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Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)

August 25, 2024

Fr. John Colacino C.PPS.

Introit

Kyrie

Gloria

Collect

O God, who cause the minds of the faithful
to unite in a single purpose,
grant your people to love what you command
and to desire what you promise,
that, amid the uncertainties of this world,
our hearts may be fixed on that place
where true gladness is found.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First Reading Jos 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b

Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel; and they presented themselves before God. 2 And Joshua said to all the people, 15 “If you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” 16 Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods; 17 for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight. He protected us along all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed; 18 Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.”

Responsorial Psalm Ps 34:2-3, 16-17, 18-19, 20-21

R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

Second Reading Eph 5:2a, 25-32

Beloved, live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, 27 so as to present the church to himself in splendour, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind— yes, so that she may be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way, husbands should love their wives as they do their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hates his own body, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32 This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and the church.

Alleluia Jn 6:63c, 68c

Gospel Jn 6:60-69

Jesus said to his disciples: “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” 60 When many of his disciples heard this, they said: “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” 61 But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63 It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But among you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. 65 And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.” 66 Because of this many of his disciples turned back, and no longer went about with him. 67 So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”

Catena Nova

Being always in Christ’s company means being steadfast in following him. We are to be constant in clinging to Him. Yet to accompany the Savior and to be following him all the time is not at all something we can do simply with our bodies. What we have to do can be accomplished only by deeds springing from various virtues. It is on this that the wisest disciples fix their minds. They refuse to depart from it no matter what unbelievers say. The Twelve saw that going away would be fatal. Peter’s reply says it: We will stay with you always and hold fast to your commands. We will accept your words without finding fault or thinking your teaching makes no sense—as the ignorant think. What shall we think? “How sweet are your words to my mouth! They are sweeter to me than is honey or a honeycomb!” These are to be our words at every moment as we follow Christ today and every day (St. Cyril of Alexandria).

“My child, says the Lord, listen to my words, the most delightful of all words, surpassing all the knowledge of the philosophers and wise men of this world. My words are spirit and life and cannot be comprehended by human senses alone. They are not to be interpreted according to the vain pleasure of the listener but they must be listened to, in silence and received with all humility and great affection.... Many hear the world more easily than they hear God – they follow the desires of the flesh more readily than the pleasure of God. The world promises rewards that are temporal and insignificant and these are pursued with great longing. I promise rewards that are eternal and unsurpassable, yet the hearts of mortals respond sluggishly. Who serves and obeys me in all matters, with as much care as the world and its princes, are served? .... What I have promised, I shall give, what I have said I will fulfil for any person, who remains faithful in my love unto the very end” (Thomas á Kempis).

We read in the gospel that when the Lord was teaching his disciples and urged them to share in his passion by the mystery of eating his body, some said: This is a hard saying, and from that time they no longer followed him. When he asked the disciples whether they also wished to go away, they replied: Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. I assure you....that even to this day it is clear to some that the words which Jesus speaks are spirit and life, and for this reason they follow him. To others these words seem hard, and so they look elsewhere for some pathetic consolation. Yet wisdom cries out in the streets, in the broad and spacious way that leads to death, to call back those who take this path....Let all our dealings be in the heart, where Christ dwells, in right judgement and wise counsel, but in such a way as to place no confidence in those dealings, nor rely upon our fragile defenses (St. Bernard of Clairvaux).

We must quickly get to work to save souls by the divine Eucharist, to awaken [a world] numbed in dormant apathy because they don’t know the gift of God, Jesus, the Eucharistic Emmanuel. This is the torch of love which we must carry to tepid souls who haven’t made Jesus in the holy tabernacle their center and their life. Any devotion which doesn’t set up one tent on Calvary and one near the Tabernacle is not a solid piety and will never do anything great. I fear that people are wandering too far from the Holy Eucharist, that this mystery of love par excellence is not sufficiently proclaimed. So souls are suffering, becoming more sensual and materialistic and inordinately attached to human beings. It is because they don’t know how to find their consolation and strength in our Lord (St. Peter Julian Eymard).

There is a mystery, the greatest of all mysteries – not that my adored Lord is in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar – His word has said it, and what so simple as to take that word which is truth itself? – but that souls of His own creation, whom He gave His life to save, who are endowed with His choicest gifts in all things else, should remain blind, insensible, and deprived of that light without which every other blessing is unavailing! (St. Elizabeth Ann Seton).

The process of Jesus attempting to lead his hearers beyond scandal is shown in John 6. There Jesus attempts to bring his hearers on from their understanding of his miraculous feeding of the five thousand, an understanding rooted in food and a kingly messiah, towards his own subversion of the Passover and the Manna in the desert as pointing to himself as the authentic bread from heaven. During the discourse, the eager listening of his audience is gradually turned into furious questioning, linked by allusion with the murmuring of Israel against Moses on its way to the Promised Land. Finally even many of his disciples find it hard to take, and Jesus asks them if this scandalizes them (John 6:61). The scandal is what prevents people perceiving the unity of Jesus and the Father (v 62), and for John the flesh is precisely the human condition locked in scandal, while the spirit is what leads people beyond scandal into a belief in Jesus as revealing the Father, and the Father as he who sent Jesus into the world (vv 63-65). Many of the disciples are caused to stumble, but Peter and the other eleven stay, having perceived that Jesus has words of eternal life: that is, they have overcome the scandal, at least to some extent. Even so, Jesus knows that one of them is a diabolos who will betray him (v 70). The word diabolos here is quite specifically not used to indicate a metaphysical entity, but a human person locked in scandal. (James Alison).

A moment of crisis is a moment of choice, it is a moment that puts us in front of the decisions that we have to make: we have all had and will have moments of crisis in our lives. Family crises, marriage crises, social crises, crisis in work, many crises . This pandemic is also a time of social crisis. How do we react in that moment of crisis?.... In my land there is a saying that says: "When you ride a horse and you have to cross a river, please do not change horses in the middle of the river." In times of crisis, be very firm in your conviction of faith. These who left, changed horses, looked for another teacher who wasn't as tough; as they said to him. In times of crisis there is perseverance, silence; stay where we are, firm. This is not the time to make changes. It is a time of fidelity, of fidelity to God, of fidelity to the things we have chosen before; also, it is the time of conversion because this fidelity will inspire in us some changes for the better, but not to distance ourselves from good.... May the Lord send us the Holy Spirit to be able to resist temptations in times of crisis, to know how to be faithful to the first words, with the hope of living afterward in moments of peace. Let us think of our crises: family crises, neighbourhood crises, crises in work, social crises of the world, of the country ... so many crises, so many crises (Pope Francis).

Homily

Well, if they no longer walked with him, chances are they no longer walked with each other either. Sad to say, that's often the case today where political divides have spilled over into ecclesiastical ones, and vice-versa. And breaking bread at the same table, including the Eucharistic Bread, has become less and less likely where people are engaged in partisan warfare, including the so-called "liturgy wars." Many Catholics — to say nothing of other people who share the name Christian — are unwilling to walk together any longer, even in the Communion line (or Communion rail). And often enough the bone of contention is one or the other "hard sayings" of Jesus or of the church's teaching office that one side accuses the other of betraying.

Enter Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines, Pope Francis' envoy to the National Eucharistic Congress held last month in Indianapolis. He preached the closing homily based on the text from today's gospel. Speaking of the hard saying which led some of Jesus' disciples to return to their former way of life and no longer accompany him (cf. G), the cardinal said this:

They returned to a way of life without Jesus. They chose his absence rather than his presence in their lives. Instead of accompanying him, they walked alone. Their rejection of the gift of Jesus’ word, body, and blood meant they would not walk with him….I invite you, dear brothers and sisters, to pause and ask rather painful questions about this mysterious rejection of Jesus by his disciples. By his disciples.

Is it possible that we, his disciples, contribute also to the departure of others from Jesus? Why do some people leave Jesus when he is giving the most precious gift of eternal life? …. Does our biblical, catechetical, and liturgical formation allow the gift of Jesus’ person to shine forth clearly? Does our Eucharistic celebration manifest Jesus’ presence or does it obscure the presence of Jesus? Do mass goers manifest the presence of Christ through their witness of life, charity, and mission? Do our parish communities provide an experience of Jesus’ closeness and caring? Are our families still the primary teachers and transmitters of the faith? Do the youth feel listened to and heard about their search for Jesus? What cultural mindsets challenge the faith in Jesus’ word and gift of self?

Maybe there are people who desire to be present with the Lord, but they hesitate to come, like the poor, the homeless, the migrants, the refugees, the indigenous people, the hearing-impaired, the elderly, and many other hidden people who might feel they do not belong.

Some hard questions to accompany the hard saying. Alienation both within and outside the church runs deep and we often have only ourselves to blame — often quite apart from teachings that may divide us. Tagle continued,

Jesus is asking each one of us, “Do you also want to leave me like the others?” I hope we can answer like Peter, “We will stay with you, Lord. We refuse to live far from your presence.” But let these not be empty words. Like Peter, we should believe with conviction. Jesus does not impose himself on anyone. He appeals to our interior freedom. Faith and conviction are our gifts to Jesus, who gives himself to us. The gift we have received, we should give as a gift.

Have you experienced the tenderness of Jesus towards his tired disciples, offering them time to rest and to eat, as recounted in the gospel today? Go and share Jesus’ tender love to the weary, the hungry, and the suffering. Have you experienced Jesus’ compassion and guidance when you were like sheep without a shepherd? Go and share Jesus’ shepherds’ caress to the lost, confused, and weak. Have you experienced Jesus’ wounded heart uniting those who are separated from each other, as St. Paul states in his letter to the Ephesians? Go and share Jesus’ gift of reconciliation and peace to those who are divided.

More hard questions. I assume the cardinal asks them of himself as his own country faces division over legalizing divorce, the Philippines being the only country in the world — except for Vatican City (!) — where divorce is illegal. Legislation passed by their House of Representatives in May to change the law now awaits action by their Senate. So the ideals we hear today about marriage in the same Letter to the Ephesians are running up against the realities of the human condition as they have everywhere else. And while there are admittedly "hard sayings" attributed to Jesus on the question of divorce, which root Catholic teaching on the indissolubility of sacramental marriage, we all know that strategies such as loosening the grounds for church annulments are really just a way to face equally hard situations laws can do little to redress with justice and compassion.

Which is why, no matter the saying, we often find ourselves caught between hard places and equally hard rocks. And the Eucharist itself reminds us how careful we should be about solutions to these difficulties for here no word, however hallowed, no theological treatise, however learned, no catechism entry, however authoritative, no liturgical formula, however well-crafted, and no private revelation, however credible, can ever exhaust or fully express the Mystery of Mysteries. And we should be no less humble before the mystery of human lives as we strive in good conscience to serve the Lord (cf I) . Much less no longer walk with the. After all, we have come here to pray the healing work of God's mercy will graciously perfect and sustain us so that in all things we might please the Holy One of God who alone has the words of eternal life (cf. Prayer after Communion; G).

Intercessions (Peter Scagnelli)

That Christians may reject the values of society that contradict the gospel and choose to serve the Lord whose gifts are freedom and fidelity.

That the difficult teachings of Jesus may not discourage Christians but challenge us to ask for the grace to embrace the cost of discipleship.

That God may deliver our world from its slavery to violence and set the nations free to pursue reconciliation and peace.

That those on whom society has turned its back may not despair but be comforted to find that Christ’s disciples will not abandon them.

That women may be able to share their talents in church and society and that these communities may welcome the gifts and challenges they bring.

That the wives and husbands of our community may grow in love and be living signs of Christ’s love for the church.

That those whose faith is tested may not walk away but stay near Christ who has the words of eternal life.

That this assembly may find Christ’s words to be spirit and life and Christ’s flesh and blood to be the source of life within us.

That we, who have come to know and believe in Christ as God’s Holy One may imitate Christ by serving one another in reverence and humility.

That those who served God and remained loyal to Christ in this life may see Christ, who has ascended to where he was before.

In every age, O God, you give your people freedom to walk in faith or to turn away. Grant us grace to remain faithful to your Holy One, whose words are spirit and life, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever (ICEL; 1998).

Offertory Chant

Offertory Hymn (Bernadette Farrell)

Your words are spirit and life, O Lord:
richer than gold, stronger than death.
Your words are spirit and life, O Lord;
life everlasting.

God’s law is perfect, refreshing the soul,
reviving the weary spirit.
God’s rule can be trusted: bringing us wisdom,
bringing God’s wisdom to birth.

God’s precepts keep us; their purpose is right.
They gladden the hearts of people.
God’s command is so clear it brings us new vision;
bringing God’s light to our eyes.

Living by God’s truth is holy and sure;
God’s presence is everlasting.
God’s truth is eternal, bringing us justice;
bringing God’s justice to earth.

God’s word is precious, desired more than gold;
worth more than we dare imagine
and, sweeter than honey, this word will feed us,
bringing fulfillment and joy.

Communion Chant

Closing Hymn (Michael Joncas)

Lord to whom shall we go?
For you alone have words of eternal life.

Your words, O Lord, are a feast for my soul;
Your Word is my hope of salvation Your words, O Lord, are my light and my hope;
Your Word is my hope of salvation.

Your words, O Lord, are my strength and my shield;
Your Word is my hope of salvation.

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