a meal; it was

        the centerpiece!

      - long before forks, they used it to scoop their food and place it into their mouths
      - bread was an instrument of nourishment

      - so too, Jesus, the bread of life, is God’s instrument to nourish us

 

6.   Jesus uses the bread of life to provide us SPIRITUAL NOURISHMENT

      - in the bible, bread appears several times as an image of wisdom or divine

        Revelation

      - Isaiah 55: “You who have no money, come, receive bread and eat.”
      - Sirach 15: “Whoever fears the Lord and holds to the law will obtain wisdom . .
        she will feed him with the bread of learning.”

      - there is a true sense of being invited to the table despite our unworthiness

      - God wants us here

      - and no matter who we are; what are path in life has been; we are welcome here

        at this table – saints and sinners alike

 

7.   And the Eucharist provides us a sense of  COMMUNITY

      - in the Middle Eastern mentality, to break bread with someone was to become

        one with him/her

      - the bread of life is shared among a community of believers

      - the early church gathered in homes, around the table, because they were

        Strengthend, nourished, encouraged by the presence of one another
      - the Eucharist reminds us WE ARE NOT ALONE

8.   Finally, the Eucharist is UNIVERSAL        

      - we gather here in Bainbridge Township, Ohio but we gather with Christians
        throughout the world to celebrate this great gift
      - we are united also with those who have gone before us in faith
      - I like to think about the Altar as being the touchstone between heaven and earth
      - our loved ones who have died, the angels and saints all on this side of the altar

        Worshipping at the banquet feast of heaven

      - we, on this side, worshipping on earth – the altar being the connection between
        heaven and earth

 

9.   The author Dale Brunner reminds us that the “EU” in the Eucharist in middle English  

       means “good” and “CHARIS” is the root of the English word, “caress”
      - the Eucharist is the “good caress” of God
      - in this meal, God comes to us spiritually and physically and touches us and says, “I

        love you.”  It’s God’s embrace, God’s caress.

      - This image calls to mind the many meals prepared by my mother and my

         grandmother for us – the wonderful smells and tastes, the joy and happiness shared

         around the table – God’s embrace, God’s caress and the tangible, taste-able

         message, “I love you.”

 

10. I’d like to conclude with a little prayer for the giving of a recipe I found from a

      cookbook.  It reads:

  • “Help me, O God, to live the recipe of good deeds before I give this recipe.
    Give me the kneading strength of your Spirit to work your words into the doughy recesses of my life.
    Help me to let it rest awhile in my heart so that it can rise.
    Help me not to fear the oven of life, so that it can bake through and through.
    And grant that in the baking, the world would be able to roll down its window and savor the aroma of freshly baked bread, your bread of life.” (4)

11.       In a world obsessed with food, he gives us the bread that is eternal.
            Take and eat – and live!