Continuity (2012-08-12)

This is my homily for 12 August   2012 (Sunday). I am a Catholic chaplain in Teaneck at Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) campus and for the FDU Newman Catholic Association. We celebrate Catholic Mass - during Fall and Spring semester - every Sunday Evening (7:00 p.m.) at the Interfaith Chapel, 842 River Road, Teaneck, NJ.  We resume Sunday August 26, 2012. 

[__01] Don’t we find the continuation – the continuity of a journey – to be Good News? For those who have experienced – at times – the delays of plane, trains and automobiles, we are grateful when we can keep moving.

We might say that the Gospel readings  from Saint John – especially over the past few weeks and into next week are a continuous – journey. Without commercial interruption.

A few Sundays ago, we began at chapter 6, verse 1… and we are still making our way.

We might say that the journey began with a delay. A fortunate, providential delay but a delay nonetheless. 5,000 plus hungry people were waiting to be fed.

They were not yet ready to pack up and go home to go to the local station or roads. This miraculous feeding and nourishment enables them to continue their journey.

And, this miraculous feeding and nourishment anticipates our sacrament of Christ’s Body and Blood.

The Good News of the Gospel is nourishment which helps us to stop – pause – be nourished ..and continue our respective journeys.

[__02]  In the book of Kings, our first reading, the prophet Elijah is travelling, journeying and interrupted …

• NAB note on 1 Kings 19:1-21 -  The story of Elijah’s journey to Mount Horeb begins as a flight from danger, but takes a surprising turn. The prophet makes his solitary way to the mountain where the Lord had appeared to Moses and the Israelites (“Horeb” is an alternate name for “Sinai”). Like Moses on the holy mountain, Elijah experiences a theophany and receives a commission

And, for Elijah, hunger and thirst slow him down. He is ready to give up.  For Elijah, also, a miraculous meal – food and drink – a hearth cake and jug of water – give him new life.

[skipping hand written page A-9, A-10 parts about Jewish people and Exodus…]

[__03] But, in this moment of being fed, Elijah also receives a new calling, an assignment…

[__04] And, in our prayer before the Holy Eucharist, and in receiving communion, we are also praying that we might understand our own true calling.

One way we do this, for example, is praying in the Lord’s presence, where there is a tabernacle. For while God is is present everywhere in the world, he is present in a particular way in his own home, his tabernacle.

The Eucharist reminds us of our need for God’s help, wisdom, grace.

And, praying before the tabernacle and alter, we beg for God’s help to keep moving – in our own ways – on our own journeys.

We beg for God’s help to stand up, to stand our ground, to stand up to difficult people…

At times when it would be easier to rest our heads as Elijah does.

We depend on the Lord to keep going.

[__05]  There are delays that we experience … or ways in which our own vehicles or trains might go off the road or off the rails.

The temptation at such time might be to turn around, get on a train going in the opposite direction.

And, at times, this really is the solution. For example, in the case of the parable of the Prodigal Son, we see the Son who had spent all his father’s money packing up and going home… so as to be fed also.  However, the Son himself has changed in the process, his home has changed. The place to which he returns is not the same place from which he departed.

And, his calling – his responsibility – in this new place will be different.

[__06] During a delay, the temptation is to turn around. At times, we may be so focused on the “train station” of the past that we do not yet focus on the station – or situation – of the present.

It’s good to keep moving. This is the message to the folks who hear Jesus speak about the Bread of Life today…

Some of them are very focused on the manna the bread which saved the Jewish people in the desert during the Exodus. Also, a beautiful and necessary miracle. But, this was only physical nourishment.

We are called to see the Eucharist as our spiritual nourishment as well.  

So that, whether we endure ON-TIME SMOOTH SAILING ..or CANCELLATIONS… whether we endure JOY or SORROW, we are moving forward and trying to love God and love our neighbor at each stage of the journey.  [__fin__]