Jesus – With You Always, Larry Van Pelt, Niceville, Florida, USA.

[Jesus said] 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.”   John 14:51.

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Once upon a time I preached on the morality of driving a car. I’ve given up driving now (and the peace of mind that has brought is enormous), but I remember thinking that I tended to become another person once behind the wheel. Consider this extract from today’s second reading: “All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling must be removed from you, along with all malice.” Isn’t that a well nigh perfect description of what appears to be the norm for many of us once we are on the road? Consider the chorus of horns that greet the lead car at traffic lights who does not move within a nanosecond of the light turning green. Or the anger at cars on an expressway which zip in and out of the lanes with great danger to get ahead. Then there is the second chorus of horns which greet a car stopping to let people walk across the road, or worse, the time a friend of mine helped a lady up who had fallen over an uneven part of the the middle of the road and was hooted at for taking too long! Or… and you fill in your pet hate over what happens on the highway. So perhaps we should remember the peace-loving words of today’s second reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians 2000 years ago telling us to avoid all such reactions. Who said Holy Scripture cannot be applied to conditions today? Then fit that into today’s first reading, where poor Elijah seems to have had enough of this life and sat under a shady broom tree and prayed to God to end it all (and God’s angel appears bringing life-giving bread and water for him to carry on). I would guess most of us have had moments like that. And then there is Jesus’ response to all that negativity: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.” So today’s readings seem to contrast death and life, and clearly show us that life is always to be preferred to death. But there is a twist. When left to ourselves, perhaps there is a temptation to think and feel negatively, with anger, frustration, impatience and all the other bad reactions to life’s challenges. When we allow Christ into that dark place, then there is light and hope. Jesus is the one who feeds our hope, our very life because he is the bread of life! At the worst of times, he never gave up even when his life ended amid disgrace, agony and near despair, he still believed both in God and in himself: “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46). 

So it seems that today’s Mass readings are a clarion call to belief in God despite everything which might suggest the opposite, that God is the ultimate source of hope when all seems bleak, and that if we accept that God loves us and we act accordingly no matter the odds against us, eternal life and happiness await! Faith, Hope and Love the same yesterday, today and forever.

Elijah Fed by an Angel, Ferdinand Bol c.1663, Private Collection.

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