Church of St. Mary at Clinton Heights

Just a few days ago, we enjoyed our 13^th Annual Golf Classic.  The day couldn’t have been any better, except for one small detail: my dog Mimo was pent-up in the rectory for almost 11 hours all by herself.  I knew she wouldn’t be pleased with me when I got home so in anticipation of ‘the cold shoulder’, I brought her a rib bone from the banquet.  I opened the door and while she wanted to ignore me completely, she couldn’t help catching the scent from the doggy-bag.  I gave her the bone and she ran outside to a small dirt patch to enjoy her treat.  Noticing how dirty it had become I grabbed it and threw it on the lawn, at which point, she ran over and started to roll all over it!  She didn’t want to simply enjoy the bits on the bone, but she wanted to gnaw on it, savor it, dig deep into the treasured marrow and, when asleep, dream of the scents wafting from her coated coat!

In today’s gospel, Jesus is continuing what is known as His “bread of life discourse”.  Over and over, Jesus is trying to teach His followers of the necessity to eat His flesh and drink His bloodtrue food and drink with everlasting value and reward.  But, He did more than invite them to “eat” as we often do (even our ancestors merely “ate” the manna of the desert and still they died).  Jesus invited them to “eat” His flesh, but in a manner like gnawing on it.  He was inviting themand still invites usto gnaw on the gift of Himself, to savor His being, to gain the richness of His divinity, to live within the odor of the Lord and to take all of Himself into our very being, our very lives.

As members of His mystical bodythe Churchwe are invited to gnaw on the gift of the Bread of Life, to taste and see the goodness of the Lord as His own life blends and co-mingles with ours.  Amen.

When I was in my first year of seminary in Italy, I decided that my eyeglass prescription really needed to be adjusted.  Of course, the advice from some of the local alumni was to “be sure to go to Dr. TWA” (aka Trans World Airlines!).  Anyway, I went and told the doctorwith my very sketchy Italian skills at the timethat I wanted to be able to see better.  After awhile and several gestures, he seemed to understand and he sat me down in the chair and started to apply different lenses, asking me to read the chart.  At one point, he asked, “meglio?” (which translates, “better?”).  “Si” I replied, to which he abruptly stood, clapped his hands and declared, “va bene!” and decided that he had done his job completely.  Eventually, I got my new prescription and it wasn’t merely “better”, but close to perfect.

The immediate need that I had expressed was the cause of our confusion.  I had said that I wanted to be able to see “better” or “meglio”, and his response was appropriate.  But what I really wanted, with the help of an updated eyeglass prescription, was to have my eyesight brought to 40/40.  I had expressed an immediate need, not realizing that I should have been expressing my ultimate, final need.

In today’s gospel, the crowds who were fed the loaves and fish are now hungry again, and naturally, are seeking Jesus in order to have their hunger satisfied.  But what they didn’t realize was that their hunger was much more deep, fundamental, basic….  Even with enough bread to satisfy them for the rest of their days, they would still feel the pangs of longing for the union they keep seeking with Christ.  The Lord sees this truth, and His challenge to them was for them to place their faith in him, believe in Him, and thus commit themselves to the works of God.  For us, too, the Lord sees this truth as we approach Himsometimes with mundane and not-so-mundane intercessionsbut in all of them, he wants to satisfy our lasting hunger with His everlasting life.

Last weekend’s gospel demonstrated the compassion of Jesus as he sent the apostles out in pairs to nurture the souls of those whom He wished to share His life.  By their preaching, witness and miraculous works, the apostles are able to return to the Master and report ‘good news’ about all they had done.  Jesus’ compassion was fruitful!

This weekend, we find another demonstration of Jesus’ compassion when, even in the midst of so many coming to receive the graceful ministry of the apostles, Jesus directs them to come away with Him to a deserted place for rest.  Even when they could continue to minister in His name, it is important for His followers to enjoy a sacred rest with Him.  Yes, the need to nurture others and to care for their needs will always be with us and surround us, still the Lord asks us to retreat with Him in our holy labors.

And in case we tend to think that everything depends on us, look at what the Good Shepherd does as the apostles rest: He nurtures; He consoles; He teaches from His own compassion.  Yes, we quickly realize that when we minister in the name of Jesus Christ, then He is the source and foundation of all the good that flows through us.  Thus we gather each Sunday, to rest from the labors we have accomplished and to thank God for His mighty arm that has guided our efforts; and then, to seek the Lord’s continuing and generous compassion that can lead us in the week ahead…a week filled with others’ needs and our hoped-for response of kindness and compassion.

Jesusthe compassion of Godconsole us!

This week we find Jesus powerless to work miracles, a most unlikely situation.

He came to his home-town, Nazareth, the Gospel says, and “he was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them.”

Why not? Who took away his power?

The answer has to do with the words Jesus often said to people that he healed: “your faith has saved you.”* At first glance, this saying has to be false. If “faith” were all it took to save me, then there would be no need at all for God or Jesus or the Holy Spirit. Just squeeze out an act of faith and you have all you need.

Obviously it is necessary to take a look at what “Faith” is all about.

The following words of the Catechism get more directly at the meaning of the word as Jesus used it.

Faith is a personal actthe free response of the human person to the initiative of God who reveals himself (_₱166).

Faith in this sense refers to an interaction between ourselves and God, a relationship steeped in trust and love. If a man said to his wife, “I have no faith in you anymore,” and if he meant it, the relationship between the two would be over. The same goes for the faith we are talking about here. To trust in God, to receive his love and respond to it, this is the deepest meaning of faith. In this sense, faith is like a home in which the personal relationship between people and God lives. If you fail in faith, you have locked all the doors.

Faith is not a solo act, it is a mutual act between Jesus and you.

If this makes some sense to you, then you will see why Jesus always said “your faith has saved you.” Faith is the carrier of your (our) relation to God and Jesus. Where there is no true relationship between you and Jesus, healing cannot happen because healing is rooted in trust and faith and love.

This is why Jesus in today’s Gospel is so disappointed when he comes to teach in his home town and finds only scorn. “Where did this man get all this? What kind of wisdom has been given him? What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands! Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary?” The Gospel says that Jesus “was amazed at their lack of faith.”

Jesus’ relationship with the Nazarenes was broken. They would not have faith. No wonder he could not “perform any mighty deed there.” He could not force faith upon them, they had to choose it themselves.

And so must we.

The thread woven throughout our gospel this weekend…is a thread of LIFE, born from faith and humility.

Yes, new life is seen sprouting forth from both Jairus’ daughter and the woman with the hemorrhage.  Both were staring at the glare of death…like we do so often, don’t we?  Each one of us can understand this painful, human situation because we’ve either watched a loved one slowly lose life, or we ourselves have experienced the drain of a life-threatening illness.  We can all identify, then, with the desperation of the father, Jairus, or of the old woman.  Both are staring death in the face.

And as they stare at death, they catch sight of Jesus…the Lord of life.  Both Jairus and the woman, each in their own way, receive a spirit of humility as they approach Christ: Jairus falls at Jesus’ feet, while the woman secretly approaches from behind.  And from their humility, both then demonstrate faith…thus, both have their wish for healing granted.  A moment earlier, death was encroaching upon them, but in an instant of humble faith and petition, death is turned back.

This week, let us strive to reach out and grasp the gift of life offered by the Lord.  Like Jairus and the old woman, we too can approach the almighty and find the generous offer of life.  All we need do is muster the humility and faith necessary to reach out to Christ’s abundant love…for such faith leads to our salvation.