First Reading Commentary
Elijah is feeling overwhelmed and
frustrated in his service to God; and on top of everything else his own life
was being threatened. Frustration is a
stranger to no one. Having a daily
prayer life or performing charitable works tends to result in a search for the
fruits of those prayers and labors with the hope of seeing some improvement not
only in the individual but also the world over.
With all the immorality that exists in
today's world, plus the times that we ourselves surrender to temptation and
commit sin, eventually the weight of experiencing all of this can become very
discouraging and lead to a kind of luke-warmness in the spiritual life. One could easily fall into a trap and start to
develop a mindset which is deceptive and leads to an acceptance that prayers
and works are useless.
Our Lord Jesus Christ gave the parable of
the persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8) to
show the necessity for praying always and to not become weary.
In John 15:5 Jesus also offers this echoing
reminder, "Without Me you can do nothing."
In the book, "The Prayer of Love and
Silence," the author, an anonymous monk, comments on this verse and writes:
"Knowing that of ourselves we can do nothing but that in Christ we can do
all things, we should no more be discouraged by our faults than proud of the
virtuous acts His grace has made possible.
And not only that, once we are convinced that we are nothing and God is
all, our very weaknesses and failings need no longer be obstacles."
Second Reading Commentary
Following Christ's example of love
certainly is not to be found in “bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and
reviling” as these are not acts of love but acts that “grieve the Holy Spirit.”
If you were able to place yourself into a scene
of Christ's suffering what would you see?
In the scourging at the pillar, for example, certainly you would see our
Lord's Back being brutally beaten by Roman soldiers. But is the reason for this brutality revealed
in this scene? Yes, but it is not found
on our Lord's back.
If you could walk around and look at His
Face you would see a Face that loves until it hurts and Eyes that express an
incomprehensible love even for all those responsible - which is all of
humanity.
Gospel Commentary
In the book of Exodus (16:2) are the words, "All the congregation of the children of
Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron."
In this Gospel, “the Jews murmured about Jesus.” This is a great aid in seeing a similarity
between Jesus and Moses; but when comparing the manna ate in the desert to the “Bread
of Life,” there is also clearly seen a major difference. Moses was a servant of God; Jesus, in His Human
Nature, was also a Servant. Moses
received the manna from God to satisfy the temporal needs of the Israelites;
Jesus, Who is God, gives us the True Bread and “whoever eats this Bread will
live forever”; and this Bread is the Flesh of Jesus which He gives “for the
life of the world.”
In this Gospel, Saint John makes it very
clear that those who “ate the manna in the desert died”; but the Flesh of Jesus
“comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die.”
The murmurings about Jesus which occur in
this Gospel continue in our own time with movies, books and documentaries which
attempt to discredit Who He is. Our Lord's
command for them to “Stop” may take on a more consequential meaning today.
“No one can come to Me unless the Father Who
sent Me draw him.” This is a great
mystery of His grace. We are drawn to
Him by a mysterious desire and love for Him which can only come from His grace
and the gift of being able to see with eyes of faith.
