Homily From 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

We are now in the fourth of five weeks where holy mother Church has been leading us through the sixth chapter of St. John’s Gospel – identified as the “Bread of Life Discourse.” Two weeks ago, Jesus proclaimed "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst." Last week, Jesus stated emphatically to the crowd: "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world."

And today we hear, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.” This intense focus on this one chapter is because these passages go to the heart of our relationship with Jesus Christ; with God himself. The Church spends so much time on this one chapter because what Jesus taught here means everything! Too many Catholics never internalize what Jesus meant when he said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.” Just let that one line sink in for a minute.

If consuming Jesus flesh and blood is necessary for everlasting life, why are so many either discounting the teaching or have left the Church? Nothing breaks my heart more than when I hear someone who has left the Church, say they never encountered Jesus … or that they weren’t being fed spiritually and felt like they had to look elsewhere. That is so sad. They clearly did not understand this teaching and understand that Communion with Jesus is how he feeds us and draws us into his divine life. But I don’t blame people who say these things. I really don’t! I believe they believe what they are saying!

So whose fault is it that we have so many who have left saying they never encountered Jesus or weren’t being fed when they were here? We just need to look in our collective mirror. You and I are at fault. All of us. Clergy and laity, ALL of us share in the blame. Why?

My brothers and sisters, it’s because they never met the Jesus that lives in you and me. They never heard from us – those of us who love Jesus and do understand this reality. They never heard our testimony of how Jesus is alive in our lives. They never heard from us how we came to know him in the breaking of the bread. They never heard how our lives have been transformed because Jesus feeds us his own body and blood so that we may have life within us! Because if we had shared our love for Jesus with them, with actions and with our words, they would likely still be here with us today.

As a Church, we have fallen short of what it means to be disciples to our brothers and sisters. And because of that, across this country every Sunday, millions of Catholics are not here to receive Jesus body and blood. Millions of others show up but are here just to check off their Sunday obligation box. And once they have their Jesus pill, they are out the door and on to the next item on their TODO list.

Jesus did not allow himself to be humiliated, beaten and bloodied to a pulp, abused and nailed to a tree, dying a slow death due to blood loss and asphyxiation so that we could receive him in Communion and then live the rest of our week as if nothing was different - keeping our faith to ourselves.

He did all that so that we would become disciples that know when we receive communion with a receptive heart, Jesus unleashes grace upon us and in abundance! We are empowered to go out and share the truth, love and mercy of Jesus with everyone we meet! We aren’t afraid to share with others what Jesus is doing in our lives. Far from being afraid, we can’t wait to introduce our family, friends and co-workers to our Lord, our savior, and our friend.

There is something else that Jesus does for us when we receive him in Communion. He floods us with his grace so that we have the strength to deal with the hardships and hard knocks we encounter in this life. And Lord knows, we all need strength to deal with the latest round of scandals that have rocked the American Church over the past month. Just when we think the Church dealt with the scandals that exploded on the scene back in 2002, we now find out we have bishops and a cardinal who have either participated in disgusting and evil behavior, or covered up cases that were brought to their attention.

It’s as if there was a wound that was healing nicely but has now been ripped open again, and it has left many of us raw with disgust, anger and sadness. I don’t have answers but I would share a few thoughts that have come to me over the last 15 years as the Church has worked its way through this mess.

First, we must pray with and for those who had their lives marred and scarred and in some cases has resulted in a loss of faith at the hands of those who should have been shepherds and spiritual fathers to them. We pray for those who can minister to them and help them cope and heal from what they have had to bear for, in some cases, decades.

Second, we pray for the leaders of our Church, our bishops and Pope Francis, who must lead the Church in taking the necessary steps to assure these situations never happen again. And I mean, really pray – often and passionately. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide them to take real steps to assure justice for those who have been harmed and to provide safeguards that will prevent cover-ups from taking place again.

Third, take the long view as we place our trust in the Holy Spirit to bring good out of this terrible situation we find ourselves in. The Church has dealt with many severe challenges for her 2000 year history. Jesus assured us that the gates of hell will not prevail against her. While it seems dark now, we must put our faith in the Holy Spirit who has navigated the Church through so many crises over the centuries.

Finally, do not leave the Church. While it may be tempting to do so when these scandals break, that’s exactly what it is, a temptation from the evil one. At the Last Supper Jesus said, “I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you.” In next Sunday’s Gospel, we hear the end of John Chapter 6. We find out that after hearing Jesus teach that we must eat his flesh and drink his blood to have life within us, many of his followers deserted him and returned to their former way of life. Jesus then turned to his Apostles and said, "Do you also want to leave?" Simon Peter answered him, "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God."

When people leave the Church and say they are still close to Jesus, what they are doing is decapitating Jesus, the head, from his mystical body, the Church – you and me. Jesus and the Church are inexorably linked together because the Church was formed by Jesus himself.

My brothers and sisters, Jesus walks with the victims and all those in His Church – through the hard and dark days of life. If we take the long view and do the things I suggested, we will be witnesses to the continuing work of the Holy Spirit who will see the Church through these dark days as He has for some 2000 years now.

I want to end with a prayer, written by Carlo Carretto, that speaks to the tension that we often have to live with as members of a Church that is both beautifully divine and, at the same time, wretchedly human. Perhaps this prayer will speak to your heart as it has mine for so many years:

How baffling you are oh Church and yet how I love you.

How much you have made me suffer, and yet how much I owe you.

I should like to see you destroyed and yet I need your presence. You have given me so much scandal, yet you have made me understand sanctity.

I have seen nothing in the world more devoted to obscurity, more compromised, more false, and I have touched nothing more pure, more generous, more beautiful.

How often have I wanted to shut the doors of my soul in your face, and how often I have prayed to die in the safety of your arms.

No, I cannot free myself from you, because I am you, although not completely.

And besides, where could I go?

Jesus, I trust in you. Jesus, I trust in you. Jesus, I trust in you. AMEN!