Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today's Mass Readings
During one of the parish missions in Mumbai, India, I had a rather strange encounter. At a spiritual conuselling session, sitting withof me was no ordinary visitor. This youngster in his thirties claimed to have come from the Church of Satan. He told me that he was a Satan worshipper. I hid my shock, but let me admit, that deep within me I was a bit scared. As I gained control over myself and asked for God's protection, I asked him how it all happened. He told me about his Catholic upbringing and his good parents. After his education he set up a business at which he didn’t do as well as he thought he would. And then he came across a friend who suggested that he pray to Satan. And according to him, it worked. "Business is blooming today", he told me. "I prayed to God, and nothing happened, but and prayer to Satan and now I am rich." We find a similar situation in today's first reading. God had freed the people from slavery and was leading them into the promised land. That was for the Israelites their final destiny. Their basic vision was to live in the promised land, a land flowing with milk and honey. There they would live with Yahweh in absolute peace, harmony and justice. With Yahweh as their king they would be protected from every danger . But now on their way to the promised land, they lose this vision, their final destiny. Not just for food, but for food to their taste, they were willing to trade their freedom. They were willing to get back to their slavery; they were willing to compromise their freedom, peace, love and joy for palatable food.
Jesus faces a similar situationin the gospel reading. Just a week back he had multiplied loaves and people rush to him again. But he knows they had come to satisfy their physical hunger. Jesus tells them not to miss the point. In their quest for physical bread, they should not lose Jesus - the bread of ever lasting life.
What Jesus is trying to say is this: as much as we struggle to make our life here on earth comfortable, we must try equally hard to work towards our future life with him. Jesus is asking us not to live our lives as if the future life with him is remote. Every choice that we make in this life, is an eternal choice. My choices today will determine my future life. He’s telling us not to sacrifice our everlasting life with him, a life in everlasting bliss and glory, for the sake of a few years of comfort here on earth. If the choice is between living a hard life here on earth, and eternal joy for ever, if the choice is between a luxurious life here and now and eternal pain later, chose a hard life. And as diligently we work to make our hard life easy, work with more diligence to gain everlasting happiness and comfort.
- Fr. Satish Joseph