Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church

Homily for August 13, 2006
Liturgical Year B - Cycle II
19th Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Fr. Joshua Nyoni
Topic: The Bread that gives life to the World
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Reading I
1 Kings 19:4 - 8
Elijah went a day’s journey into the desert, until he came to a broom tree and sat beneath it. He prayed for death saying: “This is enough, O LORD! Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” He lay down and fell asleep under the broom tree, but then an angel touched him and ordered him to get up and eat. Elijah looked and there at his head was a hearth cake and a jug of water. After he ate and drank, he lay down again, but the angel of the LORD came back a second time, touched him, and ordered, “Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!” He got up, ate, and drank; then strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb.

Gospel
Jn 6: 41 - 51
The Jews murmured about Jesus because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven,” and they said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Stop murmuring among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. It is written in the prophets: They shall all be taught by God. Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 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.”
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The First Reading today is the story of Elijah who is nourished with bread in the wilderness. Elijah’s physical needs were met so that he could continue on his journey to Horeb, the mountain of God. The food and drink brought to him by an angel manifested showed that God was still present at his side, giving him new energy and hope so that he could continue on his journey.

The story of Elijah throws light on today’s Gospel. It provides a background for our understanding of what Jesus in the Gospel calls “the bread that gives life to the world”.

Jesus, in the Gospel today, speaks about nourishment/food. This reminds me of life in Italy: “Qui si mangia bene,” meaning, “Here, we eat well,” and that is true. In Italy, we eat well. Then I remember someone asking me, “Hey Father, do you have such food in your country?” I said, “No, we don’t have this but we have other types, you see.” Even then, someone asked me, “Father, do you have water in Zimbabwe?” You know my answer was, “Yes, we have it.”

Jesus’ nourishment is more than mere food. He offers us, his disciples, the food of his teaching, as well as his own flesh for our journey to eternal life: “I am the bread of life…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.” Just as God was concerned that Elijah had what he needed for his journey, Jesus is equally concerned that we have what we need for our journey to eternal life. And what is that? It’s exactly what we are celebrating here; what we touch and what we are touched by when we come here.

Jesus gives us two tables; the Table of the Word, so that we are nourished by his word and that word must touch our life, deep into our lives. When we move from this Table of the Word, we go to the Table of the Eucharist, where we eat his flesh for our journey to eternal life.

Speaking about these two tables and the presence of Christ, the Vatican Council says this:
“Christ is always present in his church…and most of all under the Eucharistic species…Christ is present in the sacraments by his power, in such a way that when someone baptizes, Christ himself baptizes. He is present in his Word, for it is he himself who speaks when the holy Scriptures are read in church…” [SC].

We are nourished by Christ from these Two tables. This Divine Food from the two tables has implications for our lives. It is to make us more like Christ! To think, to feel, to love, to do, to speak, even to suffer like Christ. Now in baptism, we became other Christs. Holy Communion reinforces our Christ-likeness. The Eucharist, which we receive, must make us to be life-giving people.

Christ says that the bread that I give is life for the world. He is life. He gave us life. He continues to give us life and because we receive him, we must be life-giving people to others. When we receive Holy Communion, we must be Eucharistic people. What does that mean? It means people who give joy, people who give happiness. When you move, people should see joy, should see peace in you because you receive Christ and not trouble and disharmony. Now, as I am talking of this I am reminded of some of us in that when you see them, you talk to them, you feel the joy of Christ, you feel the presence of Christ. You feel all that. But others, when you see them, you see trouble. I think that is true. You know Christ still has a lot to do in our hearts; he is still waiting; he continues to wait; but some of us, we are so stubborn. I’m sorry to use that word. Some of us, we seem very stubborn but this is the point. Receiving Jesus in the Eucharist should transform us into Eucharistic persons. Eucharistic persons dispense love and life to others.

We have all we need to reach eternal life:
The Table of the Word and the Table of the Eucharist.

I am reminded of the rite of ordination itself. It says this:
When the bishop is ordaining a priest, he gives that priest the book and he says this, “Receive the word of God. Believe what you read. Teach what you believe and live what you teach.”

For us, when we receive the body of Christ, we must believe what we receive and live what we believe. Only in this way, can we be able to give life to the world like Jesus.