Daily Readings August 12, 2012

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Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 116

Reading 1 1 Kgs 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."

When I see things like this in Scripture, I always wonder what that says about us.  Consider, Adam and Eve saw the wonders of God's world and lived in paradise.  But they were easily fooled by the Serpent.  The people of Israel saw God's power exercised over the Israelites and on the mountain.  But they quickly doubted that He could support them in the desert.

To know what I'm talking about, you need to go back and read 1 Kings Chapter 18.  Elijah has just seen God's power before all the people and it resulted in all the Prophets of Baal being killed.  That is why Queen Jezebel wants to kill Elijah now.  But why is Elijah afraid of Jezebel when God is at his side?

This, folks, is one of our greater Prophtets.  He and Moses spoke to Jesus at the Transfiguration.  That's how great he is.  If these, most faithful of men, who have seen God's power with their own eyes and have conversed with Him.  If they fall to despair, it is no wonder that we, ordinary folk, fall so often.

He lay down and fell asleep under the broom tree,but then an angel touched him and ordered him to get up and eat.

Anyway, Elijah fell asleep under a tree from which, I assume, brooms were made in his day.  But an angel woke him.

Elijah looked and there at his head was a hearth cakeand a jug of water.After he ate and drank, he lay down again,

Elijah woke and found bread and water near his head.  He promptly ate it and fell back to sleep.

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!"

The angel came back and woke him again.  This time the angel said, "you need to eat because the journey will be long."

He got up, ate, and drank;then strengthened by that food,he walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb.

Elijah obeyed.  He got up and ate some more.  Then, having regained his strength, he walked to the mountain of God, Mt. Horeb.  Where Moses brought down the Commandments.

This story is a foreshadowing of the Eucharist.  Bread for the journey.  Have you ever heard of "viaticum".  It is part of the Last Rites.  Viaticum is bread for the journey to heaven.  It is the Eucharist which one receives on his deathbed.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9

Response. (9a) Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall be ever in my mouth.
Let my soul glory in the LORD;
the lowly will hear me and be glad.

R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

Glorify the LORD with me,
Let us together extol his name.
I sought the LORD, and he answered me
And delivered me from all my fears.

R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

Look to him that you may be radiant with joy.
And your faces may not blush with shame.
When the afflicted man called out, the LORD heard,
And from all his distress he saved him.

R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

The angel of the LORD encamps
around those who fear him and delivers them.
Taste and see how good the LORD is;
blessed the man who takes refuge in him.

R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.


The response, "Taste and see the goodness of the Lord", is one of my favorite verses from Scripture.  Because it brings me back to the Eucharist.  The body and blood of our Lord.  The entire Psalm is very Sacramental.  "I sought the Lord and He answered me."  "When the afflicted man called out, the Lord heard. "  "Taste and see how good the Lord is."  Can't you see the Sacraments in those words?

Reading 2 Eph 4:30-5:2

Brothers and sisters:Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,with which you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Now, if there were such a thing as Once Saved Always Saved, I don't think you could convince St. Paul.  Because he spends most of his time warning his followers not to make a shipwreck of their faith (1 Tim 1:19).  Here he is writing to the Christians at Ephesus and warning them not to make God angry after they have received the Sacrament of Confirmation (i.e. sealed for the day of redemption).

All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and revilingmust be removed from you, along with all malice.And be kind to one another, compassionate,forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.

Essentially, he is invoking upon them Christ's new Commandment to love one another.  Especially, he says, to forgive one another as God has forgiven us in Christ.  Which takes me back to Christ's parable:

Matthew 18:34-35
New International Version (NIV)
³⁴ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.³⁵ “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

So be imitators of God,

Christ also gave us this admonition:

Matthew 5:48
King James Version (KJV)
⁴⁸ Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

 as beloved children, and live in love,as Christ loved us and handed himself over for usas a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma.

And, of course, St. Peter gave us this same advice to imitate Christ:

1 Peter 2:21
New International Version (NIV)
²¹ To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you,leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

Gospel Jn 6:41-51

We are back to the famous Bread of Life Discourse in John Chapter 6.

The Jews murmured about Jesus because he said,"I am the bread that came down from heaven,"

The Jews didn't like that Jesus had said that He is 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?'"

And they said, "Hey, wait a minute!  This guy didn't come from heaven.  We know him mom and dad. Who is he trying to kid?"

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.

Jesus knew what they were saying and said to them, the reason you don't believe is because my Father in heaven has not led you to me.

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.

Jesus continues, "it is written in the Prophets (and we just read it recently in Jeremiah), they shall be taught by God. Those who listen to God will come to me."

Not that anyone has seen the Fatherexcept the one who is from God;he has seen the Father.

But no one has seen the Father except I, the Son of 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 heavenso 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."

Now, to me, these last words are proof from Scripture of Transubstantiation.  Jesus said, "the bread that I give is my flesh for the life of the world."  Bread is flesh.  Transubstantiation.

A bit of trivia.  Bethlehem, as you have probably heard, means "house of bread."  But Bethlehem no longer bears the same name.  It is now under the dominion of the Muslims and they changed the name to Bet laim.  Guess what that means?  House of meat.  How's that for coincidence?

Sincerely,

De Maria