(The homily starts with a Story of four sisters who share their experiences and struggles of life)
This story came to mind when I read this week’s gospel. It starts by saying that the Jews were complaining to one another about Jesus. In other words, they were gossiping … talking about things that may or may
not have been true but undermined His character. St Benedict has a rule and in it there is an guideline that there should be no ‘murmurings’ in the monastery.
What are murmurings? It is different from speaking up, which is an honest business. What makes murmuring noxious is its quality of stealth, its ability to undermine. This is how we encounter the word in scripture. So Jesus was being undermined. Just as a “murmur” describes the distant roaring of a lion, the onset of a wind before a storm, or the rumble of an earthquake so a murmur indicates impending trouble.
One of the great murmurings happening at the moment is what is generally said about Christians and not among other faiths but among people generally. The murmurings are that those who practise their faith
are caught up in fairy stories, that the ideas of life after death are nonsense and that the belief that the Eucharist is the real presence of Jesus the risen lord is a load of nonsense. These are the ‘murmurings’
among some of the academic elites in the world today. I’ve read many of their books. Don’t get me wrong, there are many noble atheists who admire faith and feel heart-broken that it’s not a gift that they have received, and yet are supportive of many of the aspects of the Church.
Today’s Gospel is quite clear, Jesus says that ‘I am Bread of Life’. This gospel is written by a people who knew Jesus in the flesh and yet they feel He is still with them in the living bread that they share. This is an
extraordinary gift and if we realised it in the fullest sense that when we’d genuflect we’d never get off our knees. But Jesus wants us to get off our knees and to bring his presence into our broken world. Never more was that presence needed. A world that is becoming increasing polarised socially, religiously, politically in every other way and within all this we’ve got to remember that Jesus brings peace and unity. As Elijah witnessed if we don’t partake of the bread of life, our journey will be too long for us.
If we are not fed and nourished by the bread of life then our journey will exhaust us.
In a few weeks here in this Church we will be honoured with the visit of the relics of Blessed Carlo Acutis. This is not a novelty. It’s not a reason to feel privileged, it’s not a reason to advertise City Quay it’s a time to contemplate the message of Carlo which was based on the Eucharist.
As a young man he spent his time looking at the occasions whereby science was left baffled by moments when God took time to remind us that the Eucharist is the real presence of His Son. I personally find this
very challenging. This is an opportunity to delve deeper into this mystery. Mass is not a moment of entertainment, a moment where we just put in the time but it is an invitation to be in the presence of Our Blessed Lord … how wonderous is this.
Here are some of the insights that Blessed Carlo shares with us. Let us ponder them as we prepare for his visit.
“Throngs of people stand in interminable lines to buy tickets to rock concerts or soccer matches, but I don’t see crowds of people lined up outside church waiting to see Jesus in the Eucharist. This should make us pause and reflect.”“The more Eucharist we receive, the more we will become like Jesus, so that on earth we will have a foretaste of heaven.”
“By standing before the Eucharistic Christ, we become holy.”
“Do not be afraid because with the Incarnation of Jesus, death becomes life, and there’s no need to escape: in eternal life, something extraordinary awaits us.”
“Sadness is looking at ourselves, happiness is looking towards God.”
“If we truly reflect, we are much, much luckier than those who lived more than 2,000 years ago with Jesus in Palestine.”
“Life is a gift, because as long as we are on this planet, we can grow in our ability to love. The more we learn to love, the more we will enjoy eternal blessedness with God.”
Let us search for the truths of God and let us then speak the truth…let us not give ourselves over to the crazy uniformed murmurings of those who do not know the things of God.