Search
Our Sunday Reflection - August 11, 2024
-
-
I am the living bread that came down from heaven.
John 6:41-51
-
-
-
Introduction to the Liturgy of the Day
We may live in a part of the country where the heat that’s accumu lated by this time of year is overwhelming. If so, the first reading will resonate with us. Just one day into his journey across the desert, the great prophet Elijah is so hot and tired and hungry and thirsty that he actually prays for death. Whether due to extreme temperatures or something else, sometimes we may feel at the end of our ropes. May Elijah remind us that God comes to us in our hour of need, most significantly by sending us Jesus, the Bread of Life, whom we receive today in the Eucharist and who is with us always, accompanying us and sustaining us in our suffering.Introduction to the Liturgy of the Word
We are reminded again today of the sustenance God provides us. In the f irst reading, Elijah is on the verge of dying of hunger and thirst. God sends him an angel, who brings him a hearth cake and a jug of water, which sustains him on his journey across the desert to the mountain of God. In the Gospel, Jesus tells the huge crowd whom he had fed with f ive loaves and two fish that he is the bread of life, bread that will enable all those who eat it to live forever. God has given us the sustenance we need to make our journeys through this life and to the next.Reflections
- In the first reading, the hearth cake that the angel brings Elijah sustains him for a forty-day journey. It must have been some hearth cake! But some details are symbolic. First of all, forty days can be a period of testing or trial, like Jesus’ forty days in the desert or Moses’ forty days on Mount Sinai/Horeb. The hearth cake and jug of water were signs of God’s providence, gifts from God to Elijah. The Eucharist we receive today does not have the nutrition we need to sustain us forty days without food. However, it is a gift from the Lord—his very body, offered for us—and it can sustain us on our journey through life, which can often test our faith and be a trial. May we recognize the strength we receive from the Lord today, much as Elijah did centuries ago.
- Note that Elijah needed a second push. After he ate and drank his fill, he went back to bed! The angel has to come back, awaken him again, and order him to complete his journey. It is only then, after eating and drinking some more, that he felt strong enough to continue. What’s important is that God did not give up on him. We too may need another push to get us on our way, but God will not give up on us either.
- How often have we felt like saying, “O God, enough already!” like Elijah? What has enabled us to continue, to eventually overcome the obstacles in our way? Today we hear Jesus assure the crowds that he is the Bread of Life and that he can and will sustain us forever. God had a journey planned for Elijah—to God’s holy mountain—and wasn’t going to let him give up. Jesus has a journey planned for us—to God’s kingdom—and isn’t going to let us give up either. Whenever we feel like crying out, “Enough!” let us remember that Jesus can sustain us and nourish us through all of life’s trials.
Question of the Week
How does receiving Christ in the Eucharist strengthen me to overcome obstacles on my journey to the kingdom?
-from Pastoral Patterns
-
readings of the mass
LISTEN HERE to the Audio Recordings of the Readings of Sunday, August 11, 2024
SELECT HERE for the Readings of Sunday, August 11, 2024
-
Offerings
The Sunday offerings are a portion of our blessings that we give to God (Church) in gratitude to what God has done for us...ONLINE GIVING OPTIONS -
Reflections on the readings
-
-
-
-
News from the Vatican
-
an hour agoParticipants in the ongoing Synod of Bishops on Synodality have said that while questions surrounding the role of women in the Church are important, they can be distracting from other key issues on... -
yesterdayAhead of the one-year anniversary of a Hamas attack on Israel that sparked a full-blown war in Gaza that has spiraled into a broader regional conflict, a Lebanese prelate has asked that individual... -
yesterdayPope Francis Sunday announced a consistory in December for the creation of 21 new cardinals from all over the world, representing yet again the pope’s love of the peripheries, and his inclination to...
-
-