Location: St. Jerome Catholic Church
The people murmuring about Jesus in the gospel provide a good example of the spiritual worldliness against which Pope Francis strongly warns us. The Pope says this illness “hides behind the appearance of piety and even love for the Church.” However, it does not seek to give glory to God, but to ourselves. It entails two great dangers: One is imposing our own pursuit of apparent forms of consolation and enlightenment through certain experiences, sets of ideas or bits of information. This ultimately keeps us imprisoned in our own thoughts and feelings, rather than leading us to a true personal relationship with Jesus. The other is trusting only in our own powers, and feeling superior to others, because we observe certain rules and remain faithful to a particular style of appearances.
These bitter poisons are the source of grudges against God – maybe not explicitly but certainly through attitudes – because God’s plan does not fit my own.
However, the Lord says to these people: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him.” This means that whenever we hear God’s Word, we are given a sign of predestination. It is an invitation to be “taught by God.” The promise of eternal life is not to be fulfilled in a more or less distant future. The Lord speaks in present tense: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.” What does it mean to be taught by God? The first reading illustrates it clearly. The people of Israel are wandering through the desert, walking from the land of slavery to the land flowing with milk and honey. If they lose their identity as God’s people, they risk perishing. They must keep their roots strong, worshiping the God of their ancestors.
They must be aware that the Lord is a “jealous God” (Ex 20:5). This reminds us that having the Lord as our God leaves no room for the things and aspirations of this world.
If I truly believe that I am God’s child, my heart, my strength and my whole being will witness to the faith into which I was baptized. My works will witness to my thoughts and feelings, which will witness to my Baptism. Through that witness, we will repeat the teaching we received to our children. There will be consistency between what we do at home and away, and between the words we preach and those by which we live.
The second reading tells us that those who accepted the message and were baptized, “devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers.” Our dependence on God’s Word, our active participation in the life of the Church, and our prayer life, are inseparable from the “breaking of the bread.” As lectors and acolytes, and – God willing – later as Deacons, your main job is to spread the sweetness with which you yourselves are nurtured at the altar, with the Word and the Bread of Life. The sign of God’s work in us is rejoicing, sweeter than honey. You are being called to witness that Sunday Mass is truly meant to be the source and summit of our daily lives as God’s Holy People. When the conditions are given on the ground, it is only a matter of time for the Holy Spirit to burst forth with His fruits. He most freely begets the Church at every age and place, through Mary.
Our Lady of Guadalupe, remain in our hearts, so that when the Holy Spirit finds you there, He begets the presence of Jesus in us and through us.
