8/16/2015 – 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time – John 6:51-58

      We receive new life in our Church, in our Catholic faith, in different ways.  The example, inspiration, and prayers we receive from the community of saints is one of those wonderful gifts we have in our faith.  This Sunday, August 16, is the feast day of St Roch – named San Roque in Spanish and St Rocco in Italian.  He was a very popular saint in the medieval period of history, with many stories and legends developing about him.   St Roch lived in the 14^th century in Montpellier, France.  His parents died when he was a young adult, leaving him with a great fortune.  He gave his money away to the poor and became a pilgrim.  While traveling on a pilgrimage to Rome, he encountered many victims of plague in the villages he traveled through in Italy.  He nursed and cured many victims, but came down with the plague himself.   The civil authorizes banished him to the forest because of his affliction, where he was isolated and starving.  God sent a little dog to help him in answer to his prayers for help.  The dog licked his wounds and healed him.  The dog also brought him little morsels of bread to eat in his mouth each day. St Roch eventually was healed and he continued his ministry in healing others.  As God sent bread to St Roch to keep him alive, as God sent mana to the starving Israelites in the desert, so God sends us the bread of life in the form of Jesus – our Savior and Redeemer. 

      “I am the living bread who 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”  What amazing words in Sacred Scripture we hear today, opening up our Gospel reading.  We can sometimes take those words for granted, since they are at the heart of the Eucharist we celebrate each time we gather around the Lord’s table for mass.  However, let us try to imagine how radical and shocking those words would have been to the people of Jesus’ day.  As we reflect about Jesus as the living bread sent to us, let us think about the words of consecration as we offer the bread and wine to God – that sacrifice becomes the body and blood of Christ.   St Augustine of Hippo, a convert to the faith and an influential Early Church Father, said this about the Eucharist: “In the presence of (God’s holy) word, the body and blood of Christ comes to be.  For if we take away God’s word, there is simply bread and wine, but add the word, it is something else.... Add the word, the bread and the wine become a Sacrament."  Through the words of consecration at mass, God enacts a transformation that will feed us and nourish us.  Jesus provides for us in the bread of Life as we receive as the true presence of God the Son.  

       Our faith is not just words.  Our faith must be a personal relationship with Christ, a relationship with our brothers and sisters in Christ.  As most of you know, I am not a cradle Catholic.  I became Catholic when I was an adult. As a priest and as a convert, I often get asked to explain what the Eucharist means to me.   I was commenting to a parishioner the other day that I wish I had a list of all the masses I have attended throughout the years.  I have gone to mass and have received the Eucharist in many different countries, in many different cultures,  even in languages I did not understand.  All of those experiences touched me and helped me better appreciate the Eucharist, often in mysterious ways that my heart understands but that I cannot put into words. For me, that sense of community we have at mass, in receiving Christ in the Eucharist together as a community, in becoming the Body of Christ ourselves – that is one of the main things that drew me to the Catholic faith, that keeps me committed to our faith.  When I lived in Winnipeg, Canada for two years, I attended a Catholic church close to where I lived.  The most popular mass at that parish by far – standing room only most times – was at 9:00 pm on Sunday evenings.  Can you imagine how cold and dark it was traveling there on Sunday evenings in the middle of the Canadian winter – and I was riding a bicycle several miles to get there.  There was great diversity in that parish.  Often times I would be sitting next to a family that was Filipino or Hispanic immigrants, and then a few pews in front of me sat the head coach and his family of Winnipeg’s pro-football team, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.  In the midst of being a lay missionary serving in a soup kitchen and a food bank, I felt the unity of Eucharist helping me feel a part of that community and strengthening me in my service.   If we are hurting or struggling or feeling isolated and alone, the Eucharist is there to strengthen us and heal us and nourish us. Pope Francis calls the Eucharist a Sacrament of healing and nourishment, rather than a reward for someone who is perfect.

     We are called to be open to the way our Eucharistic celebration change us and renew us and transform us: To meditate on God’s Holy Word.  To Receive the Body and Blood of Christ.  To live it out in our lives.