Don’t Give up! 19th Sunday

Late Friday evening, Fr. Greg went into his home chapel for evening prayer and night prayer before retiring. As part of his examen, he reviewed what happened during the day and what he would look forward to the next day, Saturday. He was exhausted because of the many demands on his time that drained him of his energy. On Saturday morning he would have a funeral for which he did not have a homily planned, around noon he would have a wedding for which he, as yet, had no homily planned. Fortunately, his associate, Father Curtis would preach the Sunday Masses.

With a groan, he reviewed what happened on Friday. When he visited the local retirement home, he found one of the residents, a lady in her late eighties, crying – wondering why God would not take her and let her die in peace. Another resident he visited with was not adjusting well with the loss of his left leg due to diabetes. He complained that it was too much for him; he did not want a prosthesis and wanted to die. If that were not enough, he had to deal with many of his parishioners and friends who were not happy with his work among the homeless and the many new undocumented persons who recently moved into the city. Fr. Greg was tired, exhausted, and oppressed. He wanted to give up as well. Perhaps you, at one time or other, have felt the same way and looked forward to death, an escape from the many hassles you must face.

Well, you are not alone. The prophet, Elijah, as we just read in the first scripture lesson also prayed for death. He just had that famous contest with the four hundred pagan prophets. As the victor, he killed all the false prophets. The pagan queen vowed that she would pursue and Elijah and have him killed in retaliation. So, Elijah fled. Thinking that he was a safe distance, he sat down under a tree and prayed for death. He was very tired and didn’t want to be the prophet of God any longer. He had had enough. However, God was not finished with Elijah and had more work for him. An angel of God came to the prophet and told him to get up and eat. Elijah complied, eating the food, and drinking all that the angel supplied. He then went back to sleep. A second time, the angel came, told Elijah to get up and eat for a journey. The Lord God had work for him. Nourished and strengthened for a long journey of forty days and nights, Elijah set out for the mountain of God.

God had plans for the prophet and nourished him for the long journey ahead. During those forty days and nights, surely Elijah wondered what God had in store for him and he prayed that he would be able to do all that God wanted him to do. God has plans for you as well. He feeds you with the Body and Blood of his Son who suffered and died for you. You may long for an end to the sadness, loneliness, and the many defeats in your life. But God has work for you as well.  So, don’t give up now. Stay in the game of life.

Yet, you have doubts and wonder if God really has a specific plan for you. After all, you are not a prophet like Elijah. You don’t feel specially chosen. How is God going to use you, especially in these chaotic times. What could God have possibly planned for you? Ours is not to reason why, but to do and die – as the famous axiom says.

When Jesus told the Jews that He is the bread of life, they were skeptical. He pointed out that their ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died. He 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. This was too much for them to believe. They murmured about Jesus because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”

It would be too hard for them to believe that Jesus is the bread given for the life of the world. Nevertheless, Jesus said that whoever believes has eternal life, and he is the bread of life. God gave Elijah bread to eat because he had further work for him. So, God gives you bread to eat, the Eucharist, because he has work for you to do.

What kind of work does God have for you? The eternal life gained by eating the body and drinking the blood of Jesus is the life of Jesus given to you. So, his life becomes your life. You can participate in his life by reaching out to others who are oppressed by the chaotic life in which you live. But you also participate in Christ’s life by embracing the cross of pain and suffering you now experience. In other words, your pain, your loneliness, your feeling of abandonment becomes one with Christ’s pain, loneliness and feeling of abandonment that he suffered on the cross. This is the meaning of the paschal mystery in which we find life itself.

Now you have a choice. You can murmur like the Jews in the gospel and complain how unfair life is or you can be one with Jesus and suffer the pain of your cross as God the Father draws you to himself.

God be blessed! Now and forever. Amen.