![Picture](/uploads/1/3/9/6/139680600/published/fr-rich.jpg?1721243998)
In today’s first reading from 2 Kings 4: 42-44, we have a miraculous feeding of 100 people with only 20 loaves of barley bread. In today’s Gospel from the beginning of John 6, Jesus miraculously feeds 5000 with only five barley loaves and two fish! While it’s wonderful that Jesus performed a miracle and that no one that day went hungry, this miracle and the one performed by Elisha are prophetic of the greatest miracle in the world – our Holy Eucharist.
John Chapter 6 is the Eucharist Chapter. Later on in a few Sundays, we will hear Jesus tell his followers that “his flesh is true food, and his blood is true drink.” “Unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life within you.” “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” “This is the bread that came down from heaven.” “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.”
At the end of John 6, many of Jesus’ followers left him that day and went back to their former way of life because they couldn’t accept his teaching about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. If Jesus had meant this eating and drinking to be merely a symbolic remembrance of his body and blood, then he would have gone after those disciples that left that day and explained to them that he didn’t literally mean that they had to eat his actual flesh and drink his actual blood. Yet he didn’t do that. He let them go. He meant what he said!
He then turned to his twelve Apostles and asked them if they were going to leave too, and Peter spoke on their behalf by saying: “To whom shall we go. You have the words of eternal life.” Neither Peter or the other Apostles understood that day how Jesus was going to give them his flesh to eat and his blood to drink, but they trusted him, and they stuck with him so that at the Last Supper it could become clear to them.
My brothers and sisters, when we come to Mass, we witness the greatest miracle of all! We witness the priest, in the person of Christ, change bread and wine into Jesus’ Body and Blood so that we can eat the food and drink the drink that will give us life within us and raise us up on the last day! Time stands still at the consecration, and we experience firsthand the Last Supper and the Cross. They are here and present to us at Mass so that we can receive Jesus himself and be fed both by him and with him.
When we come to Mass, we do come to be part of our church family of friends. We certainly come to hear God’s Word proclaimed and to receive practical teaching on how to live that Word. Most importantly, we come to witness and receive Jesus himself, given to us under the appearance of bread and wine. The way we conduct ourselves at Mass should reflect the fact that we believe and understand that we are worshiping and receiving Jesus.
I ask all of us to do 4 things to show that we believe and that we are worshiping Jesus when we come to Mass at St. Philip Neri and St. Clement:
- That we participate in the Mass by singing the hymns and responding to the parts of the Mass where the congregation is supposed to respond. Let’s not be passive but active worshipers. We will get so much more out of Mass if we participate.
- That we do not ever leave Mass early after receiving Communion. We have just received the true Body and Blood of our Lord! We need to kneel or sit and pray after receiving Jesus and give him thanks.
- While the church should be a family of God where people love and care for one another, and people should catch up with one another before or after Mass, let’s observe at least 5 minutes of silence before Mass starts so that people can pray and prepare themselves to worship God Almighty.
- Lastly, it’s truly a compliment to our music ministries when people sometimes applaud at the end of Mass. However, applause implies being entertained and we don’t come to Mass to be entertained, but rather to worship God. Let’s refrain from applause and take the time after Mass to go to the music ministers and tell them how much we appreciate what they do to enhance our worship.
God Bless You,
Fr. Rich