Hopefully your weekend was filled with God’s Grace.
After the last weekend’s glorious celebration of the Assumption of our Blessed Mother we come back to the teaching of Jesus about the Bread of Life. Jesus in today’s Gospel challenges his Jewish audience, and later His apostles, to make their choice: to accept Him as the true Bread from Heaven Who gives them His Body and Blood as their Heavenly Food or to join those who have lost their Faith in Jesus and left Him, expressing their confusion and doubts about His claims. We can see the various reactions of the people to Jesus’ claims. Many of the disciples leave, but the apostles freely choose to stay with Jesus. We, too, are called to make a decision, profess our Faith in God’s Son and renew the Covenant ratified in his Life, death and Resurrection.
Let us make our choice for Christ and live it. We Christians have accepted the challenge of following the way of Christ and making choices for Christ, fortified by the Bread He gives and relying on the power of His Holy Spirit. The Heavenly Bread and the Holy Spirit will give us the courage of our Christian convictions to take a stand for Jesus, accept the Church’s teachings and enable us to face ridicule, criticisms, and even social isolation for our adherence to sound Christian principles in our lives. That is what we mean by our “Amen” while receiving Jesus in Holy Communion. We express without any conditions or reservations our total commitment to Jesus in the community to which we belong. Christ’s thoughts, attitudes, values, and life–view must become totally ours. Above all, we are to identify with Jesus in the offering of His Flesh and the pouring out of His Blood on the cross by spending our lives for others. May Jesus always be our ONLY CHOICE!
Enjoy the last week of August. May the saints of this week –St. Rose of Lima, Virgin; St. Bartholomew, Apostle; St. Monica and her son St. Augustine –intercede for us, but also inspire us to always make good choices in our lives.
You are all in my prayers.
Fr. Tom