August 24th |
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21st Sunday in Ordinary Time Jn 6/64, 69 |
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| Background: Today we end our four week excursion into St. John’s Eucharistic reflections on the multiplication of the loaves and fishes in the sixth chapter of his Gospel. Some of his followers turn away from him, some remain. We must remember that John’s meditation is placed in a context that existed perhaps six decades after the death of Jesus when the Eucharist was understood by the early followers of Jesus in a way that it was not during his public life. John is symbolically telling the story of Jesus’s rejection by many of those whom he had first attracted because of his claim to a unique relationship with the Father and to be the herald of the new, restored kingdom which would be utterly unlike their expectations. The Eucharistic meal, as it came to be, was a symbolic celebration of that new kingdom of God’s all-forgiving love. |
read the padre |
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Story: Once upon a time a young couple were preparing for their marriage. They loved one another, they thought, and their marriage would be a happy one. Unfortunately the young man was very suspicious and jealous. He wanted to keep track of his bride-to-be all the time. He demanded to know everything she was doing. He expected her to give him a detailed account of every conversation she had and every person she met. She became weary of these demands. Will you keep asking those questions after we’re married? Of course I will. Why? Because I will want proof that you still love me. But how can I prove that if you don’t already believe it? It’s a wife job, he said, to prove her love all the time. Is it? It is. You don’t trust me? Sure I trust You, but I still want proof that you love me. Do you have to do the same thing? She ask. Of course not. Why not? Because you know that I love you. She gave him back the ring. |
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